Back in Colorado for my fourth year in a row! This time I decided to start the trip off with a hike up Mt. Belford, a peak with 4,500 feet of gain over a distance of four miles. Quite a bit of gain over a relatively short distance, and it would end up kicking my butt. I think I struggled the most on this peak, out of all the peaks I've done solo, including my first one of Mt. Elbert.
There was plenty of space in the parking lot when I arrived at 6am, and there would maybe be three other people on the trail in the morning, but more would start to arrive later on, and I would run into them on the way down.
The trail started off very steep, but that makes sense due to the short distance and large gain: roughly 1,000 feet per mile. I had to stop a lot early on in order to catch my breath. It continued like this for maybe an hour or so as I made my way through the thick forests.
A few random stream crossings here and there, each with a bridge made up of fallen tree trunks laid across them. There were some grassy clearings mixed in amongst the trees, allowing for some breathing room and the chance to actually get a look ahead on the trail. Eventually the thick forests gave way to small conifer trees, and more open spaces. On the way there are the ruins of an old cabin, and I love exploring old abandoned things.
After two and a half hours I was above the treeline, but still in the shade of the mountains around me while walking through the valley between them due to their steep sides. By now though I can see far ahead on the trail, with some lovely views all around me. And by now the path wasn't that bad actually: it was mostly flat for a good long while.
Maybe an hour later and it was time to start ascending the sides of the valley and begin gaining on the mountain itself. The sun was slowly approaching over the top of the mountains. An hour later, and now four hours into the hike, and I am finlly high enough up to see other peaks around me. The skies are a nice deep blue with small white clouds.
Five hours in and I am now up on the ridge between mountain peaks, with the trail to the summit in sight! 45 minutes later and I am at the summit. There's a couple of other people there who were coming/going and continuing along the trail since it's part of a combo route. I opted for just the single peak this time.
It was windy and chilly at the top, as it usually is in this area. I found the elevation marker left by the USGS, and snapped some photos of my accomplishment. Boy was I tired, but I knew I had a long way to go on my way back down, and there were dark clouds starting to form in the distance.
Speaking of being tired, I slipped on some lose scree right as I started to make my way down, and had some nice cuts and scrapes, but nothing a bandaid and hand sanitizer couldn't handle. I brushed myself off and pushed on.
I didn't take any photos on the way down. I was too eager to get back to the car, and away from any possible afternoon storms. There were some other people coming up as I went down, but for the most part I was alone, which is nice sometimes. I finally made it back to the car three and a half hours later.
What a rough peak to do on day one!
