Mt. Lincoln

A staple of Colorado’s outdoor culture is undoubtedly hiking 14ers, or the mountains that exceed 14,000 feet of elevation. Colorado has 53 14ers, California has 12, and Washington has 2 (Mount Rainier is definitely on the to-do list). I was approaching the end of my time in Colorado this summer and had yet to hike a 14er, so a buddy of mine and I decided to tackle Mount Lincoln, the 37th highest peak in North America.

We started our day early, around four in the morning. The tone was set when we were passing through Frisco and I was pulled over for speeding. When no one else is on the road in a mountain town, it can be difficult to reference your speed against other vehicles, and I guess my absent-mindedness got the better of me. Regardless, one $165 parking ticket later, we were back on the road. We arrived at the Kite Lake Trailhead and began our trek to the summit. Now, I consider myself to be in decent shape, but it became evident from the get-go that I would need to reconsider that assumption. I took breaks often just to catch my breath; the elevation proved to be the biggest challenge throughout.

The first portion of our hike up was beautiful. Waterfalls and wildflowers surrounded us, but I was most infatuated with the pikas weaving in and out of the nearby boulders. After reaching the junction between the trails leading to the summits of Mt. Democrat and Mt. Lincoln, we took a longer break to soak in the views and eat some trail mix.

The hardest stretch of trail was undeniably between this junction and the summit of Mt. Cameron, whose parent peak is Mt. Lincoln. It felt a lot more vertical than it likely was, and our breaks became more frequent. It was obvious we were behind the typical pace; we saw a lot of groups descending as we were making our way to the summit. A group of CU students asked me to take their photo at the top, and we borrowed their cardboard sign to commemorate our journey as well.

The hike from Mt. Cameron to Mt. Lincoln was fairly easy, especially compared to the portion we had just completed. At the summit of Mt. Lincoln, there were several markers and cairns. Mt. Lincoln is named in honor of Abraham Lincoln, 16th president of the United States and an early member of the Republican party. I thought about how he’d probably be happy that Mt. Lincoln is around 100 feet taller than the neighboring Mt. Democrat.

I’m not great with heights when the danger of death is obvious and within my control, which is why I snapped a picture of this iced over death slide. It was the type of slide you can only ride once.

We discussed the possibility of also summiting Mt. Democrat while we were lounging on the summit. Considering I had to poop when we began our hike, I vetoed any notion of the possibility. Thus, we began our descent, which was much quicker than the way up. It was around eleven by the time we reached the car, and we stopped in Breckenridge for lunch on the way back. Colorado’s mountain towns have a charm that is difficult to replicate. Thankfully, there were no more traffic tickets in my future. I would highly suggest summiting a 14er to hikers of all skill levels - it’s a fun challenge that not only allows you to explore Colorado, but to develop an appreciation for the beauty of the Rockies.