Mt. Lindsey

July 26, 2019 / 14,042’

rt stats: total time - 7 hr & 45 min, 8.95 miles, and 3,665’ elevation gain

time Stats: 3 hr & 35 min to Lindsey, 49 min at lindsey summit, 3 hr & 21 min back to trailhead

rating (how much i liked the hike): 10/10

I was super excited for Mt. Lindsey…I can’t even explain. Mt. Lindsey was my first class 3 14er. On Thursday night (July 25th a.k.a. my sister Melissa’s birthday), my dad and Melissa picked me up from my apartment in Colorado Springs and we drove to the Anchor Motel in Walsenburg. My dad and sister just flew in from sea level the day before (rip because high altitude). I worked 40 hours between 4 days at my internship so that I could take Friday off for this hike. The next morning, we woke up and arrived at the Lily Lake trailhead at 6 am. I had my standard 2 Greek yogurts and cheerios breakfast during the car ride to the trailhead. There were only 10 other cars max. at the trailhead. The road up to the trailhead was alright up until the last 2 miles. The last 2 miles were a little rough. The view from the trailhead literally looks fake, and, of course, Melissa and I needed to take a super awkward picture together!!!!

The first mile of the hike is completely flat. Just after the first mile, we crossed a stream on a log. After this point, we started to gain some elevation. Right around 12,000 ft. elevation, we get to a nice flat area so it was a nice break from gaining elevation. We gain a little over 1,000 ft. in elevation before getting to the saddle (which my watch recorded as being just under 13,200 ft.). 

At the saddle, we took a break and I put on a helmet. It made me change my typical high ponytail to a low ponytail, but, ya know, safety first. We were originally going to do the ridge, but then it was decided we would take the gully route instead (I guess I should say start on the gully route). Thus, we set off on the gully.

The gully is kind of steep and loose, while the ridge requires much more of class 3 climbing and has higher exposure. As I was going up the gully (maybe 1/3 up), I was kind of bored. I crossed over and basically ended up doing class 3 climbing. Based on how I described my path, my dad thinks there maybe were some class 4 parts on this “sketch” route I took. I don’t think that I was actually on the standard ridge route, but I certainly was legit climbing and most definitely not on the gully route anymore. I was very excited when my dad said we would do the ridge route, sad when it was decided we would be going up the gully route instead, and, finally, having a blast doing climbing. I had never done a 14er like this before, so it was extremely fun and I can’t wait to do more hikes like this in the future.

This climbing was the most exposure that I have ever experienced in my life. This made it super exciting and fun though. I didn’t have any close calls climbing up, but there were two times where I just had to stop for a minute or two and figure out my plan of action for climbing up. I will say that there were times I would look down and be thinking (censored) “Oh gosh”. I wasn’t scared, but it’s crazy looking down hundreds of feet basically right below you. After the saddle area mentioned earlier, I went up climbing and reached the summit at my own pace because I didn’t want to be awkwardly chilling at kind of high exposure. I reached the summit in 3 hours and 35 minutes. I chilled at the summit for 35 minutes before my dad and Melissa came. There was one other guy who reached the summit maybe 5 minutes before me who was also waiting for his dad. Of course, we took some dope pictures at the summit and soon started on the way down. FYI, Melissa and I are holding the sign upside down on purpose.

On the way down, I kind of took the gully route. I say kind of in that I wasn’t following the standard gully route again. The hike was very chill once we reached the saddle. Nothing really eventful happened on the way down. The final trip stats were 7 hours and 45 minutes, 8.95 miles RT, and 3,665 ft. elevation gain. The stats don’t give credit to the technical difficulty of this hike compared to other 14ers that I have done. 

We were staying the night again in Walsenburg and, as soon as my phone had reliable service, I went on Yelp to find a place for lunch. I wanted to stay at this cool hut (it’s not listed though on airbnb, I wonder why) in the picture below, but, yeah, that didn't happen. We ended up going to a place called Walsenburg Pizza. All 3 of us split a family size salad. My dad and I split a large supreme pizza (pepperoni, sausage, bell peppers, onions, mushrooms, black olives, and I added chicken on it also). Instead of splitting the pizza evenly, my dad let me have 5 slices (thanks Dad) and I was still hungry after but whatever. This ended up being a lunch/dinner since we did not eat until 4:30 pm.

Overall, Mt. Lindsey has been my favorite 14er yet!