DeCaLiBron

Hiked: 8/20/2025
Distance: 7.7 miles round trip on trail
Summit Elevation: 14154' (Democrat), 14248' (Cameron), 14292' (Lincoln), 14178' (Bross)
Elevation Gain: 3500'
Elevation Gain (in Empire State Buildings): 2.8
Round trip time: 6 hours 15 minutes
Recommended water: 92 oz.
Parking/Fees: $8 Day Use Fee for Parking, Self-Pay
Difficulty: Strenuous

The day after Sneffels, I left Montrose at 3:30 AM for the 3.5 hour drive to the DeCaLiBron trailhead at Kite Lake. Well into the drive, I started looking for a restroom at either a rest area or gas station. Unfortunately, the small towns I was driving through on Highway 50 East had no open gas stations (pumps were open, but not the stores). I never saw any signs for a rest area in over 100 miles. I grew increasingly desperate and eventually did my business at a turn out in the dark. No cars drove by. I continued to the trailhead up a dirt road in the town of Alma, CO. The road was heavily wash-boarded and grew worse past the gate where I paid the $8 for parking. It's self pay at the gate or trailhead. High clearance recommended, though I saw several sedans that made it. The upper lot was at 12000' and almost full. A lot of people were on the mountains.

The name DeCaLiBron is based on four 14ers you can hit in one loop:

• Mount Democrat
• Mount Cameron
• Mount Lincoln
• Mount Bross

Getting four 14ers in one hike was very appealing and not something an average hiker could accomplish anywhere else in the US. It was 36F when I started on a nice trail going clockwise toward Mt. Democrat. My quads were already sore from Sneffels, and they were in for a second beating. The first section of trail gained 1300' to the saddle between Democrat and Cameron. The wind started to pick up so I stopped to add a layer and gloves. From the saddle up, everything was a giant talus field. The climb to Democrat was about 700' and there was false summit at the top of the slope. The summit was another quarter mile away. Several groups were coming down, several going up, and several were on the summit when I arrived. There were no marks and no register on this wildly popular mountain. Views were nice in all directions. I took a short break, then followed the crowd down Democrat and up Cameron. It was another 800' up Cameron to a wide, flat summit with no clear high point. This climb felt harder than the one to Democrat due to the altitude and accumulated gain. I took a lot of 20 second breaks to keep my heart rate under control. Cameron had no register and no marks. A lot of people congregated on the summit of Cameron, so I continued on toward Lincoln, which looked farther away than it was.

Mount Democrat near the start

Mt. Democrat from the saddle

Mt. Democrat summit ahead

Climbing Mt. Cameron

Looking back at Mt. Democrat from Cameron
The drop off from Cameron was only 100', then up 150' over a half mile to Lincoln. Lincoln looked like it might involve a some class 2, but it didn't. Class 1 all the way. Lincoln had a benchmark and reference mark, but no register. It was the highest of the four and had some cool chutes falling away from the summit. I savored a brief bit of solitude on Lincoln and had lunch there before another group arrived. The last section followed a trail that cut across the shoulder of Cameron to Mt. Bross. Like Cameron, Bross was a giant mound with an indistinct high point. The summit was a wind shelter where a group of fifteen was resting and taking photos. I marked a waypoint, then walked about 500' to a wind shelter on the other side of the summit plateau that looked a smidgen higher. However, When I got there, it was obviously lower than the first shelter. The trail off Bross was steep and loose. The main trail dropped off the ridge and was the only part that might have been class 2. I followed advice from 14ers.com and took a use trail further down the ridge, letting me pass about 20 other hikers in a traffic jam on the main trail. When I got back to the parking lot, I packed up and drove north to Dillon, where I had accommodations for the night. I had climbed five 14ers in two days. Looking back, I slightly overestimated the difficulty of Sneffels, and underestimated the DeCaLiBron. 3500' gain at elevation was honest work, though Sneffels was still harder due to terrain. With destroyed quads, my strike mission to CO had come to an end. I flew back to the OC the following morning.

Mt. Lincoln from Cameron

Mt. Bross from Lincoln

Approaching Bross

Mt. Democrat from Bross

The mountains were teeming with pika

King’s Crown (Rhodiola integrifolia)