Lincoln Group

July 5, 2008

Overview
Joel and Carrie's first climb together as husband and wife! We climbed all three 14ers, Democrat, Lincoln, and Bross, as well as faux 14er, Cameron.

We camped in the national forest in Beaver Creek, five miles past the last pavement of the town of Fairplay. It was a nice, balmy alternative to Kite Lake, although there were mosquitoes, and of course some additional drive time to the trailhead. However, we bonded with Fairplay and its residents during their impressive Independence Day celebrations.

The road to Kite Lake was well marked in Alma. It was bumpy, but no problem for passenger cars. There was plenty of parking at the trailhead, with a $3.00 day-use fee. There were a few camp sites in the valley, but they looked unpleasant because of their proximity to the road. Camping at the lake was plentiful with many excellent sites, although it's well above timberline.

The Forest Service is currently stating that the entire loop around Kite Lake is closed while trail improvements are made, with re-opening expected in autumn 2008. However, there was no indication of this on location, except for new signs declaring that the summit of Bross is closed to public access. The Forest Service says that the owners of Bross do not intend to open the summit for public use at any time in the future, although the summit closure does not appear to be stemming foot traffic there in the least.

Pace was moderate throughout, except where otherwise noted. Trails were generally easy to follow, although not as well maintained as most in the Saguaches. There were a few short snow patches, which were easily crossed without any equipment.

Timeline
8:15	Left Kite Lake trailhead, after spending a few minutes trying to sort out the trails to Democrat and Bross. The trail to Bross was not clear until after having descended from it, but traffic was uniformly in a clockwise direction anyway.
9:00	Saddle between Democrat and Cameron
9:45	Arrived at the summit of Democrat (14,148'/4312m)
10:15	Left Democrat
10:45	Saddle between Democrat and Cameron. We accidentally parted with the trail when leaving Democrat's summit ridge, and saw others do the same; be sure to retrace your steps along the ridge, because the trail proper is much quicker and easier than negotiating the rocks down the ridge.
11:30	Arrived at the summit of Cameron (14,238'/4340m)
11:40	Left Cameron
11:55	Summit of Lincoln (14,286'/4354m). Pace from Cameron to Lincoln was moderate-to-fast.
12:30	Summit of Bross (14,172'/4320m). A well defined trail led from Lincoln to Bross via Cameron's flanks, without having to re-climb Cameron.
12:45	Left Bross
2:00	Arrived back at the Kite Lake trailhead

Fairplay

The hike



The drive home (to come...)

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