Missouri Mountain Trip Report 08/23/2015

Peak(s):	Missouri Mountain - 14,071 feet Mt. Oxford - 14,158 feet Mt. Belford - 14,202 feet
Date Posted:	08/23/2015
Date Climbed:	08/16/2015
Author:	dirtbagdame

Order of Operations: Missouri, Oxford, Belford
Miles: 16.4 Gain: 7,300ft Time: 8:22min Advice: Easiest/fastest way to summit all 3 is to do Missouri first and then Belford/Oxford/Belford. 6:30am - Trailhead The first part of the trail is steep-ish and sustained, which thwarted my plan of trail running the first few miles. It's easy to loose the trail at the river crossing about a mile in. Although the trail seems overgrown and logs obstruct the view of the path on the other side, that's where you need to go. It's 2.3 miles from the trailhead to the elk / Missouri trail split (according to strava). I recommend going right and continuing toward Missouri to avoid the gnarly switchbacks that lead directly to the summit of Belford. After another 2 miles of easy trail running I reached another fork and took the trail on the right to summit Missouri. The trail on the left goes to Belford. 9:15am - Missouri Mt. Summit After some steep talus and 3 false summits I arrived at the true summit. I recommend hiking shoes with traction or trekking poles due to the brief steep and exposed section at the 2nd false summit. The way back down to the link up trails goes lickety-split if you can talus hop, otherwise it's knee torture. 10am Trailhead split Sunscreen time! Made it back down in under 45 minutes in time to reapply before heading out promptly at 10am. The 2 mile linkup trail to Belford is a beautiful and gentle incline. Two boys (David and Johnny) caught up with me at that point and decided they'd join me in my endeavor to summit all three that day. Turns out they're both competitive runners so I knew I'd really have to push it if I wanted to keep up with them. 11:06am - Mt. Belford We checked the time and noted it would be 3 miles there and back. The party that was just returning over the Belford ridge from Oxford said it had taken them 2 hours to go there and back. The boys thought they could do it in an hour and I estimated it would take me 1.5 hours given my splits. We decided to go for it. 11:45am - Mt. Oxford I made it up about 5 minutes behind the boys. We snapped the briefest of summit photos and jogged back down to the saddle. Hail began to fall as I trudged up the last few hundred feet of gain on the climb back to Belford. The boys were no longer in view having gained a fair bit of distance on me and I was very aware of the fact that I was alone and the last person on the trail between Oxford and Belford. My legs felt trashed from the three 14er summits that day, two 14ers (Tabeguache and Shavano) the day before, and from the Elbert and Massive linkup the Sunday before. But no matter how much I wanted to, I knew I couldn't stop until tree line if I wanted to avoid another lighting experience. So with that thought in mind, I sucked it up and forced myself to pick up the pace. 12:30pm Mt. Belford I met the David and Johnny on top of Belford and was surprised to see 10 or so other hikers up there just gazing at the incoming storm. Perhaps they had received an updated forecast that there would be no storm, but I didn't want to stick around to find out. The hail had stopped, but I didn't pause to take a photo. Rather, I barreled down toward tree line thinking another lighting storm was imminent (and of course it didn't even rain or thunder at all that day!) 1:30pm Tree Line Tree line ended up being further away than I had thought (~1.5 or 2miles). We ended up passing multiple parties that we had passed on the way up to Missouri, which made me think that our route, though covering 3 peaks instead of 2, had been way easier than just doing the 2 from that first Elk trail split. We reached tree line and sat down to give our knees a rest from the relentless and steep downhill switchbacks. If I were to do this again, I would return down the Missouri link trail even though it adds 2 miles. The steep switchbacks are just not worth the knee pain. 2:45pm Trailhead Unable to trail run ahead with David because of knee and ankle pain, I walked behind. Johnny hiked with me last 2.3 miles and we laughed at the fact that no matter how short the descent below tree line actually is, it always feels like an eternity getting back to the car. Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

Order of Operations: Missouri, Oxford, Belford

Miles: 16.4
Gain: 7,300ft
Time: 8:22min

Advice: Easiest/fastest way to summit all 3 is to do Missouri first and then Belford/Oxford/Belford.

6:30am - Trailhead
The first part of the trail is steep-ish and sustained, which thwarted my plan of trail running the first few miles. It's easy to loose the trail at the river crossing about a mile in. Although the trail seems overgrown and logs obstruct the view of the path on the other side, that's where you need to go. It's 2.3 miles from the trailhead to the elk / Missouri trail split (according to strava). I recommend going right and continuing toward Missouri to avoid the gnarly switchbacks that lead directly to the summit of Belford. After another 2 miles of easy trail running I reached another fork and took the trail on the right to summit Missouri. The trail on the left goes to Belford.

