Surviving the Decalibron

Whew, that was a day. The Decalibron is a fairly popular 14er hike that hits 4 summits: Democrat, Cameron, Lincoln, and Bross. We attempted it in 2019, but got a flat tire on the way up to the trailhead and ended up retreating back to the Big O Tiers in Dillon that day. (Still got in a hike up to Lillypad Lake that day!) In any event, this time we were going to make it.

We made it to the trailhead. Woot! We weren’t there late, but we were probably 80-100 cars back from the first parking space. It looked like most folks were heading up Democrat, or maybe doing Democrat+Cameron+Lincoln. Most folks weren’t doing Bross. And, we decided after getting back to the car at the end of the day, they made a very smart decision.

Bross is perhaps the last pleasant 14er out there right now. Why you ask?

1. It’s a big pile of dusty brown rocks. No trees, no grass.
2. The dusty brown rocks are very loose. They slide. But not in the convenient ‘take a step and slide a little’ way. In the ‘oh crap soon I’m going to be at the bottom of this very long slope (filled with rocks) if I keep slipping’ way.
3. Primarily due to #1 and #2, it’s hot and dry. This wasn’t so much of an issue for us, but Maple was unhappy with it.  : (
4. You’re not actually allowed to summit. The summit is on private property, and the property owner directs folks away. Many folks summit anyway – but we decided to skirt around underneath and still call it a success.

Anyways. Apart from all that, we had an excellent day.

• Democrat is a classic mountain – you climb up next to a stream for a while, there are abandoned mining structures, there’s a talus climb, a couple false summits, and the view from the top is spectacular.
• Cameron gets some shade for being “not an official 14ers” due to the prominence rule, but we decided to count it anyways. It’s mostly rocks, but in a pleasant “look we’re about to get to the top” kind of way.
• Lincoln gives a great northward view up a drainage that’s hidden from Democrat’s summit. It looks like a castle in the sky.

Highly recommended all in all! Just watch out for Bross.