Mt. Bierstadt Trip Report 09/30/2014

Peak(s):	Mt. Bierstadt - 14,066 feet
Date Posted:	09/30/2014
Date Climbed:	09/26/2014
Author:	DanandDad

Bierstadt will have to wait
I turned in my retirement notice at work several months ago and set my last day at 9/19/14. With kids at CSU, my wife and I decided to drive from Illinois to FC to visit the kids for the 9/27 weekend. First we opted to drive up to Summit County for a week of hiking and scenery. After seeing my son and I climb Longs and Grays, my wife wanted to give a 14er a try. We continued our respective pump-a-torium work out routines hammering those glutes 'till our butts were bowling balls. We were ready. We'd do some hikes of gradually increasing difficulty to adjust to the altitude then try to go up Bierstadt on Friday. It's an east 14er right? We drove to Denver on Monday then headed for the mountains on Tuesday. I wanted to drive up Evans but the road was closed for the season. We instead drove up to Guanella Pass to look at the Bierstadt trail head. We could feel the altitude but this seemed doable if we could get acclimated by Friday morning. We stopped by the Forrest Service office in Dillon to get some trail maps and see if there was anything to be aware of. With no recent Sasquatch sightings we felt safe. Tuesday night we had dinner at the always great A-Cafe. Wednesday morning we opted to hike to the Sallie Barber Mine site just outside of Breckenridge. Great warm up hike for us flat-landers and beautiful color in French Gulch. Got back to the condo and realized I left my binoculars at the mine site. Not many people were heading up there but for mountain bikers who weren't stopping so I thought maybe a 50% chance I'd find the binoculars again. Hey, I've seen a lot of Packers touchdowns through those things. Dinner was at the awesome Chimayo Mexican Grill. Thursday we went out early to the Sallie Barber Mine site again. I first looked about where I was sitting for my stranded binoculars but no luck. After searching nearby for only a minute I found them! Case well chewed by some dastardly varmint. Ain't that something!! We felt our stamina better than the day prior. Chewed but still in tact We drove south of Breckenridge to hike McCollough Gulch. We passed about a dozen cars parked at the Quandary trail head. The hike up to waterfalls and the lake was outstanding, the Aspens were on fire, and we felt confident in taking on Bierstadt the next day. Our plan was working, or so we thought. When I got back to the car I got a low tire pressure light. I've had these before no big deal I thought. We made it back to Breckenridge and added air. Later heading back to the A Cafe on my wife's insistence, the low tire pressure light comes up again. A more detailed inspection found a pinhole leak. Too late to find anyone open that could fix it. Service places close after 6 PM in the Dillon area. So we reluctantly scrap the plan for Bierstadt. I could likely have nursed this leak using a small electric pump to add air every 6 hours or so then get it fixed in Denver or FC. But I just did not think that was a prudent plan up at Guanella Pass and later going down I-70. Friday morning the great folks at JH Auto Mountain Services in Silverthorne had me in at 9:30 and out before 10:00. Too bad I didn't get this figured out earlier in Thursday. Instead of now trying to start a Bierstadt hike at around 11:00, we drove to Montezuma and walked a bit into the Peru Creek area. We managed to find the only place open in Keystone for lunch. Inxpot had great green chili. Nice people too. We drove to Denver via US 6 stopping at Loveland pass for a short hike up towards Sniktau but turned back about half way as we had the wrong shoes for the endeavor. Time in FC was relaxing and the drive back was uneventful, Overall we had a great week, great weather, great scenery. I felt it prudent we did not drive up to Bierstadt with a marginal tire and just wanted to pass my experience on the great 14ers Nation. And again there is no such thing as an easy 14er. My wife is fired up to return and try again. Last comments, is there a road in Colorado NOT under construction? Everywhere we went there was some type of construction. I did not mind because over all the condition of the roads in Colorado is much better than Illinois. You seem to proactively do maintenance rather than do what we do in Illinois which is wait until the road falls apart then overpay the politically connected contractors to come in and do a marginal job of repair. Also, I thought we were getting bombarded by election adds back here in Illinois but you folks in Colorado got us beat. I feel for you all. Hang in there, November is a ways off but you can do it. Great scenery worth the trip Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

