A day of 14ers: Democrat, Cameron, Lincoln and Bross

Our friend Cherisse, who is interning at Timberline Old Town this summer on loan from her college in Pennsylvania has a need to bag a 14er. She tells a small group of us this fact a few weeks ago, and the planning for a Saturday of peak walking develops - and eventually lands us (8 of us) at the base of Mt Democrat, at the Kite Lake Campground on Friday night.

Kite Lake's camping sites make up the highest actual campground in the entire country at 12,000', and we make it to our site late on Friday night. There is a requisite visit for dinner in Fairplay to Dinky's Dairy for burgers and shakes, and we get to the campground as dusk passes to actual darkness. We're all staying in a pair of borrowed 6 man tents, which offer more space than i think i've ever seen in a tent before in my life.


I always enjoy getting to a spot in the night and waking up to see what it is exactly that you are camping next to. Turns out our spot was literally 6' off of Kite Lake itself, with Mt Democrat looming menacingly over us. Breakfast is oatmeal, and we eventually rouse the entire crew and get onto the trail by 7:45. The order of the day involves hitting all four 14ers in the half-circle: Democrat, then Cameron, Lincoln and Bross.


It certainly sounds and looks more impressive than the hike turns out to be - i don't believe a better hike could even be designed! The hike to Democrat is first, and takes you up 2,148 feet to in just under 2 miles via a relatively straightforward climb to the saddle, and then some meaner switchbacks up the hill's massive scree fields. We get 7 of us up to the top, as we had already lost Landis before we even began to his road rash. (he was suffering from an unfortunate bike-pavement incident, from which he was having trouble walking uphill for the sake of stretching out his wounded thigh. ouch.) Our enjoyment of the summit was slightly stifled by the Youth Group of people also on top with us, who did not appear to have any understanding of mountain top ettiquite. (It's really quite simple, hence the fact that you won't really find it written down in any publication: SHUT UP AND ENJOY THE VIEW.)

The clock and some interesting clouds motivate us to head back down the scree, and we are forced to make a decision back at the saddle between Democrat and Cameron. It was already after 11 a.m., the wind seemed to be picking up slightly, and while the clouds that had been moving in were still fluffy and white, clouds at that elevation in any form make me nervous. We end up losing three more of the troupe due to some tiredness and apprehension to the prospect of having to pick up our pace on the next 1100' uphill to Cameron in front of us, which leaves myself, Liz, and our friends Brandon and Steve to face the remaining three peaks.

The ridge line up to Cameron is pretty steep but we make good progress and get to the top around noon. Enjoying the view, and also the vast flat acreage between Cameron (14,238') and Lincoln (14,286'), we quickly move over to the top of Lincoln and then take a snack break. And some awkward pictures.


From here, it's 2 miles along the ridge to the top of Bross, and we continue our pace over and summit Bross around 2 p.m. We pass signs on the way up and the way down telling us the land is completely private, and access to Bross is closed, and do our best to ignore them. (it's not hard - we can see a dozen other people ahead of us who ignored them as well.)

The way down is pretty vertical, and filled with scree. It's more like surfing than walking, and as much as a fall hurts (and a downhill roll even more so) i can't help but enjoy myself, even though common sense tells me it should be more nerve wracking, and not fun. We do eventually get back to the lake slightly after 3, and have logged about 3500 vertical feet over 7 miles on the day - but as i said earlier, it doesn't feel like it at all. The combination of sleeping one night at elevation, and the way that the trail metered the tough vertical climbs heavy in the beginning and less so by the end made it the best day of 14ers that we have ever had. The tally for Liz is now set at 5, and it's 8 big guys for me. We're planning on getting at least one more (maybe two?) in August, before the short 14er season completely wraps up on us.

All of the shots from the day can be found over here!