14er access from CT

[genetic claybuilding]

Which 14ers are most accessible from the CT? Non-technical.

Also, of those not too far from the trail, which are your favorite?

[Mags]

Jamie Compos compiled a good list of 14ers near or easy access from on the CT.
Scroll towards the bottom to see the 14ers, maps needed, and some other notes.
http://www.downthetrail.com/hiking-the-colorado-trail/

Elbert, Massive and San Luis are probably the most do-able from the CT itself.

[Different Socks]

I did the section from north of Leadville south to Monarch Pass. There is about a dozen 14ers along that stretch and I hit almost every one of them.

[Coffee]

I'm definitely planning on Massive and Elbert - both early morning hikes to avoid weather issues. Possibly San Luis if time and weather allows the afternoon before a planned resupply in Creede.

[colorado_rob]

This discussion is going on at "14ers.com", an excellent site for CO 14ers (and other mountaineering topics):

http://14ers.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.ph...519723#p519723

check it out, the posts aren't numbered, but the post made on Mon Mar 10, 2014 at 6:40 pm has an excellent summary. No need to join the forum, you can read posts w/o doing so.

[Dogwood]

Check out Summitpost as well if desiring to do 14ers near the CT.

http://www.summitpost.org/mount-massive/150369

[brian039]

I would probably only do one of the Collegiate's that are accessible (the views from them are all basically the same), might as well do Elbert since it is the tallest plus you can take a different trail down and eliminate having to do an out and back. I also did San Luis, it was really easy and didn't take long at all and the view was amazing.

[fredmugs]

On my way out to hike the JMT I climbed Elbert. I was on the CT for a little while before splitting off to Elbert. I had never been that high and it was relatively easy up to about 13,000' and then it was a killer for me the rest of the way up. Of course I was coming from flat Indiana but the trail itself has no boulders to scramble. Even though it's the highest I think it's rated as the easiest to summit.

[colorado_rob]

On my way out to hike the JMT I climbed Elbert. I was on the CT for a little while before splitting off to Elbert. ... Even though it's the highest I think it's rated as the easiest to summit.

Well, Elbert is certainly "easy", but definitely not the easiest because of it's roughly 4500 vertical foot gain (somewhat less from where the CT crosses the Elbert trail). There are a good handful of 14ers that have roughly 3000 foot vertical gain from a trailhead, even some a mere 2000+ feet. for example, Democrat, Lincoln, Cameron and Bross can all be linked together, getting four of them with something like only 3000 total feet of gain.

Still, it is cool that the highest peak in Colorado (Elbert) is one of the best trails and easy.

[lonehiker]

As far as good trails go, Harvard (south slopes) has to be about as good as any of them. Except for the last 50 yards or so.