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This route was pretty difficult for me. Perhaps because I was still acclimating and my legs were sore from the Mt. Elbert hike the previous day :-). I decided to do this route vs. the standard route, as it was a shorter distance and less of a gain. I camped again at the Mt. Elbert trailhead campground the night before my ascent. To get to the trailhead, I drove down the 4wd trail as far as I could. There was an obstacle around .15 miles from the North Half Moon Creek Trailhead that I couldn't get over, so I just parked there and walked the short walk to the TH. The route starts out pretty easy through the woods, then it opens up as you get to the tree line.
Entering a clearing near the tree lineWalking through the glade
Then you go through a couple of boulder fields, which take some effort. I lost the trail here and there by not paying close enough attention as I navigated this area.
View from the boulder fields
After the boulders, there is another easier stretch until you get to the base of the next climb. For about the next 2000' the climb goes from kind of steep to really steep. It's a bit of a bear, at least for me it was. It is mostly a series of switchbacks going up the southwest slope to the ridge.
A chunk of marble sticking out of the other rocks
Once you pop up on the ridge, it's another .4 miles or so to the actual summit. Leading up to the summit ridge, I was only paying attention to my elevation, so once I got to 14,400', I was surprised the summit was still a good hike across the ridge. The trail was in overall good condition, but since this isn't the standard route, there are portions where you need to pay close attention in order to not get off track.
Summit!
Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):
Thanks for sharing. Was wondering how the road to the Mt Elbert Trailhead was? 4WD? AWD? 2WD? High or regular clearance vehicle? I'm planning an Elbert/Massive trip over the summer and I'm getting conflicting reports about the road to the trailhead. Was planning on just going as far as the Elbert Creek Campground/Mt Elbert Trailhead and when I come down from Elbert just walking to the trailhead for the East Slopes.
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