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| | | Missouri Mountain Lollipop, CO | | | |
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Missouri Mountain Lollipop, CO
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| Hiking | 11.96 Miles |
5,200 AEG |
| | Hiking | 11.96 Miles | 7 Hrs 50 Mns | | 1.68 mph |
| 5,200 ft AEG | 43 Mns Break | | | |
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| no partners | | I did Belford and Oxford the day before, and I was a bit cranky that I had to re-climb to treeline. Since I had some energy left, I wanted to make the hike a little more interesting by descending the other side of the mountain and returning to Missouri Gulch via Elkhead Pass.
I felt that this hike was considerably more committing than Belford - you spend more time above treeline before you begin climbing the peak in earnest, the northeast shoulder of Missouri is quite a bit more eroded and precarious that the staircase up Belford, and there is a (merely class 2) crux on the summit ridge that stressed me out as much as any class 3 climbing I've done. One should also be careful to avoid descending the east ridge in hopes of quickly reaching Elkhead Pass.
The trail down the southwest ridge of Missouri was actually quite nice. Once the trail reaches a saddle, it disappears and you need to carefully descend a steep (but safe) slope and cross .5 miles of tundra off-trail. It was a bit more impactful on the environment than I consider ideal, but it was a beautiful basin to hike in. Clouds were building quickly as I tried to get over Elkhead pass, but they proved benign. Elkhead Pass is only 4.5 miles from the TH, but it feels like a long way when clouds are getting bigger...
Great views of Huron and the Elk range to the east. |
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