The DeCaLiBron loop is a trail that summits four Colorado fourteeners: Mount Democrat, Mount Cameron, Mount Lincoln, and Mount Bross (there’s a bypass trail just beneath the technical summit of Mount Bross, which is private property, that counts as a summit). This loop has been closed for extended durations in the past due to property and liability issues, so this was a set of peaks I wanted to complete while access was allowed.
It was the Never Summer 60K race that brought me to Colorado for the final weekend of July 2024. It was a whirlwind weekend of adventure. I flew out on a Thursday and met up with my friend Matt (who also flew in from Michigan on a different flight) for dinner at Sherpa House in Golden.
On Friday, Matt and I braved the heat and wildfire smoke and did a short hike at Devil’s Backbone Open Space in Loveland.
We also hiked a mile at the Gateway Natural Area along Highway 14, in the Poudre River Canyon.
From there, we continued west to Gould, Colorado and picked up our race bibs and completed the mandatory gear check before grabbing dinner in Walden. We ran the Never Summer 60K on Friday, July 26. It was a great event, and it gets its own blog post which you can read HERE.
On Saturday, Matt drove back to Denver to fly home to Michigan (we had our own rental cars) and I drove west to Steamboat Springs. It was my first time there, so I grabbed breakfast downtown and admired the hot air balloons dotting the sky and the views from highway pull-offs overlooking the city and valley.
I stopped nearby for a 10K run up and down Rabbit Ears Peak, which is part of the Run Rabbit Run 50 miler course. The views there were pretty outstanding, and all sorts of wildflowers were in bloom!
Then it was on to Salida for calzones, lasagna, and cannoli with Phil and Julia (thank you for dinner!!!).
Alright, without further ado, here’s the DeCaLiBron part of the story!
Decalibron Loop – July 28, 2024
So, it was after an already busy and exhausting few days that I embarked on my first attempt to snag the summits of four Colorado fourteeners in a single hike. It’s a relatively easy way to pick up some peaks, with only about 4,000′ elevation gain and 8 miles for these four peaks (easier than many of the routes for the more difficult individual fourteeners). Still, at that elevation it is quite a workout, and my legs were tired!
I met up with my friends Ryan (who I first met in 2022 when we climbed Shavano and Tabeguache together) and Leslie (who I met in March 2024 for a hike in Boulder) for this one. With a clear sky forecast for the day, we went with a 7am start and that turned out to be just fine. I’m now 17/17 on picking good weather days, months in advance from Michigan, for fourteener hikes and still haven’t had to abort a climb. Fingers crossed for continued luck on that… front (<- weather pun intentional). We opted to complete the loop in the counterclockwise direction, which I’m calling the BroLiCaDem Loop. We met at the Kite Lake Campground trailhead and started our ascent of Bross at about 7:30am.
The vegetation and waterfall views quickly gave way to an immense mound of loose rock as we climbed slow and steady up the slopes of Mount Bross.
Looking back at the parking lot and Kite Lake from the upper slopes of Mount Bross:
The summit of Mount Bross is private property, and hikers must stay on the designated bypass trail that passes just under the technical summit (this officially counts as a summit of Mount Bross). Additionally, we had to sign an online waiver before we started this hike. In addition to respecting private property rights, which is crucial for keeping this trail open for future public access, there are risks associated with mining activities that make going off trail potentially dangerous up there.
Looking over at Mount Democrat (left), Mount Cameron (right), and the saddle between them from near the summit of Mount Bross:
After “summitting” Mount Bross, the saddle to Mount Lincoln was relatively easy. I was feeling a little bit of altitude sickness (nausea and vertigo), but Ryan gave me an electrolyte beverage and I started feeling better after that. The wind picked up on the way to the summit of Mount Lincoln.
It was a fun little final approach to the summit of Lincoln:
With views of Quandary to our left (right side of of the photo below), visible from the ridge to Lincoln’s summit:
The highlight, for me, of summitting Mount Lincoln was seeing mountain goats fairly up-close!!! Including a baby one!
Summit selfie from Mount Lincoln!
The trip from the summit of Mount Lincoln to the summit of Mount Cameron was short and easy. Surely the easiest of the 58 Colorado fourteeners that I’ll do. You can see from the photo below that it was an easy downhill off of Mount Lincoln and just a little hike up an easy trail to Mount Cameron (left side in the photo below; you can see a group of people on it). Not shown in the photo is the wind! Probably gusting up to 30 mph up on that ridge, so I had my jacket hood on and the strap of my hat cinched tight!).
Looking back at Mount Lincoln from the summit of Mount Cameron:
From Cameron, it was a steeper, deeper descent down the saddle. This made for a some easier travel for a little while, but with every step down I knew that would mean a step that had to be gained to ascend to the top of Mount Democrat.
Leslie caught me loving life at >14,000′:
Mount Democrat seemed to loom larger the closer we got to it, and the trail dipped deceptively lower than I thought it would.
We took a snack break on the saddle. Leslie had to get back to Boulder (and she had already summitted Democrat on a previous hike), so she split off and headed down to her car. Ryan stuck with me for for one more tough climb. Tough, because it had been a long day at elevation, and because the trail up Democrat was steep talus that required some big steps and careful footing.
Looking back at the trail coming down from Mount Cameron (climbing Cameron from the Mount Democrat side is a lot more work than climbing it from the Bross/Lincoln side!).
This was the trail up Democrat:
After a steep grind up the talus, the trail plateaus for bit and there was a little bit of snow there. From there, just a short little final climb and Ryan and I were atop our fourth fourteener of the day, and my seventeenth overall!
Summit photos:
It was a pleasant afternoon to hang out on the summit and no major clouds in sight, so we spent some time enjoying the views before making our way back down. It got warm fast, so I shed the jacket.
View from the trail descending off of Mount Democrat, looking toward Kite Lake and the trailhead:
One last look back:
After our successful hike, Ryan and I headed into Fairplay for lunch at Asian Fusion. We just happened to pass through Fairplay during Burro Days, and I got to see runners racing with donkeys! A burro race is something that piques my curiosity and I’d consider running one of those events some day.
After lunch, and an hour in air conditioning, Ryan headed back to Colorado Springs and I went back to my hotel in Poncha Springs. I vegged our for the rest of the evening, aside from a walk the The Hunger Shack for dinner (a catfish sandwich, French fries, and a root beer).
The next day, Monday, was the last full day of my trip (I had a 6:00am flight back to Detroit on Tuesday). I made the most of it. I made the drive up to Nederland to meet a new ultrarunner friend, Juliet (and her dog Odin), for an eight-mile trail run to Diamond Lake. It was a scenic and flowy trail with an alpine lake and river crossing and more wildflowers!
We had a post-run late lunch at Hapa Sushi Grill and Sake Bar in Boulder (yum!!!), and then I capped off my July 2024 Colorado Adventure with a solo hike up the First-Second Flatiron Trail in Boulder. The views from the top were so worth the 1,000′ climb on exhausted legs!
