Climbed on Monday August 8, 2022, the Lincoln Group is a group of four 14ers each accessible from the same trailhead at Kite Lake near Alma, CO. They are Mt. Democrat (elev 14,154 feet), Mt. Cameron (unranked 14,248), Mt. Lincoln (14,293), and Mt. Bross (14,178). People these days call it the Decalibron taken from the first 2 letters of each mountain, then add an "on" like marathon. See map below. They are normally climbed in that order, but today I reversed it and started with Bross first. I started at the trailhead then headed east instead of north. So I guess it was the Brlicadeon. Nope, it will always be the Lincoln Group to me.
Leaving Kite Lake, it was only a few minutes before this waterfall came into view. Not a bad way to start the day.
Above the waterfall, here's a look back at the trailhead. Even on a Monday the lot is full and overflow parking alongside the road. Probably about 50 or 60 cars.
Nearing Mt Bross, this is looking west. Mt. Democrat on the right.
There was a sign at the trailhead that said Mt Bross is closed, since it's private property. There is a trail that bypasses the summit just below it and continues on to Mt Lincoln. So I took this bypass in order to respect that, but the bypass trail comes within about 100 feet of the summit. Should that count as a summit? Technically not, but dang. Anyway I was on that summit in 1996, before the controversy, so it wasn't that big of a deal for me than it was for many of the other youngsters on the mountains today. More on them later. Anyway, this is the approach to Mt. Lincoln (right). As you can see the trail bypasses the Mt. Cameron summit (unranked, left). It's unranked because as you can see there is not much elevation drop between the two peaks and thus it does not qualify as it's own mountain. Cameron is a subpeak of Mt. Lincoln, but a lot of people consider it it's own mountain because as you can see the geologies are distinct from each other.
Mt. Lincoln conquered!
Continuing on, a look back at Lincoln from Cameron.
Almost at the saddle between Cameron and Democrat, here are three mountain goats.
The last mountain on the day's agenda, Mt. Democrat. From the saddle it's about 750 feet to the summit. That's higher that the Gateway Arch! Although the whole day's trip was 3,700 feet, about 5 1/2 Gateway Arches.
Mt. Democrat conquered!
Along the route, talking with other people up there, sometimes I would mention "I climbed these back in 1996". No one said anything, but I could tell by the looks on their faces that they were thinking "That's when I was born!" Then on Democrat there were three guys aged 75, 75, 73. Felt kind of young at that point and hoping that I can still climb at 75. Now, from the summit of Democrat, looking over at...