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| Hiking | 11.00 Miles |
5,300 AEG |
| | Hiking | 11.00 Miles | | | |
| 5,300 ft AEG | | | | |
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| partners | | Mount Elbert is 14,433 feet above sea level making it the highest peak in Colorado and the second highest in the U. S. (Excluding Alaska). The highest peak in the U. S. is Mount Whitney in California - just 62 feet higher than Elbert.
Yet Elbert is far from the most difficult because of the Class 1 trails that go up. There are the North and South trailheads which are the most popular and then there is the Black Cloud TH which is known to be more difficult and challenging and gets very little traffic as a result.
I hiked from the North TH twice before, once with Sun_Hiker. She had Black Cloud on her wish list. She is a faster hike than me and we are thinking of nominating her to be the next Wonder Woman. I agreed to put Black Cloud on the list and put it on last because I thought this would be the toughest of all we did. And Black Cloud delivered. It was our toughest.
From the TH you just go straight up, no fooling around. You do 3,700 feet in the first 3.3 miles for an average grade of 22 percent but the final ascent is more like 40 percent. Very steep. Then you hike on a ridgeline the last 2.2 miles going up and down many peaks (including Little Elbert where there is an ammo box for sign in) so at the end of the day you do about 5,300 feet of elevation.
We were lucky. Often clouds role in sometime after noon and folks abort the hike at that point. We had great weather all day so time was not an issue on this one. After lots of fun on the summit we headed back. I am not sure which was harder, going up or coming down the steep grades. I ended up on my butt at least 3 times but that is the price you pay for such joy.
For Hank, this was his first ascent of Elbert and we took him up the hard way.
BUT WE DID IT - Sun_Hiker about 1.5 to 2 hours ahead of us. I told you she was Wonder Woman. |
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Route Editor
Route Scout
That and the long drive to get there from Vail made this one not very feasible. Holy Cross looked like a good option but then Ellen through out Mount Elbert. The highest Peak in Colorado. I told her I had heard it wasn't that difficult but that I would be down for whatever. She said her dad had been wanting to do it from the Black Cloud Trail. It is shorter and steeper than the other two primary routes. Sounds like a plan.
