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| Very smooth, but rather tricky trip. |
This was our 3rd 14er overall and our first climb up Bierstadt.
We had to take the Grant side of Guanella Pass Road and followed 5 cars at the turnoff from 285. Of course, all 5 were headed to the trailhead. We don't know why, but four of those 5 parallel parked on the road without even trying the parking lot. I had a hunch. I explored the parking lot and found 3 available spaces! So we got lucky and parked right next to the trailhead and arrived there at 7:50am.
We started our hike at 8:00am and it was a crystal clear bluebird day, with just a few little clouds around and probably about 45-50 degrees. There was a chill in the air; enough to keep jackets on, but we probably could have gotten away without them and we eventually shed the jackets not even a half hour into the hike. It was actually a great hike; although I was having some trouble in the steeper portions. My wife did not have any trouble and went way ahead of me (much to my dismay as I prefer staying together). I'm one to take 10-15 steps, rest for 10-15 seconds, repeat in the steeper terrain. Wife summited at 10:15am; I followed her and made my summit at 10:45am!
That boulder field was something else, and it is not easy to spot the trail. Once you reach the final pitch to the summit, the trail is actually to the left of the main part of the boulder field. Most people were just climbing straight up and I eventually found the trail on the left side, but this was just before I summitted.
Since there were no storm clouds looming (just a few cumulus clouds hanging around the Gray's and Torrey's Peaks area) we spent quite a long time at the summit; probably 20-30 minutes. And it was crowded! The summit is such a small area and so rocky it was very tough to move around. I recommend taking on this peak during the week if you don't want to try to move around people at the summit.
Of course it was easier coming back down, but I still took my time and wife went ahead again. Coming back down from the summit it is actually easier to see the trail and the stacks of rocks that are periodically seen do help.
We arrived back at the car at 1:30pm so it took us 5 1/2 hours round trip.
This was the last 14er hike this season and next year we hope to move deeper into our mountains and try to tackle 1-2 of the Collegiate Peaks or others in the Sawatch range.
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