After our experience on Mt. Shavano, we made sure to carry as much water as humanly possible for our attempt of the DeCaLiBro-n combination route two days later. The name comes from the four peaks above 14,000 feet that are all connected via ridges, and thus do-able in a single day. The names are [De]mocrat, [Ca]meron, [Li]ncoln, and [Bro]ss. That last one is technically off-limits to the public and is private land, so we didn't attempt to do it.
One good thing about this trail is that there's only about 2,000 feet of elevation gain from the trailhead at Kite Lake to the first peak, since we're starting at 12,000 feet. We spent the night at the trailhead parking lot, sleeping in the car, in order to get somewhat acclimated to the elevation. It's not easy starting at 12,000 feet unless you are acclimated.
A lovely pink sunrise greeted us as we set out at around 7:00 am. No need for a pre-dawn start since we didn't have much gain to make. The trail started off nice and gentle, and then started to climb via switchbacks as we got closer to the col at the base of the first peak.
There were lots of old mining building materials lying around, mostly rusting pieces of metal that had stained the rocks around them, and some old mine entrances that were now caved in.
And did I mention that it was another hike without trees! You can see anything you want at any given time, and see as far as the mountains will let you. And you can see how far you have to go on the trail, which is always nice. Case-in- point the views of Kite Lake did not dissapoint (it definitely looks like a kite).
We stopped and rested here and there. It wasn't too bad of a trail, and the conditions weren't as bad as Mt. Shavano from a couple of days ago. Especially since we were each carrying an extra liter of water this time. And by 9am we were at the col below the first summit: Democrat. Less than an hour later and we made the summit. After some pictures it was time to head back down to the col, and start the next summit: Cameron.
There was a lot of loose rock on the way over to Cameron, but we made it about 1.5 hours later. We looked out and back on the trail, and out at the summit of Democrat. Our spirits were definitely very high at this point! Two down, one to go. Cameron was sort of shaped like a dome, which meant the trail down towards our next one, Lincoln, was a gentle slope.
Lincoln wasn't all that bad either, just some minor scrambling just below the tippity-top, with a long flat section in the middle between the two peaks. We made the last summit by 12:30 pm. From here we could nearly see the entire trail from start to finish. Looking back at Cameron from Lincoln makes Cameron look like a floating rocky island in the sky.
Time to head back down, back the way we came, up and over Cameron, and then back down the col below Democrat, and then the switchbacks back down to Kite Lake. We practically raced down the trail, eager to get back to the car and call this a very big win!
