Mt. Columbia (14,073'), A Wilderness Loop, Colorado
9/25/99
Author: Gina
Pasquale
Trip participants:
Steve Doorn, Gina Pasquale and Tasha, the climbing wolf dog
We decided to look for an isolated, wilderness route this weekend, after
being on Mt. Sneffels over Labor Day with 100 of our closest friends. (OK,
so they weren't really our friends...) This turned out to be a perfect
weekend for aspen color in this part of Colorado.
After camping out in Buena Vista, at an undisclosed location (I have a
reputation to keep!), we headed up to the 3 Elk Creek trailhead. A good
way to get there is from Chaffee CR 384, a few miles north of BV. The
information I got from the San Isabel ranger station in Leadville was
almost correct, but here's what we discovered: With a 4WD, you can drive
up past the "normal" 3 Elk Cr. trailhead at 9200'. Keep going straight up,
then take a right fork when you see one, to a parking spot at about
10,000'. You can't actually drive to the wilderness closure, which is only
about an additional 100' up, as they are doing some "restoration". You
know you are at the right parking spot if you see some clay pigeon
pieces. The route finding starts from here.
Take the trail up towards the Colorado Trail. You will go past Bunny
White's old cabin. Keep going up until you get to his old, rusty mining
cart. If you are feeling really adventurous, as we were, cross the
Colorado trail and keep going straight up a small ravine and angle left
towards a ridge. This is a ridge that leads all the way to Mt. Columbia, a
few miles away! This route is completely off trail, so you must be
confident in your route finding skills for this one. (Make sure your
altimeter is working, mine died the day before this trip, and it was a bit
more challenging without it.) The best map for this route is the Trails
Illustrated Buena Vista/Collegiate Peaks map (thanks, Norman).
About 100' below the summit, we passed a party of 3 people heading up. We
didn't say much to them, as the wind was really howling and we were
cold. After we were settled in on the summit, out of the wind, the first
of the 3 people came up to meet us. He said 'Hello' to us, then
immediately pointed north and said "Wow, that's Columbia over there, isn't
it?" I looked at him for any sign of a joke. There was none. I said,
"Are you serious? You're standing on Columbia. That's Mt. Harvard over
there!" He looked bewildered, and when the other 2 came up to join us, he
informed them as to their current whereabouts. The woman said "This has to
be Harvard. I have a map right here! I'm from Denver and have already
climbed 30 14'ers!" She pulled out her map, and I showed her where we
were, and where they had come from (Frenchman Creek). I have heard of this
happening before (people climbing the wrong mountain), but I had never
experienced it in person! I found this quite hilarious, and also somewhat disturbing at the same time. People really do get lost on 14'ers, folks.
After an hour on the summit all to ourselves, enjoying the gorgeous fall
day with crisp, clear blue skies, we headed straight down off the face into
the 3 Elk Creek drainage. We stayed close to the creek until we picked up
a faint trail near Harvard Lakes. A stop at the larger lake should be a
mandatory rest spot, especially since you now have about a 400' (in a mile)
climb up the Colorado Trail to reach the turnoff back to the parking
spot. The lake was beautiful, especially with the golden aspens reflecting
their color off the dark blue lake.
We were fortunate to see much wildlife on this trip: mule deer, antelope,
an owl, and that guy with the braided beard in Nathrop. Our post-climb
dinner stop was at Paddler's Pizzeria in the Nathrop Mall. Highly
recommended, good crust. However, best to get it to go, trust me.
Round trip beta: 4500' gain, 10+ miles
