DeCaLiBron Loop

 Last night I drove into Colorado and stayed in a hotel just west of Denver. This morning I awoke at 4:30 am and made the drive west up US 285 through South Park to the town of Alma. From Alma I drove to the Kite Lake Trailhead for my hike of the DeCaLiBron Loop.

I arrived just as the sun was rising and used the pit toilet before hitting the trail. I opted to hike the loop counterclockwise and so I would ascend the loose scree of Mount Bross first. At the start of the trail up the Bross slopes is a sign reminding hikers that the summit of Mount Bross is on private property and off-limits. 

A little further up the trail is a small waterfall.

 Soon the climbing started in earnest. There were great views of the surrounding high peaks. 

I crested the slope of Mount Bross to "claim the peak." The Colorado Fourteeners Initiative says that the highest part of the slope counts as the summit since the actual summit is not legal to climb to. 

The the slopes of Mount Bross the trail levels off a bit. Soom Mount Lincoln comes into view. I climbed up Mount Lincoln's slope with views back towards the saddle between it and unofficial 14er Mount Cameron. 

There is a pretty prominent false summit just before the actual Mount Lincoln summit. 

I climbed it pretty easily and soon found myself on the actual summit 

for a selfie. 

There's a nice view down to a pleasant looking lake from there.

After a few minutes of relaxing and enjoying the view, I started to move again. It was a relatively gentle ascend across Mount Cameron.

At the summit I had a couple I met there take my photo.

I took a look back towards Lincoln, 

and then started the descent to the saddle between Cameron and Democrat. It was a fairly easy descent to the saddle with lots more great views.

I stopped at the saddle to take a break and found my energy level pretty low and my stomach bothering me a bit. I considered heading down to the trailhead but eventually opted to make the climb up to Democrat instead. It was pretty slow going, but the views were still really great. I could even see down to Kite Lake where I had started my journey.

Eventually I found my way to the summit of Mount Democrat. I met a man from Czech Republic at the summit and we chatted for a bit and he took my photo. 

I think this summit had the best views of the day. I took a panoramic photo of the scene.

After a short time on the summit, it was time to head down. I made pretty good time on the descent, especially the less steep parts of the trail. On the way down I encountered a mountain goat.

Before I knew it I was back to the car and ready to relax. I opted to get a campsite in Breckenridge at the Peak One Campground that I had camped at last year when I climbed Mount Quandary. I got lunch at the Breckenridge Brewery.