Mt. Lincoln, Mt. Cameron, Mt. Democrat and Mt. Bross Trip Report
Trail: The Decalibron, Class 2, 7 miles, 3600 ft elevation gain
After a few weeks of acclimating to the elevation difference between Colorado and Pennsylvania Jen and I began climbing smaller local peaks. We began with Bear Peak in Boulder and Mt. Audobon in Rocky Mountain National Park. I felt pretty confident that I was capable of handling the altitude and decided to start out my goal of climbing all 54 of the 14'ers with a triple summit.
Jen and I set out around 4:00 in the morning of Wednesday, August 13th, 2003. We headed towards the mountain and were treated with this fantastic view (actually this was after finishing but it was to dark to get a good morning picture). We planned to start around 7:00 but my Leki poles refused to lock and since my knees are bad I spent an hour fiddling with them.
At the time the road to the trailhead seemed pretty bad but I have learned it was tame since then. We headed up the trail and were accompanied by a cross country running team from some university in Iowa.
We summited Democrat in short order and were surprised to see snow on the trail (now it is just par for the course).
On the way down the altitude hit Jen pretty badly so she headed back to the car but I wanted to press on so I told her I would meet her in an hour or two. I felt bad about going on but didn't want to turn back so I jogged over to Lincoln, passing over Cameron on the way.
On Lincoln I met a nice couple and talked with them for awhile, they seemed surprised that I didn't sign the logs but I don't really see the point. I then jogged over to Bross.
I stayed only long enough to snap off a couple of pictures and then headed down. The way down was a scree field which dropped elevation quickly because each step let you slide down several feet. I arrived back at the car by 12:30 and was happy to have finished my first 14'ers. I should add that this triple is very easy and is a good way to start out.