Hello! My name is Dhruv Nambiar. For some context, a few months ago I started a GoFundMe to help combat the COVID-19 crisis in India. As part of the fundraiser, for every 500 dollars raised I would hike one of Colorado's 14ers. We ended up raising over 5000 dollars, and this is the sixth of ten hikes that I will be doing.

We arrived at the Mt. Bierstadt trailhead around 4:00 AM. A larger party of our friends was coming later that day, however since we were planning to go through the Sawtooth Ridge along to Evans, we decided it would be prudent to give ourselves an extra hour or two to make the traverse. The road to the trailhead is great, paved and very few holes/rocks on the route. Definitely does not require 4wd to make it.

The hike up was short but sweet. It had been a few weeks since the last fourteener, so my ankles started to ache after a while, but Mt. Bierstadt is definitely on the shorter side of fourteeners and it was not a major struggle to get up to the peak. We summitted Mt. Bierstadt at around 6:30 AM, a decent pace for the hike. From Bierstadt, you can see almost the entire Sawtooth route, as well as most of the path up to Evans.

The way down from Mt. Bierstadt was definitely what took the most time. A lot of the dirt is slippery, and you have to descend almost 1000 feet before you can begin climbing back up the Sawtooth. Because of some route-finding misconception and confusion, this section took almost two hours, which was almost how long it took just to get up Bierstadt! The way up the Sawtooth was definitely the highlight of the trip. The class three section before the notch is interesting and fun, and on the ridge(while it is exposed) it isn't to a degree that makes you extremely uncomfortable.

One thing to note, however, is that the dirt really is not the best for most of this route. Be careful with which holds you trust your feet to on this hike, as on the main section of the Sawtooth ridge its very easy to slip.

We reached the Sawtooth at about 10:30AM. At this point, we were all exhausted from the climbing we had done, and some threatening clouds were beginning to move in, so we decided to skip Evans and just head back. And I'm glad we did. The trail back from the Sawtooth is, meaning no offense, abysmal. You basically have to wade through the muddy willows for most of it, and after the initial descent down the entire flat section is just full of mud. You can't really see far ahead of you as the willows are up to your head, with the mud covering your shoes and up to your ankles. Definitely not the best hike back. After the mud was out we waded in the river to wash off and then just finished the hike barefoot(which was rather fun).

The views on both summits are fantastic, as was the weather. Definitely a hike I recommend, especially as a beginner introduction to class(3). But if mud is not your wheelhouse, either get a ride at Evans or figure out another route back.