Multi day 14ers and 13ers

[toasterboy85]

My wife and I are looking to get back into hiking. I have looked throughout the website and find a lot of individual trails, however having difficulty finding multi day trips. Looking for a 3-4 day hike with grade 1 and grade 2. I have spent some time in the wilderness however my wife is somewhat new to the backpacking. Any help is much appreciated. Thank you all in advance. I would prefer front range, mosquito range, Sangre de cristo range due to our location in Texas.

[Fisching]

All the 14ers can be done as day hikes. The lone exception to that is the Chicago Basin, but those are not what you are looking for based on your description. If you haven't done so yet, look at 13ers.com for potential peaks that might be suitable for you and your wife while offering a multi-day overnight experience.

[globreal]

My wife and I are looking to get back into hiking. I have looked throughout the website and find a lot of individual trails, however having difficulty finding multi day trips. Looking for a 3-4 day hike with grade 1 and grade 2. I have spent some time in the wilderness however my wife is somewhat new to the backpacking. Any help is much appreciated. Thank you all in advance. I would prefer front range, mosquito range, Sangre de cristo range due to our location in Texas.

Hi toasterboy,

You title says "14ers and 13ers." However, your actual question doesn't' mention them. Are you looking to climb peaks along with your backpack?

Plus you mention "grade 1 and grade 2." Is this is reference to climbing peaks that don't exceed Class 1 or Class 2 difficulty or is that just for the trail on the backpack?

Hope we can help you find a fun/safe route.

[JeffR]

Not sure what you're looking for. Are you looking for a single 14er with a multi-day approach? Or a group of 14ers that can be done in a few days with a camp? A lot of single 14ers can have approaches as long as you want them, if that's what you're looking for.

[toasterboy85]

Multiple 14ers chained together (might add a few 13ers if possible) with camping along the trail.
Mainly I just want to get an awesome 4 day trek in the wilderness. I have though about finding a group of 3-4 14ers with surrounding 13ers and making a GPS file to chain them together. I just didn't know if someone had already done one. Start and one TH then hike around and return to that same TH.
Globreal: Yes this would be backpacking with a pack to the summit and NO grade 3/4 due to inexperience. I apologize for the vagueness of my request.

[Jim Davies]

You might be surprised how often this question comes up - a multiday backpack loop with summit side trips. I'm not sure there is such a trip in Colorado with class 1/2 only - the closest might be the Four Pass Loop with a climb of Snowmass. It's also possible to put together one-way hikes on the Colorado Trail with side trips to 14ers along the Sawatch range, although making a good loop isn't easy - a shuttle hike with cars at both ends is possible over several sections, though.

You might be able to put something together south of Breckenridge with the Wheeler Trail and some of the 13ers in the area, maybe even including 14er Quandary. Again I'm not sure how to make a good loop - maybe somebody who's more familiar with the area could suggest something.

[jdorje]

Sangre de Cristo, North Crestone Trailhead

Day 1: Hike up to North Crestone lake (take the lake aka rightmost fork), set up camp.
Day 2: Move your camp down and then up the middle fork (Comanche pass) as far as you can.
Day 3: Pack up camp and take the trail up to Comanche pass, then across to Venable Pass through the Phantom Terrace, then down the Venable Trail (all class 1). Follow Venable Pass trail down to the west and camp one last time somewhere in the basin below Venable. This is by far the "longest" of the 4 days.
Day 4: Hike out (won't take long).

The above is all Class 1 (meaning on-trail - I assume that's the same as Grade 1, but I have no idea really).

Optional: Climb Fluted Peak (13554 - class 2) from North Crestone lake. Highly recommended; may be done either Day 1 or Day 2.
Optional: Climb Comanche Peak (13.3k - class 2) from Comanche Pass - return straight down to the pass again after.
Optional: Climb Spring Mountain (13.3k - class 2) from somewhere between Comanche Pass and the Spring/Venable saddle. Head back down to the trail after, but not necessarily to the same spot.
Optional: Climb Venable Peak (13.4k - class 2) from the Spring/Venable saddle. Return back to the trail after - don't be tempted to "shortcut" across to Venable Pass. Also highly recommended. If you leave your packs behind, make sure they are marmot-proof.
Optional: on Day 4, hike up the trail to the north of the Venable basin and head up Eureka Mountain (class 2...I think). Potentially makes Day 4 into another long day. Or you could take a shorter exploration into the Groundhog Basin.

The hardest part of the route is getting across the Phantom Terrace, as this is a long day for a flatlander with an overnight pack, and is about +600 feet of elevation gain for each of the possible 3 peaks. Splitting up day 2 into two days (one day just to climb Fluted Peak and hang out at the lake, then another day to move over to camp below Comanche Pass) would be the natural extension. There are some decent Class 3 options in the area as well (particularly the Centennial Mount Adams); however, this is extremely dangerous terrain and you should make sure you know where you are going and how difficult it is before leaving the trail. Compare the mileage (distance) and vertical (gross elevation gain - very important) for each day and compare to what you think you're up to if you want to try to plan with more precision.

There are people on this site who could do the whole length of this route by noon, but for an average person it would be difficult to fit it into less than 4 days. If I were to take a non-mountaineer up for a 4-day hike this is the one I would pick! Although this is a well-maintained trailhead (easy 2wd), you are not likely to see many (if any) people on the route. Make sure you sign in at the trailhead and list your expected duration and route (and leave it with a friend to report if you are overdue).

If you do the hike during monsoon season (aka now) beware of thunderstorms forming in the afternoon.

Note, this isn't fully a loop, and it includes no 14ers (though it has great views of them). Like Jim points out, such options are relatively few. Most of the Colorado mountain ranges are relatively linear, making loops limited. And if you look only around 14ers then 90% of the choices are gone.