Mt. Bierstadt Trip Report 08/07/2014

Peak(s):	Mt. Bierstadt - 14,066 feet
Date Posted:	08/07/2014
Modified:	08/08/2014
Date Climbed:	08/07/2014
Author:	CrazyL

Busy Thursday on Mt Bierstadt
Set out to climb Mt Bierstadt this morning and headed up 285 to Guanella pass road. This road was in great shape and arrived at the parking lot at 5:50am. There were already a good amount of people parked and headed up the trail. I hit the trail at 6am and was off. 2 moose were making their way to one of the lakes for a morning drink and made for a spectacular start to the hike. Heard a few coyotes howling as well but the wildlife after that was limited to several Pikas and one good sized marmot. The first part of the trail has a few raised boardwalks and one stream crossing that wasn't too bad. The trail winds through scrub that's just under head level for awhile until it opens up. There was a lot of traffic on the trail. I was shocked that there was that many people on a weekday morning out there. Great hike but if you're looking for solitude, this is not the place. A work camp is also actively working on the trail and I passed them on the way up and down. I even managed to find one of the worker's gloves and sent it up with another hiker. The weather in the AM was cloudy and visibility at times was pretty limited. On the final push for the summit, it started to combo snow and hail. I reached the summit around 8:40am. I took a few pics and was going to head down when the weather all of a sudden cleared. Had a few more minutes of beautiful views of Evans, the Saw Tooth, Abyss lake etc.. I started my descent at 9am. Weather rolled in pretty quick about an hour into my descent and some serious lightning, thunder, hail, and rain started. I would highly recommend starting this one early and getting out early. I'd say 80% of the hikers on the trail were still heading up. Start this one early. Once you're above the scrub/willows it's all exposed. I can't imagine this hike without the raised wooden boardwalks as it would of been a swamp on the way out. The stream crossing was a little trickier with all the rain. Finally made it to the parking lot at 11am. Great hike and beautiful views. Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

Busy Thursday on Mt Bierstadt

Set out to climb Mt Bierstadt this morning and headed up 285 to Guanella pass road. This road was in great shape and arrived at the parking lot at 5:50am. There were already a good amount of people parked and headed up the trail. I hit the trail at 6am and was off. 2 moose were making their way to one of the lakes for a morning drink and made for a spectacular start to the hike. Heard a few coyotes howling as well but the wildlife after that was limited to several Pikas and one good sized marmot. The first part of the trail has a few raised boardwalks and one stream crossing that wasn't too bad. The trail winds through scrub that's just under head level for awhile until it opens up. There was a lot of traffic on the trail. I was shocked that there was that many people on a weekday morning out there. Great hike but if you're looking for solitude, this is not the place. A work camp is also actively working on the trail and I passed them on the way up and down. I even managed to find one of the worker's gloves and sent it up with another hiker. The weather in the AM was cloudy and visibility at times was pretty limited. On the final push for the summit, it started to combo snow and hail. I reached the summit around 8:40am. I took a few pics and was going to head down when the weather all of a sudden cleared. Had a few more minutes of beautiful views of Evans, the Saw Tooth, Abyss lake etc.. I started my descent at 9am.

Weather rolled in pretty quick about an hour into my descent and some serious lightning, thunder, hail, and rain started. I would highly recommend starting this one early and getting out early. I'd say 80% of the hikers on the trail were still heading up. Start this one early. Once you're above the scrub/willows it's all exposed. I can't imagine this hike without the raised wooden boardwalks as it would of been a swamp on the way out. The stream crossing was a little trickier with all the rain. Finally made it to the parking lot at 11am. Great hike and beautiful views.

Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

Comments or Questions

cftbq	For years... 8/8/2014 1:23pm ...there were no boardwalks, and those who wanted the fairly easy summit of Bierstadt had to endure the soggy slog through the willows. It made for some great stories, and no doubt led to smaller crowds on the summit.
fjellmann	Pre-boardwalk 8/22/2014 12:46am I did it in pre-boardwalk days. It was not pleasant to get so wet at the very beginning of the hike - and again at the end. But that is the way it was...

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