14ers.com • Trip Report - Standard Belford/Oxford

Peak(s):	Mt. Belford - 14,197 feet Mt. Oxford - 14,153 feet
Date Posted:	08/07/2019
Date Climbed:	07/28/2019
Author:	arianna2

Standard Belford/Oxford
We planned to start at about 5 am but was delayed a little bit by a line at the outhouse. People aren't kidding when they talk about how busy this tiny little parking area at the trail head can be. Once on the trail though, it lightened out. No chance to warm up the muscles though as it is all steep from the get go. Over a 1000 feet per mile is no joke. Beautiful sunrise peeking though the trees. The amount of avalanche debris is impressive. Many thanks to those that cleared the trail. Does this debris make this area more prone to fires? Just wondering what the after effects are of this if any. Sorry it is blurry, a bit too much caffeine probably Well then, here it is, your last chance for water....and We finally reached Belford's summit just a little after 8am. On to Oxford which took about an hour. It was very windy that day. We found a spot that wasn't as windy and hung out for a bite to eat. Uggh, back up to Belford which took a little more than an hour again. So it was about 11 back on Belford. Lots of people hanging out and catching some rays. At least the wildflowers were gorgeous and a nice distraction from the switchbacks which I really did count. I might be off by one or two but not much. And when you add all the switchbacks from the beginning of the route as well, it is a lot! And yes we did wear the micro-spikes for steep slippery dirt areas. We were surprised to see people heading up from just after tree line at noon. I am not sure if they were planning on summiting Belford but hopefully at least not Oxford too. The clouds and storms did roll in. Got back to the car at about 1:50 so this is a good 7-8 hour hike without breaks. Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

Standard Belford/Oxford

We planned to start at about 5 am but was delayed a little bit by a line at the outhouse. People aren't kidding when they talk about how busy this tiny little parking area at the trail head can be. Once on the trail though, it lightened out. No chance to warm up the muscles though as it is all steep from the get go. Over a 1000 feet per mile is no joke. Beautiful sunrise peeking though the trees.

19592_13 19592_14

The amount of avalanche debris is impressive. Many thanks to those that cleared the trail. Does this debris make this area more prone to fires? Just wondering what the after effects are of this if any.

19592_01

19592_02 — Sorry it is blurry, a bit too much caffeine probably

Well then, here it is, your last chance for water....and

19592_05

We finally reached Belford's summit just a little after 8am.

19592_07 19592_15

On to Oxford which took about an hour. It was very windy that day.

19592_04

We found a spot that wasn't as windy and hung out for a bite to eat.

19592_12 19592_11

Uggh, back up to Belford which took a little more than an hour again.

19592_16

So it was about 11 back on Belford. Lots of people hanging out and catching some rays.

19592_10

At least the wildflowers were gorgeous and a nice distraction from the switchbacks which I really did count. I might be off by one or two but not much. And when you add all the switchbacks from the beginning of the route as well, it is a lot! And yes we did wear the micro-spikes for steep slippery dirt areas.

19592_03 19592_08

19592_09

We were surprised to see people heading up from just after tree line at noon. I am not sure if they were planning on summiting Belford but hopefully at least not Oxford too. The clouds and storms did roll in. Got back to the car at about 1:50 so this is a good 7-8 hour hike without breaks.

Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

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