First 14er with kids

[technicolorNH]

If you and the kids can hammer out the ascent of Mount Mitchell from the Toe River Campground or summit LeConte via the Rainbow Falls Trail in roughly four hours any of the beginner 14ers are within your fitness level. None of the 6ers will give you altitude problems but they do give you the work out you need to get used to the same grind you will encounter in Colorado, just above tree line with the possibility of worse weather and higher winds. Previous posters have already warned you of lightning and the need to be off the summit and heading for (or IN) the tree line when dark clouds roll in. I might be in disagreement with some people but I see an easier 14er that is heavily hiked as a better choice for a beginner than something off the beaten path where you might have more solitude, but also less people to ask advice or help from while learning the nuances of hiking at altitude in Colorado. Buy good rain gear for everyone in your party and wear synthetics, cotton is NOT what you want to wear on a hike above tree line. Buy headlamps if you plan to start out before dawn (highly recommended in the Sawatch). Lastly, the rental vehicle you use will determine which trailheads you can get to in some cases. Use the trailheads feature on the bar above to determine what the trailhead for your target mountain is like. The most popular trailheads for Yale, Longs, Evans, Quandary, and Bierstadt are all paved or in a dirt parking lot directly off a paved road. Massive and Elbert are up a very mild dirt road and I think the 14's in the Mosquitos all were too. Grays and Torrey are up a rough dirt road off Interstate 70 that can be okay some years and four wheel drive only other years. If your car can't make it you park a little lower and hoof it. Then for more moderate experience mountains there is Lindsey, which is up a four wheel drive only road or Blanca which is just satanic or LOL depending on how you look at it. If you want a good laugh look at the descriptions for it online. It really is heinous.

Being safe in the mountains is easy but does require awareness. Mother Nature is in charge up there and if the weather gets bad, you simply bail. Altitude also affects everyone differently; when I hiked Grays and Torrey a teenage triathlete from the Dakotas was busy puking his brains out at the trailhead while his Colorado girlfriend was trying to explain to him that he'd feel better once he went downhill. Most people don't suffer much from it but if you do, accept it and move down. The pay off for all this is amazing though. You won't find landscapes like the ones in Colorado anywhere in the Southeast nor the chance to have a snowball fight in July. Bring your camera. You'll leave with memories.

[huffy13]

We're flying out to Colorado for the first time ever (*so excited*) in late June/early July and want to take advantage of the beautiful mountains. We have 2 kids, aged 11 and 12 that are coming with us, so we need to set realistic goals for them. We're close to the Smoky Mountains and we plan on climbing a few 6ers in TN for preparation, to give us an idea of how strenuous it will be. There are close to 3,000' gains with some of the mountains in the Smoky's, so aside from the altitude, we hope that it will be similar to what we will find in CO. Are there any special considerations that we need to think about for our kids? What are the best 14ers for kids? Should we attempt 14ers with our kids, or should we start with something smaller?

Sherman or Quandary would be the two I would recommend, for several reasons....the trailheads are easily accessible with 2wd vehicles, neither has exposure that is overwhelming, both are fairly close to decent size towns that have activities that you could spend a day or two acclimating to the elevation. I've done both of these with my son and daughter, both in their teens at the time, and they loved both. Of the two, I think Quandary is slightly better just because the hike up is more scenic and the TH is closer to the paved road, but Sherman gets a bad rap from lots of folks for various reasons, but the views are great from the summit.

[peter303]

Sherman or Quandary would be the two I would recommend, for several reasons....the trailheads are easily accessible with 2wd vehicles

The regular Sherman access road can have high clearance sections the final mile or so depending on how rough the winter runnoff streams have cut it. You'll see the timid folk parking already before these.
However, the thing I like about Sherman is the trail begins above treeline so you have sweeping views the entire hike. And the old mine buildings near the beginning are interesting, though you should NEVER go inside one.

[billycox]

Hey, bamagirl,

Just wanted to respond as a fellow Alabamian and Gunni lover. One of my favorite towns ever. Been there ~10 times over the past 4 years. (Have a kid at Western.) I have no climbing advice other than to agree times infinity on the water intake recommendations while in CO. I know I drink at least twice as much water there and more than that if I'm mt. biking/skiing. I also agree times infinity on the sun. My God, the sun!!

Now, onto the important stuff - FOOD. Gunni has great restaurants. My favorites: 5. Anejo - great little hole in the wall Mexican restaurant with superb Margaritas, 4. Firebrand - really good deli food, 3. The W - gotta start your day off right with a hearty breakfast, 2. Sherpa Cafe - Indian and Nepalese cuisine, 1. Powerstop - If you get within 10 miles of Gunni and don't get a burger at The Powerstop then you have failed.

Oh, also coming from Alabama, I fare better if I don't drink alcohol for the first 2 days in CO.

I hope you have a wonderful time. Colorado is a magical place.

[jrs1965]

Best birthday present in the world was getting my 12 year old son to agree to hike a 14er with me. His only term was that it be an easy 14er (Sherman). He did fantastic going up, whined a bit coming down but he toughened up when a family with girls his age caught up to us. I'm not a fan of Sherman but it worked out great for him as his first!

27Sep15 Sherman.jpg (289.74 KiB) Viewed 3586 times

[TallGrass]

Acclimatizing to the altitude will be the key.

