There aren’t too many truly remote wilderness experiences left in Colorado. Places you can go and not see another soul for days. If any do remain, the San Juan Mountains are likely where they’ll be found. Situated in the southwest corner of the state, far from the Denver metro, these mountains still hold some of Colorado’s best kept backcountry secrets.
It was mid July 2019, about 9 months since my last 14er hike. For months I had been chomping at the bit to get back at it, delayed mainly by a lingering deep snowpack from the previous winter. With a couple big hiking trips in the plans for later in the summer, I knew I needed to get back into 14er shape quickly…
Pyramid Peak is one of Colorado’s toughest, and most dangerous, 14ers to climb. It sits in the heart of the Elk Range, about 10 miles southwest of Aspen, across the valley from the world-famous Maroon Bells peaks. Pyramid rises over 4,000′ above Crater lake just 1.25 miles to its northwest…
The San Juan Mountains contain some of Colorado’s most magnificent and beautiful terrain, including 14 peaks over 14,000′ and more than 300 peaks over 13,000′. At the far western end of the range lies a large massif known as the “Wilson Group”. Within this group resides three 14ers…
Maroon Peak is one of Colorado’s most famous mountains. Located near the town of Aspen, many visitors, sightseers, and photographers gaze upon this peak from nearby Maroon Lake. Along with its sister peak, North Maroon Peak, this duo is often referred to as the Maroon Bells…
Little Bear Peak is one of Colorado’s most difficult and dangerous 14ers. Its West Ridge route currently sits behind only Capitol Peak’s Northeast Ridge route (i.e., the knife edge) as the 2nd most difficult 14er standard route in Colorado, according to the 14ers.com user rankings. However, the route description on 14ers.com actually states that it is “probably the most difficult standard 14er route”…
This was a fun one! Not only was this my first real climb, an easier Class 3 scramble, but it also marked my first time in the San Juans. Unlike the previous hike of Quandary Peak, I took LOTS of photos on this one, for a good reason. The San Juans are BEA-U-TI-FUL…
There is not much to say here. My buddy Chris and I drove up the morning of the hike, leaving Laramie around 5am and arriving at the trailhead by 8:30 or 9. Since it was May, snow coverage was still quite substantial. The forecast called for temperatures in the 40s and the possibility of snow. This would be my first snow hike, and an easy one at that…
This was only the second 14er hike I’ve ever done (although the fifth 14er, thanks to the DeCaLiBro hike I did about 2 weeks earlier), and it was certainly a step up from the first both with regard to elevation gain and mileage. It wasn’t, however, all that much more difficult of a trail to hike, still being only Class 2…
This hike took place over Labor Day weekend in 2012, about 2 weeks or so after I had moved out to Wyoming from Pennsylvania. The week before, an email had been sent around by two grad students to everyone in my department asking if anyone was interested in doing a 14er hike that weekend. Being the newly adventurous person that I was, I jumped at the opportunity, not really having any idea what a 14er really entailed…