One down… 52 to go.

by Jeremy

Yesterday Annie and I kicked off our pursuit of the Colorado Fourteeners with a hike up Mt. Bierstadt. At 14,060′ it’s number 38 in the ranks of Colorado mountains that are 14,000′ or higher. Some people make it their life’s goal to climb all of them… some people like us. I now have a new Colorado map next to my desk with a push pin marking Mt. Bierstadt. One down… 52 to go. (Annie and I have both climbed a handful of 14ers individually, but the checklist starts fresh now that we’re married and hiking together)

We decided on Mt. Bierstadt because it’s close to Denver and relatively easy. I say relatively… having lived just above sea level for most of our lives, it was no walk in the park… seven miles roundtrip with about 2850′ elevation gain. But we had great weather and made it to the top with no problems.

We left Denver around 5:00 am and reached the trailhead at about 6:45am. By the time we got to the trailhead parking lot, several cars were already there, and by the end of the afternoon, it was quite a crowd on the mountain. Surprisingly this didn’t bother us too much, as we actually liked the comradery as we met people on the trail. We reached the top around 10:00am and ate lunch there, with great weather and very little wind.

Enjoy the photos.