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Mount Bierstadt- Guanella Pass Trailhead
Round trip- 6.1 miles
Trip time- 6.5 hours
This trail was more crowded than I-70.
We hit the parking lot at 6:30 a.m. Saturday morning and got one of the last available spots. We started down the trail (6:36 a.m.) right as the sun was coming up over the peaks, and headed into the willows.
You can see Bierstadt in the distance and its summit is visible for most of the hike. We had to wait in line to get a registration tag, a sign of things to come, and started along the walkways through the willows.
The trail was easy to follow, and there were lines of heads bobbing up the mountain. After climbing out of the thick willow brush to the south there are a couple switchbacks that were the first challenging climb. A lot of the less serious hikers started to drop off here.
We came up over a ridge and got a good look at the summit. It was a little deceptive because it looks closer than it is. Here is a shot with the route to the summit.
This climb grew steeper the higher we got, and the path goes from packed dirt to rocky scrambles.
Look back down the trail at ascending climbers.
Once we hit the ridge it was a simple scramble to the summit. The last bit is a little steep, but easy to find a trail through.
A marker leading to the summit.
We hit the summit around 9:30 a.m. and it was a zoo. There were at least 50 people up there. Virtually everyone who signed the log commented it was their first 14er. Lots of t-shirts and jeans on this peak, I hiked Evans last Sunday and that peak was less crowded than Bierstadt!
Here is a shot looking east at Mount Evans.
Here is the Sawtooth route between Bierstadt and Evans.
Having summited Evans earlier this week from Echo Lake, a 14-mile trip, I think it would have been easier to do the Sawtooth and cap both at once.
We celebrated with a lunch on the east edge of the summit. There were no winds and clear skies the half an hour we were up there.
Summit geological marker
Crowds swarming the summit.
The decent went slow because my wife rolled her ankle in the boulders near the top, but she was able to make it down OK.
This shot gives a good look at the grade down.
By noon clouds were rolling in, but there were still more people going up than down.
We reached the trailhead by 1:30 p.m. Great hike, but if you go on a Saturday be ready for crowds galore.
look back at the summit as we headed home.
Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):
Are you sure you werent in NYC? Way too many people. I am glad I sumitted Bierstadt in the winter.. There was no one up there!
Good JOb!
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Way too many people. I am glad I sumitted Bierstadt in the winter.. There was no one up there!