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.:Getting to the trailhead:. There are many trails that take you to the summit of Mt. Elbert, which is one of the draws of climbing the peak. To get to the Mount Elbert trailhead from Denver, take I-70 west to the Copper Mountain exit (exit 191), then CO 91 over Freemont Pass into Leadville. As you enter Leadville, CO 91 becomes US 24 / Harrison Ave. Drive south on US 24 about 17 miles to the junction with CO 82. Turn west on CO 82 and drive about 4 miles to County Rd 24 (signed on CO 82 as the turnoff for the Mt. Elbert trailhead). Turn left on 24 and go about 1.2 miles to the well-signed Mt. Elbert trail parking lot. In summer, you can continue up the 4x4 road just beyond the parking area an additional 1.8 miles to the roads' end and parking. .:The trail:. .:Trip Report:. After the previous weeks' failure on Elbert (thanks to the stupidity of forgotten snowshoes), I was plenty determined to come on back and try again. Posting my intent to return to Elbert on 14ers.com, I had a quartet of respondents, and the 5 of us headed out from the winter trailhead at 6am. There had been a suprising amount of snowmelt from the previous week, to the point that 4x4 access was possible for the first 3/4 mile of the trail... more tbd... |
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