9:15am - Missouri Mt. Summit
After some steep talus and 3 false summits I arrived at the true summit. I recommend hiking shoes with traction or trekking poles due to the brief steep and exposed section at the 2nd false summit. The way back down to the link up trails goes lickety-split if you can talus hop, otherwise it's knee torture.

10am Trailhead split
Sunscreen time! Made it back down in under 45 minutes in time to reapply before heading out promptly at 10am. The 2 mile linkup trail to Belford is a beautiful and gentle incline. Two boys (David and Johnny) caught up with me at that point and decided they'd join me in my endeavor to summit all three that day. Turns out they're both competitive runners so I knew I'd really have to push it if I wanted to keep up with them.

11:06am - Mt. Belford
We checked the time and noted it would be 3 miles there and back. The party that was just returning over the Belford ridge from Oxford said it had taken them 2 hours to go there and back. The boys thought they could do it in an hour and I estimated it would take me 1.5 hours given my splits. We decided to go for it.

11:45am - Mt. Oxford
I made it up about 5 minutes behind the boys. We snapped the briefest of summit photos and jogged back down to the saddle. Hail began to fall as I trudged up the last few hundred feet of gain on the climb back to Belford. The boys were no longer in view having gained a fair bit of distance on me and I was very aware of the fact that I was alone and the last person on the trail between Oxford and Belford. My legs felt trashed from the three 14er summits that day, two 14ers (Tabeguache and Shavano) the day before, and from the Elbert and Massive linkup the Sunday before. But no matter how much I wanted to, I knew I couldn't stop until tree line if I wanted to avoid another lighting experience. So with that thought in mind, I sucked it up and forced myself to pick up the pace.

12:30pm Mt. Belford
I met the David and Johnny on top of Belford and was surprised to see 10 or so other hikers up there just gazing at the incoming storm. Perhaps they had received an updated forecast that there would be no storm, but I didn't want to stick around to find out. The hail had stopped, but I didn't pause to take a photo. Rather, I barreled down toward tree line thinking another lighting storm was imminent (and of course it didn't even rain or thunder at all that day!)

1:30pm Tree Line
Tree line ended up being further away than I had thought (~1.5 or 2miles). We ended up passing multiple parties that we had passed on the way up to Missouri, which made me think that our route, though covering 3 peaks instead of 2, had been way easier than just doing the 2 from that first Elk trail split. We reached tree line and sat down to give our knees a rest from the relentless and steep downhill switchbacks. If I were to do this again, I would return down the Missouri link trail even though it adds 2 miles. The steep switchbacks are just not worth the knee pain.

2:45pm Trailhead
Unable to trail run ahead with David because of knee and ankle pain, I walked behind. Johnny hiked with me last 2.3 miles and we laughed at the fact that no matter how short the descent below tree line actually is, it always feels like an eternity getting back to the car.

Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

Comments or Questions

SES_17	Knee Pain 8/24/2015 8:51am I sympathize with you. Doing all 3 peaks in one day is quite a haul. I did Bel/Ox last week and the last mile to the TH (switchbacks) was brutal on my knees. I came down the Elkhead Pass route as well to avoid the switchbacks on Belford and was glad I did. The extra milage was worth it (IMO).
TheF79	Knees indeed 8/24/2015 12:34pm I did Bel/Ox and MO on separate trips, and both times my (different) hiking partner struggled with knee pain on those final switchbacks above the TH. Mine were sore from it, but not quite to the "pain" point. Must be something about the angle that plays hell with tired joints.
climbnowworklater	Well done 8/25/2015 12:35pm Way to get the trio in one haul. Must agree that Belford is brutal on the knees. Excellent time as well.
Tony Esparza	Great Time! 8/31/2015 4:24pm Detailed advice on this Trio.
shizupple	Damn! 7/28/2016 9:36am This sounds like a big day. Impressive times!!
christo1417	Clarifying question 5/4/2017 5:07pm Thank you for posting this info. I'm planning to hike the colorado trail this summer and I want to do these three at the same time just like yourself. Quick question for you about your route. When you went from Missouri to the other two, what trail did you take. Is there a ridge line trail that connects the two or did you drop into the gully and then climb again? Thank you in advance for your help

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