Nope, you're not going to "acclimatize" as it takes several weeks minimum for the body physiology to adapt to altitude. A Placebo Day (getting "better" doing nothing) isn't the same as a Recovery Day (recharging to normal). Like any "event," the more you train prior, the better you'll perform. You WILL get short-winded faster than in AL regardless *shrug* and will need to drop a gear or two depending on the rate of ascent and pulse (gaining elevation is work, walking 40mi on level ground isn't). Read up on the LL's AMS sheets) and ask kids to self-report symptoms (keep it light, cheerful) and let them set the pace.

THE key is finding their fit (your Smoky hikes will help) then going at the LCD (unless you split into two parent-kid groups to suit chocolate vs. vanilla prefs). If everyone loves Class 3 scrambly stuff, some of the Class 1 walk ups will be "borrr-ing." If you're dead after a 4hr hike, don't pick a peak with a long approach. Front range peaks are more crowded, but that also means others who might help. How self-reliant is your "team"? A lowball pick can be a boring grind whereas a moonshot can turn into a Type Three Fun epic and it'll vary person-to-person like underwear choice and hot sauce.

MOST of all, summit is optional. Just enjoy the day out, and if you top out, it's a bonus.

P.S. LNT, pack it all out, read up on the 10E's (you can't outrun weather), backpacks with waistbelts, Sawyer Mini, and trekking poles.

[bamagirl]

Thanks to you all, again, for your responses

We also plan to hit the Black Canyon, down in Gunnison, which is pretty close to Paonia.

I might suggest flying to Grand Junction or Durango, and then going from there.

The reason for flying into Denver is that it's almost double per ticket to fly into area airports, and we would have layovers. With this being my first time flying (deathly scared), I want as direct a flight as possible.

If you and the kids can hammer out the ascent of Mount Mitchell from the Toe River Campground or summit LeConte via the Rainbow Falls Trail in roughly four hours any of the beginner 14ers are within your fitness level.

We plan to do Mt LeConte this summer, it seemed like the best option around, to gauge our ability to do a 14er.


We still have several months to study the area and prepare, and I will be on this site countless times between now and then.

[Kent McLemore]

Kids like to scramble. Ours preferred an exciting no-name scramble to a peak-bagging trudge, especially when they were young. Lost Creek Wilderness is a wonderful playground for kids - lots of massive, climbable boulders and swimable creeks. There are many such places in Colo. with fun, scrambly features near accessible campsites. Just a thought, having been there...

[rosspulliam]

I took my 10 year old niece on her first mountain hike last summer. We went to Grey's and she had a wonderful time! We got turned around prior to the summit due to "small bladder syndrome". My niece just wasn't at peace with going to the bathroom (#1) in nature. She successfully used the pit toilet at the trailhead, after some convincing managed to go behind a bush after about 1.5 miles, but then she had to go again above the treeline and convincing her to go behind a ridge a short distance off trail was unsuccessful. She decided she couldn't hold it, but she did make it back to that pit toilet at the trailhead!

All in all it was still a wonderful day in mountains I only get to see a couple of times a year. Now if I could just get my wife to leave Texas for the high ground I'd be golden!

Moral of my story: prepare them for when nature calls. I purposely didn't because then she wouldn't have tried at all, but I was prepared for the turn around when it didn't go well. She said, "I, I just really didn't think this part through." It was quite comical.

[maxhikes14ers]

We're flying out to Colorado for the first time ever (*so excited*) in late June/early July and want to take advantage of the beautiful mountains. We have 2 kids, aged 11 and 12 that are coming with us, so we need to set realistic goals for them. We're close to the Smoky Mountains and we plan on climbing a few 6ers in TN for preparation, to give us an idea of how strenuous it will be. There are close to 3,000' gains with some of the mountains in the Smoky's, so aside from the altitude, we hope that it will be similar to what we will find in CO. Are there any special considerations that we need to think about for our kids? What are the best 14ers for kids? Should we attempt 14ers with our kids, or should we start with something smaller?

Awesome, hope you have fun. I would say Mt. Bierstadt would be a great one. That was my first 14er when I was 8 years old. It is only about 2.5 hours from Denver and it is a great hike. About 6 miles RT. The road is great and plowed and goes right to the trailhead. Sherman is also great, but the road can get worse once you get closer to the trailhead. If you want a quick day hike, you can drive to summit lake on Mt. Evans which is at 13k. This is nice because it is only about an hour long hike and if you get altitude sick or the weather turns, you an just catch a ride back to your car(the road goes to the summit). If you are in the southwest area of Colorado, I would definetely take advantage of the San Juan mountains, there are in my opinion the coolest and most beatiful in colorado. Handies is a great one, but the road is pretty bad to get there. One of the coolest places down there is Ice lakes basin and island lake, but its not a 14er. Just pack right and be prepared and im sure whatever you chose will be amazing. Climbing 14ers are by far the best memories of my childhood, so I hope you and your kids have a great time too! Good luck

[TallGrass]

I took my 10 year old niece on her first mountain hike last summer. We went to Grey's and she had a wonderful time! We got turned around prior to the summit due to "small bladder syndrome". My niece just wasn't at peace with going to the bathroom (#1) in nature. ... Moral of my story: prepare them for when nature calls. I purposely didn't because then she wouldn't have tried at all, but I was prepared for the turn around when it didn't go well. She said, "I, I just really didn't think this part through." It was quite comical.

One of those opaque rain ponchos (10 Essentials) that pack in a pocket would've given her some privacy for under $10 at wallyworld or target. Seen fishing and Dollar Store's sell disposable ones that pack smaller still for even less.

Coleman one on eBay $8.73 shipped, side snaps, corner grommets (tarp), drawstring hood, reusable.