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Mount Elbert was named in honor of Samuel Hitt Elbert (1833-1899) who served eight years as Chief Justice of the Colorado State Supreme Court; was appointed by President Lincoln as Territorial Secretary; and served as the sixth Territorial Governor. |
Colorado's highpoint is located approximately 12 miles southwest of Leadville in the San Isabel National Forest of Lake County. |
Our Mt. Elbert hike was made on the last day of our two-week vacation to Utah and Colorado (a late honeymoon). We spent the previous night at the Mt. Elbert Lodge in Twin Lakes. The lodge is located near the steepest of three trailheads to the summit of Mt. Elbert. After waking relatively early we drove to the Lake view campground in Twin Lakes, parked the car and set out on the trail at 7:15 a.m. We were told not to worry too much about lightning on Elbert (this against all other warnings about other 14er’s in Colorado). We walked about 2 miles on a fire-road to the "official trail head." Meanwhile at least two 4-wheel drive vehicles passed us on the "not made for rental cars" road, arriving at the trailhead more rested than us.
The hike began immediately uphill, and wound through at least 1-½ miles of aspen stands. We were grateful for the shade as we had already worked up quite a sweat. Once we cleared the colorful aspen trees the trail continued steeply and didn’t letup until we reached the summit. As we hiked through grassy field full of wild flowers, it wasn’t clear to me which of the various mountain tops we were headed for. Half a mile later the ascent became a little more gradual until we cleared the meadow and hit boulder fields, then the hike became more of a climb strait up and toward an obvious peak.
The altitude started to slow us (easterners) down, and I got a little dizzy and sick but we trudged on thinking the summit was within eyesight, but much to our dismay there were several false summits. Several hikers now on their way down indicated we were finishing the toughest part of the hike. Still thinking the top was just around the corner, we hiked on only to find we had at least 300 yards to go. Fortunately the final approach was along lengthy switchback trails, affording us an easier hike.
We summited after 4-½ hours, and very excited we hadn’t turned around. After signing the register, we took a few pictures, and then descended after 15 minutes on the summit. It took us 3 ½ hours to hike back to the car.
| 12.4 miles round trip | 4,850 feet elevation gain | 8:00 hours round trip | USGS Benchmark on summit |
Copyright © 2000 Mel and Melinda's Highpoints. All Rights Reserved. This page was last updated on 02/15/12 .