Colorado 14er: Mount Harvard (14,424')
Elizabeth and I spent a few nights camping in BLM land (Bureau of Land Management) near the North Cottonwood Trailhead in the Collegiate Peaks Wilderness. It was Labor Day weekend so it was going to be a little busier out there. We had 4 areas of interest that we wanted to spend a few nights in. As we made our way out of town, we decided to try the Mount Harvard area first. Not far from the heart of Buena Vista, we found ourselves on county road 365. We drove about 5 miles on dirt road, passing Silver Creek Trailhead and the Colorado Trail, eventually finding several available primitive camping spots just before the North Cottonwood TH. We settled in on one that was along the North Cottonwood Creek.
We went for a shake out run to Brown’s Pass to loosen our legs before the next day's adventure to the summit of Harvard. Just before we left town, I picked up a pair of the Topo Athletic Mountain Racer 3’s from 7000 Feet Running Company in Salida, CO, and tested them out on this run. My initial impression was the best first impression I have ever had when first trying on a pair of shoes. They felt great. My introduction to Topo’s was this year with their Ultraventure PRO’s, which I have been using for the past 6 fourteeners and used for Harvard as well. I have about 100 miles on them and once I cover around 200, I will write a gear review. So far they are holding up well and have been great in the mountains while carrying a 15+lb during each outing.
After our shake out run, we began preparing and eating for Mount Harvard the next morning. Throughout the night and into the early morning hours we heard about 20+ cars drive past us to the trailhead. We didn’t sleep great but it was awesome to hear so many people wanting to get after it so early in the day. People would be starting down the trail as early as 2am, while some backpacked in and camped along the trail.
We woke up at 4am and were on trail at 4:20am. We have been using the Ledlenser MH10 headlamps for our early morning starts. This headlamp has been great. It’s easy to adjust, a very clean light, long battery life, with easy to swap out rechargeable batteries. You can check out our review on YouTube, click here.
After about 90 minutes of hiking on the Horn Fork Basin Trail, the sun began to rise, and we started to see the true splendor of the area. It was beautiful! We just stood there and watched the mountains begin to glow. Still off in the distance and high above us was Mount Harvard, standing at 14,424’. This was our focus for the day. We had a small discussion about doing the traverse over to Columbia but we would save that for another day. The traverse; although slow going with long exposure time, looked fun. Which is why many people began so early in the day so that they could begin the traverse as the sun was rising. Giving them time before the possible midday thunderstorms.
Once we reached Bear Creek, we had about 1.5 miles left, with almost 2,000 feet of gain to the summit. Most routes are class 2, but with slight deviations, they can become class 3 so take your time if you want to limit your exposure. After a little time on the summit, we had a fun run down back to camp.