Hoosier Ridge - Colorado's 352nd highest peak at 13,352 feet
Labor Day 2021! The above picture is a view of the route using a picture of Hoosier Ridge taken during a winter climb of Quandary Peak across the street. Being September 6, there was zero snow on the route. The trailhead is the summit of Hoosier Pass south of Breckenridge at 11,500 feet. Just doing the math, the summit is only 1,852 feet above the trailhead, but the route has 3000 feet of elevation gain in 9 miles round trip. All that extra elevation is due to the fact that there are about 15-20 bumps on the ridge leading to the summit. Each one must be gained, but then hiked down to the saddle between that one and the next one. So once the ridge proper has been reached all that up and down, there and back, is factored into the elevation gain needed to summit and return. That's about 1,100 feet of extra up just because of that. Oy!
Here's a shot of Hoosier Ridge from the trailhead (center) taken after the climb. That's how I know what it is.
After leaving the forest the scenery is kind of dull as seen below.
Which is why I stopped every now and then to turn around where the scenery is spectacular, and take a few photos, like this one of Quandary Peak (14er)
And this one of Mt. Lincoln (14er) and North Star Mountain (13er)
And this one of North Star and Quandary
And this one of Mt. Bross (14er) and Mt. Lincoln (14er)
But now that I'm on the ridge, the ups and downs begin. This is looking back at the first set of bumps. I came up from the right, then moved leftward. From this distance they don't look like much, but some of them are over 150 feet.
After that stretch of the ridge, it swings to the left for the final stretch to the summit as seen here. The route comes from the right, moves left, then turns left towards this spot. That's Mt. Silverheels (13er) in the background.
These next two pictures are from 14ers.com, and they show some of the bumps on the final stretch after turning left. As you can see, they are quite significant.
From the summit, here's one of a neat little neighborhood nestled amongst a 14er, a 13er, and another 14er.
Back in the trees nearing the trailhead, here's Mt. Lincoln again.