DeCaLiBro!!

Not much to update on the end of last week before I get in to the weekend re-cap. Swimming did not happen - so that is a necessity for Monday or Tuesday with the OWS (open water swim) on Thursday - as long as I can get out of work kind of early. I did get in a 45 min cycle at the gym on Thursday. It was interval-esque. I would ride for 4 min at good pace and then crank up resistance and stand up and ride for 1 minute and repeat. Friday I did not want to do too much and just did intervals for 2 miles on the treadmill - alternating between 6.0 and 6.6 every 1/4 mile. Between the two days also did abs/arms/pushups.


After work on Friday, Aaron and I loaded up the truck and headed up to Kite Lake, which is the trailhead for the hike we were tackling on Saturday. Our plan was to do three 14ers (Democrat/Cameron/Lincoln and also basically do Bross...but it is closed)...acronym = DeCaLiBro. There are saddles between the peaks so you don't actually climb all the way down between them...luckily!

Headed to DeCaLiBro...peaks on the right

We arrived at the trailhead at 8:30 and there was still enough light to find a place to pitch our tent and then wait for the rest of the group. Kelsey, her friend Mark, and Kat were about an hour behind us. We were probably the 4th or 5th car there and they continued to roll in throughout the night! We lit up the jetboil and enjoyed some hot chocolate :-)

After the rest the group arrived and set up camp, we enjoyed some raw smores (thanks Kat!) and headed to bed around 11...wakeup time was 4 AM! Unfortunately no one slept well. Sleeping at 12,000 ft is hard!

The group was on the trail by 5 AM and it looked like it was going to be a gorgeous day.  Here is a pic of the trail and elevation too. We went up to the left. At the first saddle we went left and over to Democrat, then back to the saddle and up Cameron and then over to Lincoln. An adventure on the way down...

Ready to hit the trail @ 5 AM!

Rocky trail up to the saddle

Saddle! 1 hour 20 min, 1.41 miles, 1300 ft elevation gain

Dogs ready for a treat

After the saddle, there was some steep elevation with lots of rocks. You sort of switchback through them, but don't be fooled this isn't the top. Once you crest over you'll see this snowfield below and the end is very close!

Heading up final part of Democrat

Kat, Panda and Kels on Democrat

Crew on the top of Democrat

 Ok that needs some explanation...I have frequently talked about our love for Park Burger after a grueling workout as a treat. Luckily for us hikers, the first group to take the Park Burger flag to the top of a 14er and take a picture gets 2 burgers and 2 beers! None of the 3 we did were on the list, and we wanted to get creative with the pictures :-)

Me and AA - 14er of the season!

Headed back down..pictures don't do justice!

After Democrat, we headed down to the saddle and started up Cameron. This was another rocky trail. Starting at the saddle you lose 1000 ft of elevation in .7 miles and gain it back just as quickly. When we got to the top we actually questioned if we were there...it was anticlimactic. We took our pics though! 

Ellie did so great all day! On top of Cameron

Cameron Park Burger pic

Love this shot - view leaving Cameron over to Lincoln

After Cameron, the toughest stuff was behind us. We headed over to Lincoln and the sky was gorgeous. At the top we celebrated with lunch. There were a few people when we got there and by the time we finished pictures - 15-20 people were enjoying the views and accomplishment.

Henry taking a breather on top of Lincoln

Love the clouds! Crew on Lincoln...L to R (Kat, Kels, AA, Panda, Mark)

Aaron probably holding his stomach because he was feeling awful altitude sickness

 Aaron's trip update! 

Poor Scarlet had a tough time on the rocks! Luckily we had socks and used Henry's booties!

Although the clouds look great in the above pictures - it was evident the clouds and storms were moving in fast. We could already see it storming in the distance (in many directions). One big thing for 14ers is getting off the mountain by around noon because of the storms. This is why we left so early! Even leaving so early, I was really nervous how it would end up.


We headed down Lincoln and the normal route continues to Bross and around the side of it. It looked long and far, with even more elevation gain. Bross is closed to the public, although some people do summit it since the trail is only a few hundred feet from the top. After about 1.5 miles of hiking we reached a decision point. We could either continue around the side of Bross and go off trail down a very sleep 'washout' area of rocks. I am NOT one to do anything that isn't allowed, but I also was so scared of the impending storms I was all for the fastest route. So we made a group decision to head down. It was very steep, rocky, and no trail. It was easy to sort of ski through the big sections of rocks. It was toughest for Kat since she has some knee problems from torn ACLs, AA was feeling awful from altitude sickness and poor Scarlet had torn up pads and was struggling. We all continued down though and tried to be as careful as possible. With the sight of a big snow area - Kels and I knew we wanted to 'glissade' where you sit on your butt and just coast down. It sure beat climbing down the rocks. Soon after AA picked up Ellie and coasted down. It was a nice break to the grueling rocks. Mark was helping Scarlet down a bunch in the rocks too. The girls got ahead and we basically ran back to the car once we reached the grass, which was still a good mile away. We were SO happy to be down off the mountain...and it was only 12:15! We packed up quickly and headed back to Denver to get our Park Burger! It was an awesome day and I easily got 9.5 hours of sleep!

Glissading down Wash Out

Scarlet and Henry - relaxing at the car!

 Aaron's trip update!