Missouri Mountain Trip Report 09/03/2012

Peak(s):	Missouri Mountain - 14,071 feet Mt. Oxford - 14,158 feet Mt. Belford - 14,202 feet
Date Posted:	09/03/2012
Modified:	09/10/2012
Date Climbed:	08/31/2012
Author:	climbnowworklater

Missouri, Oxford, Belford via elks pass, in a day.
What a great way to experience the Missouri Gulch area and summit 3 peaks. I started at the TH at 5:30am. The switchbacks to start off with are tough. Ultimately, the hike to summit Missouri was fairly straight forward, well signed, and completed in under 3 hours. For me, the best part of the hike is the elks pass trail as it slowly ascends along the ridge to deposit you at the intersection to Oxford/Belford. I continued down the trail only to climb up the trail to summit Oxford in about 5:45 minutes total hike time so far. After a brief (20 min) break, I hiked down and then up to gain Belfords summit. I had a great chat with a group from Indiana and was impressed that Belford was their first 14er. I feel like Sherman/Princeton, Quandry would have been easier.....but 1/2 hour later, I was on my way down. The hike down Belford is rough on the knee's. It seems like from the summit to the car, it was just one switchback after another and bone-jarring. In the end, I believe the hike was around 15 miles r/t, 7500 foot elev. gain, and took me appx. 9 hours to r/t. I loved it. The only thing I might do differently, is, instead of going down Belford, I might return down elks pass. It might add a few miles, but would be substantially less on the body. Hope this helps. Jon Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

Missouri, Oxford, Belford via elks pass, in a day.

What a great way to experience the Missouri Gulch area and summit 3 peaks.

I started at the TH at 5:30am. The switchbacks to start off with are tough. Ultimately, the hike to summit Missouri was fairly straight forward, well signed, and completed in under 3 hours. For me, the best part of the hike is the elks pass trail as it slowly ascends along the ridge to deposit you at the intersection to Oxford/Belford. I continued down the trail only to climb up the trail to summit Oxford in about 5:45 minutes total hike time so far. After a brief (20 min) break, I hiked down and then up to gain Belfords summit. I had a great chat with a group from Indiana and was impressed that Belford was their first 14er.
I feel like Sherman/Princeton, Quandry would have been easier.....but 1/2 hour later, I was on my way down.
The hike down Belford is rough on the knee's. It seems like from the summit to the car, it was just one switchback after another and bone-jarring.

In the end, I believe the hike was around 15 miles r/t, 7500 foot elev. gain, and took me appx. 9 hours to r/t. I loved it. The only thing I might do differently, is, instead of going down Belford, I might return down elks pass. It might add a few miles, but would be substantially less on the body.

Hope this helps.

Jon

Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

Comments or Questions

cftbq	I'm confused... 9/4/2012 3:30am You got to Oxford and Belford by going west from Missouri Mtn.? How is that possible?
climbnowworklater	to clarify...... 9/4/2012 1:09pm ”as it slowly ascends along the western ridge to deposit you at the intersection to Oxford/Belford. I continued west” quote from above.....if still confused......don't know what to tell you?
rlrjamy	The other way 9/4/2012 2:21pm 'instead of going down Belford, I might return down elks pass. It might add a few miles' That's the way I did...and my total miles were 16.7.
climbnowworklater	Thanks for the update. 9/7/2012 1:46pm Right on RLRJAMY! Was wondering what the mileage would be and hopefully this helps others. Honestly, what's an extra 1.7 miles if it smooths a couple thousand feet of elev. gain and saves the knees. If I do it again, I will go the way you went.
climbnowworklater	cftbq reply 9/10/2012 6:50pm cftbq, after talking with a friend about my description and his comment similar to yours, I decided to edit the post. Everyone has different perspectives and where I was describing that specific portion of the trip was not clear. hope the edit above eliminates confusion.

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