Bierstadt will have to wait

I turned in my retirement notice at work several months ago and set my last day at 9/19/14. With kids at CSU, my wife and I decided to drive from Illinois to FC to visit the kids for the 9/27 weekend. First we opted to drive up to Summit County for a week of hiking and scenery. After seeing my son and I climb Longs and Grays, my wife wanted to give a 14er a try. We continued our respective pump-a-torium work out routines hammering those glutes 'till our butts were bowling balls. We were ready. We'd do some hikes of gradually increasing difficulty to adjust to the altitude then try to go up Bierstadt on Friday. It's an east 14er right? We drove to Denver on Monday then headed for the mountains on Tuesday. I wanted to drive up Evans but the road was closed for the season. We instead drove up to Guanella Pass to look at the Bierstadt trail head. We could feel the altitude but this seemed doable if we could get acclimated by Friday morning. We stopped by the Forrest Service office in Dillon to get some trail maps and see if there was anything to be aware of. With no recent Sasquatch sightings we felt safe. Tuesday night we had dinner at the always great A-Cafe. Wednesday morning we opted to hike to the Sallie Barber Mine site just outside of Breckenridge. Great warm up hike for us flat-landers and beautiful color in French Gulch. Got back to the condo and realized I left my binoculars at the mine site. Not many people were heading up there but for mountain bikers who weren't stopping so I thought maybe a 50% chance I'd find the binoculars again. Hey, I've seen a lot of Packers touchdowns through those things. Dinner was at the awesome Chimayo Mexican Grill. Thursday we went out early to the Sallie Barber Mine site again. I first looked about where I was sitting for my stranded binoculars but no luck. After searching nearby for only a minute I found them! Case well chewed by some dastardly varmint. Ain't that something!! We felt our stamina better than the day prior.

We drove south of Breckenridge to hike McCollough Gulch. We passed about a dozen cars parked at the Quandary trail head. The hike up to waterfalls and the lake was outstanding, the Aspens were on fire, and we felt confident in taking on Bierstadt the next day. Our plan was working, or so we thought. When I got back to the car I got a low tire pressure light. I've had these before no big deal I thought. We made it back to Breckenridge and added air. Later heading back to the A Cafe on my wife's insistence, the low tire pressure light comes up again. A more detailed inspection found a pinhole leak. Too late to find anyone open that could fix it. Service places close after 6 PM in the Dillon area. So we reluctantly scrap the plan for Bierstadt. I could likely have nursed this leak using a small electric pump to add air every 6 hours or so then get it fixed in Denver or FC. But I just did not think that was a prudent plan up at Guanella Pass and later going down I-70. Friday morning the great folks at JH Auto Mountain Services in Silverthorne had me in at 9:30 and out before 10:00. Too bad I didn't get this figured out earlier in Thursday. Instead of now trying to start a Bierstadt hike at around 11:00, we drove to Montezuma and walked a bit into the Peru Creek area. We managed to find the only place open in Keystone for lunch. Inxpot had great green chili. Nice people too. We drove to Denver via US 6 stopping at Loveland pass for a short hike up towards Sniktau but turned back about half way as we had the wrong shoes for the endeavor.
Time in FC was relaxing and the drive back was uneventful, Overall we had a great week, great weather, great scenery. I felt it prudent we did not drive up to Bierstadt with a marginal tire and just wanted to pass my experience on the great 14ers Nation. And again there is no such thing as an easy 14er. My wife is fired up to return and try again.

Last comments, is there a road in Colorado NOT under construction? Everywhere we went there was some type of construction. I did not mind because over all the condition of the roads in Colorado is much better than Illinois. You seem to proactively do maintenance rather than do what we do in Illinois which is wait until the road falls apart then overpay the politically connected contractors to come in and do a marginal job of repair. Also, I thought we were getting bombarded by election adds back here in Illinois but you folks in Colorado got us beat. I feel for you all. Hang in there, November is a ways off but you can do it.

Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

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