rwpontius
07-13-2007, 06:43 AM
Mount Elbert is the highest point in Colorado at 14, 433 feet. It is just SW of Leadville, CO in the Sawatch Range.
I did a fair amount of online research before heading to Leadville but somehow was still confused about where to go to locate the trailhead or even which trailhead to use. I think this was mostly because different sources seemed to use different names. Once I got to Leadville I picked up the National Geographic map of the area and my confusion was cleared up!
I left from the Mt. Elbert Trailhead on the Halfmoon Creek Road. The road in is pretty much all dirt and gravel but any car could drive it without too much trouble. I was driving an old 2-wheel drive pickup and had no problems and saw lots of cars at the trailhead. Another good point about this road is that the Mt. Massive Trailhead is within a half a mile of the Mt. Elbert TH.
Mt. Elbert has several routes to the summit. The NE Ridge Trail from the Mt. Elbert Trailhead seems to be the most popular although not the easiest. The other popular trail goes up the east ridge and leaves from a trailhead off of the Independence Pass road.
Initially, the NE Ridge trail travels through timber for over a mile. Timberline on this trail is about 11,800 feet. Probably the single defining characteristic of the trail is that it climbs steeply pretty much without a break from the trailhead to the summit. The grade is just under 1,000 feet per mile significantly less than Borah but plenty steep when the summit is over 14,000 feet. The trail is very easy to follow the whole way. While there is a lot of tundra vegetation and quite a few wildflowers it is still pretty rocky especially when compared to the Mt. Massive Trail.
There are about three false summits that can be heartbreaking when you believe you are about to the top and another ridge appears high above you as you top out on a false summit. Generally other than being steep and high the trail is not difficult. There is nothing I would call exposure on the route although a few places the trail can be slick with dust on rocks.
If one plans to go on the weekend be prepared for large crowds. When I left the trailhead Saturday morning at 5:00 AM there were only 5 or 6 vehicles in the lot. Several of those people left as early as 2:00 or 3:00 AM. When I got back at 11:00 AM there were no parking spaces and cars were parked along the entry road. The weekdays I was in the area parking did not seem to be a problem.
As you would expect this is a very popular trail and I saw lots of people heading up as I was heading out. About a half a dozen had dogs with them. Interestingly, the dogs scared up a number of ptarmigan that I wouldn
I did a fair amount of online research before heading to Leadville but somehow was still confused about where to go to locate the trailhead or even which trailhead to use. I think this was mostly because different sources seemed to use different names. Once I got to Leadville I picked up the National Geographic map of the area and my confusion was cleared up!
I left from the Mt. Elbert Trailhead on the Halfmoon Creek Road. The road in is pretty much all dirt and gravel but any car could drive it without too much trouble. I was driving an old 2-wheel drive pickup and had no problems and saw lots of cars at the trailhead. Another good point about this road is that the Mt. Massive Trailhead is within a half a mile of the Mt. Elbert TH.
Mt. Elbert has several routes to the summit. The NE Ridge Trail from the Mt. Elbert Trailhead seems to be the most popular although not the easiest. The other popular trail goes up the east ridge and leaves from a trailhead off of the Independence Pass road.
Initially, the NE Ridge trail travels through timber for over a mile. Timberline on this trail is about 11,800 feet. Probably the single defining characteristic of the trail is that it climbs steeply pretty much without a break from the trailhead to the summit. The grade is just under 1,000 feet per mile significantly less than Borah but plenty steep when the summit is over 14,000 feet. The trail is very easy to follow the whole way. While there is a lot of tundra vegetation and quite a few wildflowers it is still pretty rocky especially when compared to the Mt. Massive Trail.
There are about three false summits that can be heartbreaking when you believe you are about to the top and another ridge appears high above you as you top out on a false summit. Generally other than being steep and high the trail is not difficult. There is nothing I would call exposure on the route although a few places the trail can be slick with dust on rocks.
If one plans to go on the weekend be prepared for large crowds. When I left the trailhead Saturday morning at 5:00 AM there were only 5 or 6 vehicles in the lot. Several of those people left as early as 2:00 or 3:00 AM. When I got back at 11:00 AM there were no parking spaces and cars were parked along the entry road. The weekdays I was in the area parking did not seem to be a problem.
As you would expect this is a very popular trail and I saw lots of people heading up as I was heading out. About a half a dozen had dogs with them. Interestingly, the dogs scared up a number of ptarmigan that I wouldn