Mt Belford

Since the family was out of town, I had been planning to put some 14ers under my belt. While I was initially intending to go by myself, an AF friend of mine, Barry Graham, was coming to town and I was able to talk him into going. Although he does like hiking he's at a distinct disadvantage because he lives in Florida. The altitude gains are always significant for me but for him they are phenomenal.

Barry flew into Colorado Springs on Friday morning and by 12 my Jeep was loaded and we were on our way to Buena Vista. After a quick stop in Woodland Park for lunch, we arrived in BV around 3. We got some gas and stopped at the Trail Head. If you are ever in BV and need to re-supply, I recommend this place. Nice, knowledgeable salespeople and very friendly. From there we headed a little further north to Chaffee County Road 390 and the town of Winfield, CO. Not really a town per se, but a collection of some buildings from the 1800's. We camped just across the creek from the town in a nice spot within view of the only vault toilet. After setting up our tents, we realized we didn't have bug spray and would need it. We got back in the Jeep and went back to City Market in town to get some spray. From there we decided to eat dinner in town at Jan's. We had been here before when we attempted Harvard last fall. Finished up dinner and went back to our camp site. We stayed outside talking and reading till about 8:30 or so and headed for bed.

We woke up the next morning at 5 and had some quick breakfast, finished dressing and made the short 4 mile trip to the trailhead (in my Jeep!). There were already a number of cars at the trailhead but we found parking and headed up the Missouri Gulch trail about 6:30. If you're not familiar with the trail, it quickly gains elevation with a number of switchbacks (Barry was keeping count but I can't remember how many).


Barry doing the kind of prep I tend to forget

After about an hour or so we crossed the creek and made our way to the fork. We did pass a number of tents approaching timberline and some beyond. I think that would be a neat way to approach these. That being, hike up and spend the night (day one), summit one or more the next (day two) and then come back down (day three). Back to our hike. We reached the fork and had already decided to go for Belford. Our initial thought was to start with MO and then swing around and bag Belford and then Oxford. We did see some people going for MO but most we spoke with were doing Belford.

Weather-wise it was cloudy the whole day, in fact it had even rained some while we were getting ready. No lightning but that didn't stop me from being concerned (more to come ...).

While we spoke with a number of people, all of whom seemed very polite, we spoke with one man who said he and his group had started at 1:00 A.M! When discussing the weather he said they ran into rain and some snow but the snow quickly melted off.

We were making good time until around 13,000 feet when Barry said I should go on by myself. He was determined to make it but felt he would need more time than I would. We both agreed it was good and I pushed on at a slightly faster pace, hoping to get Oxford as well. (Barry later said my leaving took some of the pressure off of him). I pushed myself a little more and also got more fatigued. I made it to the summit just before 11 and found just a few people there. Given the number of cars and people who had passed us I expected to see quite a bit more. After snapping a few pictures and getting a snack I started speaking with a gentleman I had leap frogged over a few times on the trail. He was getting ready to head towards Oxford (very cloudy by now) and seemed quite confident. My initial thought was to stay and wait for Barry but I decided to push on.


Barry on the summit of Belford



Summit of Mt Belford


View of Oxford from the summit of Belford.


View of Oxford near Belford's summit

My new found friend stayed ahead of me on the very steep climb down towards Oxford's saddle but I gained momentum on the level ground and continued the pace on the way up. I was probably within a few hundred feet of the summit and looked back towards Belford and saw very dark clouds and my "partner" turning back. Now I felt very vulnerable. I paused for a moment and then turned back. Big mistake as the weather never did turn bad, in fact it got slightly better. The trip back seemed to take forever, especially the climb back towards Belford. When I got back to Belford I found Barry there looking very happy and refreshed. He had been there about 45 minutes and seemed surprised that I had not made it. Oh well, there is always next time.

We decided to go down the "backway" on the Elkhead Pass trail. While this way was slightly longer it seemed less steep and more enjoyable. We made good time coming down with minimal stops. We reached the Jeep around 4 and headed back to camp. We both were quite tired and I was still (and still am!) disappointed I didn't get Oxford. I suppose I will probably try the same route and perhaps go after all 3.