Quandary Peak, Pennsylvania Mountain and The DeCaLiBron Loop! Settle in folks, it’s a long one…

Several months ago, sitting with my Physical Therapist, I asked if it was reasonable to set a goal to hike a Colorado 14er in September. Since then, everyday of my rehab has been working towards that goal.

We set Quandary Peak as our first objective. We’ve climbed/hiked other mountains before, some taller and more technical, but we felt that Quandary was a reasonable goal to start with. So, 6.5 months post op from ACL repair, we gathered as many days off work as we could and set out for our first big adventure in several months!

First stop? Iowa’s Highest Point!

This seems like an odd place to start. But we’d already completed 7 other State High Points, and we found that Iowa wasn’t too far of a detour.

This was actually pretty cool. Lots of information and history about farming, and even some nice acknowledgments to the other high points. If you’re headed that way, there is a completely adequate camp ground right across the street….but not much else.

From there we drove the rest of the way to Colorado, through the smallest towns in Nebraska, staying in our camper a few nights.

Quandary Peak has a permit season/reservation for the parking lot through September 15th. You can get them 2 weeks in advance, and we had ours for Monday September 9th. We found a spot to camp near by, did a short acclimatization hike followed by an evening in Breckenridge and prepared for our summit the next day!

If you’ve watched any of our other videos, you can tell we didn’t have that great of a time. Surprisingly, my knee was not the issue. Despite spending 2 nights in Colorado and hiking to 11,000 ft the day before, I had some of the worst altitude sickness I’ve had yet. It manifested as GI trouble and every breath was a struggle not to vomit.

Second to a gurgling stomach was the terrain. Much of the second half of the hike is a talus field. While I’ve hiked through loose rock many times before, it was as uneasy feeling as I sussed out my knee and what type of stability I’d have. Parts of the day, it sounded like walking on billiard balls; loose, hollow and ready to roll down the mountain and take your knees and ankles with it.

Never the less, moving very slowly, we made it to the summit and back down safely. Sage had us absolutely beaming with pride, proving once again to be down for anything as long as he is with us.

Back in Breckinridge we rewarded ourselves with soda and pizza (the best) at The Tin Plate and made our way to an Air B/B to rest and meet up with friends for the remainder of the week!

After an evening of eating, hydrating, compression and hot tubbing, we set about planning the week!

Now the 6 of us, Chantel and Jack + Aspen, set our sights on the DeCaLiBron Loop.

“Umm, Hannah you spelled that weird.”

The Decalibron loop consists of 4 peaks above 14,000 ft. Democrat, Cameron, Lincoln and Bross. Now I won’t get too into technicalities here. Cameron is sometimes only considered a ‘sub peak’ as there isn’t considered enough vertical gain between it and the neighboring peaks.

It is considered a tough day, though less from vertical gain and mileage. What makes it exhausting, is that once you hit about 13,000 ft, you stay there for the rest of the hike….several hours before returning to the trailhead.

We wanted to give ourselves some time to acclimatize and also see as much of the area as we could. Chantel found a trail head just minutes from where we were staying-Pennsylvania Mountain….a 13,000 ft peak and a perfect way to acclimatize.

We made an attempt on that Tuesday, starting late in the day, half expecting to get turned around by afternoon storms and we were right! But what we saw was so beautiful we all agreed it would be best to return the following day for sunrise. So after beers and nachos at Highside Brewing in Fairplay, we regrouped for a pre-dawn start the following day!

And it did NOT disappoint.

The perks of moving slower than the group….you are the subject of stunning photos.

Sunrise was incredible. I shed more than 1 tear. The colors before the bright orange light moved over the horizon were amazing, but the slow silence that seemed to settle as the sun moved to show its full profile was….breathtaking.

I’ve heard others say they prefer Colorado 13ers over 14ers and I might be one of them. No crowds, absolutely no one…..a fox followed us for a time, we heard elk bugling in the not so far distance and the most unique and beautiful terrain I’ve seen. And as designed, it was a wonderful way to acclimatize for a 14er.

Pennsylvania Mountain 13,013 ft. A little over 5 miles. Just shy of 4.5 hours. Around 2,000 ft of gain.

We celebrated with drinks, food, merriment and rain in Breckenridge for the night.

After 4 days of hiking for the Olson Fam, we did a little repair work on Sage’s paws, rested (Brandon got some fly fishing in) and prepared for an early start for the Decalibron!

The Decalibron is a strange place. Though it seems much of the outdoors in Colorado is accessible there seems to be some drama with private property, different than a lot of the recreational areas in Minnesota.

There is a small cash fee for parking, and you need to sign a waiver to cross private property. Other than several signs noting not to deviate from the trail, and confusion over the summit of Mount Bross being ‘officially’ closed-there isn’t that much red tape.

Before starting we had done a fair amount of research about which direction to travel on the loop. I was pretty set on traveling counter clockwise (starting with Bross and ending on Democrat) but reading trip reports the night before it looks like it’s about 50/50.

One All Trails report said “for all that is good and holy-go counter clockwise” and I feel about the same. The trail to Mount Bross is chossy, steep and seems just ready to send a careless hiker for a thousand foot ride to the bottom. Given that Aspen and Sage were with us, we knew we didn’t want to try and descend that way. And we were all glad. It did mean saving Mount Democrat for last (the most vertical gain of all the other peaks) but still a better alternative.

From Bross to Lincoln, you follow a gentle contour line (pass by the saddle that leads to Cameron) up to the peak. The rock changes a bit, and the trail winds around like you’re ascending a tower with high rocks on both side. A favorite for most of us.

We stopped for a snack out of the wind on the way to Cameron and followed the signs to the summit!

With 3 of the 4 summits behind us, we were feeling good on our way to Democrat. There is a ridge line to follow as you leave Cameron, and travel over jagged rocks to a little saddle. From there it is a decent climb up large coffee table size boulders to a false summit on the way to Democrat. A little Class III scrambling and 30-45 mins worth of work brings you to a false summit and a little plateau to the summit of Democrat.

We had a delightfully clear day, with very little wind. Beautiful conditions for a 14er summit. We stopped for lunch on the way down-those PB&Js and fun size candy bars never tasted so good….a little bit of route finding past old mining equipment brings you back down to the base at Kite Lake. We clocked a total of 6.5 miles, ~8 hours and about 3,500 ft of gain.

We finished the day with breakfast burritos from Otto’s more hot tub time and much needed relaxation. Overall it was a wonderful day. We loved the terrain and given the opportunity it is one we would repeat.

We spent one more day meandering around our favorite Colorado town, Frisco…eating food, listening to live music, drinking margaritas and enjoying the September weather before driving home. Having spent more time in Colorado in the winter than any other time, we loved seeing it in fall. The aspen trees were just beginning to turn vibrant gold with chilly mornings and warm days.

Thats all for this trip! If you liked reading and following along, subscribe to the blog-follow on Instagram or YouTube.

Thanks for reading, hope you have some time to get out and enjoy some Days Off!