I camped overnight in my vehicle on a pull-out area off County Road 390, just west of Clear Creek Reservoir a few miles. There were plenty of open areas to park and camp without having to buy a camping spot or pay a fee. However, the caveat to that is, the was simultaneously the same time of the Leadville 100. Safe to say there were other reasons for local law enforcement to have other concerns.

I started from Missouri Gulch TH around 4:00am, heading up to the first fork in the trail. I took the right route, designated for Missouri Mountain. I have to admit, I got a little bit lost and off trail, which resulted in me climbing an extra amount that was significantly steeper than the designated trail (sorry CFI!). I elected to summit Missouri first, as AllTrails told me too. I had no other preference for this being the first of my three today.

After getting to Missouri, I went back down to the Elkhead Pass Trail and climbed up the backside of Belford. This stretch was a grind. I consider myself relatively fit, active, and in decently good 'shape.' I was sucking wind and using the hell out of my hiking poles. Although not far, it was a steep climb from 12,600' (where Elkhead starts) to +14,000' (Belford summit). I reached the summit of Belford and then dashed back down and up to Oxford. Lastly, I returned back to Belford to take the Mount Belford-Mount Missouri Gulch Trail back to the TH.

The day finished around 15.5 miles and 7,200' of vert. This took me around 8 hours to complete. In hindsight, I probably would do Belford, Oxford, then Missouri next time. Other than the different variety, I think this might be more advantageous to stack the front-half of your day with more vert. All in all, respectable 14ers with 2WD TH access less than three hours from Denver. I can't complain.