Mt. Democrat Trip Report 09/03/2026

Report Type	Mini
Peak(s)	Mt. Democrat - 14,154 feet Mt. Cameron - 14,248 feet Mt. Lincoln - 14,293 feet Mt. Bross - 14,178 feet
Date Posted	09/03/2026
Date Climbed	09/02/2026
Author	cosmit

Decalibron Loop
Started the hike around 4:15 am. It was a wednesday, so there were a few others when I started but not many. Had a bright moon so I was able to do most of the ascent to Democrat by moonlight which was so cool. The trail up to the satellite is so nice and clean, it was great to hike on. Had the peak of Democrat all to myself, but the wind was so cold, I could only last a couple of minutes. The cold wind carried on through the rest of the hike, and by the time I got to Cameron peak, I wasn't sure my hands could handle it. I had decent gloves, but my hands don't do well in the cold. After the sunrise there were some pretty heavy rain clouds coming right towards us. It looked like it was going to go just south of us, but right after Cameron, we got about 5 minutes of some very light sleet. No more moisture after that, but until about 8:30-9 am, there was a lot of cloud cover that kept things very cold. Its a bit disappointing you can't summit Bross, but by the time I got there, I don't even know if I could have made it. The decent down the scree was much harder than I assumed. It is manageable, but it just goes on for so much longer than I expected and my legs were shot at that point. But after seeing the debate about loop direction, I am still glad I did the scree at the end. Going up that seems like a rough way to start the hike, both physically and mentally. I am proud of myself for pushing though this one, but it definitely was one of my less enjoyable treks. My GPS Tracks on Google Maps (made from a .GPX file upload): View on the Map Download GPX file used in this map Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

Decalibron Loop

Started the hike around 4:15 am. It was a wednesday, so there were a few others when I started but not many. Had a bright moon so I was able to do most of the ascent to Democrat by moonlight which was so cool. The trail up to the satellite is so nice and clean, it was great to hike on. Had the peak of Democrat all to myself, but the wind was so cold, I could only last a couple of minutes. The cold wind carried on through the rest of the hike, and by the time I got to Cameron peak, I wasn't sure my hands could handle it. I had decent gloves, but my hands don't do well in the cold. After the sunrise there were some pretty heavy rain clouds coming right towards us. It looked like it was going to go just south of us, but right after Cameron, we got about 5 minutes of some very light sleet. No more moisture after that, but until about 8:30-9 am, there was a lot of cloud cover that kept things very cold. Its a bit disappointing you can't summit Bross, but by the time I got there, I don't even know if I could have made it. The decent down the scree was much harder than I assumed. It is manageable, but it just goes on for so much longer than I expected and my legs were shot at that point. But after seeing the debate about loop direction, I am still glad I did the scree at the end. Going up that seems like a rough way to start the hike, both physically and mentally. I am proud of myself for pushing though this one, but it definitely was one of my less enjoyable treks.

My GPS Tracks on Google Maps (made from a .GPX file upload):

View on the Map

Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

Comments or Questions

frankster

Thanks
9/3/2026 9:36pm

Your photography is outstanding!
I especially enjoyed the starlight and sunrise photos.
Thank you.

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