Tom Grundy's DeCaLiBron (Mounts Democrat, Cameron, Lincoln, and Bross) Page

The weather wasn't particularly nice as we drove towards this trailhead. The road got pretty bad and especially considering we were to meet up with Sam and Raquel in the PLC (Peace Love Car) we turned around and found a flat spot to wait about 1.7 miles from the trailhead. It was gray and a little drizzly and cold. I cooked up some stew and we had dinner. Sam and Raquel pulled in around 7. We plotted the next day and got to sleep early

8-17-2016 With 4 peaks to do this day and sketchy weather I wanted to start early. We compromised with the usual 5:30 coffee delivery. Sam and Raquel were taking longer to get their gear all set since they were out of practice. Nalumon and I left early and started up the road. We hadn't been hiking very far when Bruce pulled up and offered us a ride on his tailgate. We took him up on it and sat down. It was a little sketchy trying to stay on with packs on our backs pushing us farther out and especially when bouncing up the steepest parts. Nobody fell off, although it was close a few times. He dropped us off at the trailhead and we joined the line of people heading up towards Mount Democrat. First we hiked around Kite Lake and then up past mining debris. As per usual we were not setting any speed records although there were some people going about our pace. Before we got to the Democrat-Cameron col we could see Sam and Raquel zipping up on our tail. Sam's yellow pants helped with long distance identification. Soon they caught up with us and we found out they had gotten a ride too. The rocky trail continued on up to the 14,148ft summit of Mount Democrat where we did the usual photos and food break extended by some cell phone use before heading back down the way we came to the saddle.

Raquel and Sam catch up to us on the way up Democrat - note the ridge to Cameron behind

Mount Democrat summit panorama looking west - Sherman is to the left and Quandary is on the right.

Raquel documents summit shenanigans on Mt Democrat

team Leki - Tilley hiking down the rocks to the Democrat - Cameron saddle

Sam and Raquel were unable to go at our pace, so they went on ahead. Nalumon and I continued our slow but steady turtle pace on up to the 14,238 ft summit of Mount Cameron. This peak gets a star because the drop between it and the higher Mount Lincoln is not enough to grant it full 14er status. Still it was worth some photos on the rather flat summit.

I had to pretend I liked Nalumon to not block the Cameron sign

Next up was a rather small drop and then a bit of a ridge climb up to 14,286 ft Mount Lincoln. This peak was more jagged than the big flat rounded top of Cameron, so that was nice. There we caught up with S and R and continued the usual drill. Then we returned down the ridge and skirted Cameron on the way around the circle towards Mount Bross.

Nalumon on the way up to Lincoln

acro on the summit of Lincoln. Some of us were feeling a bit more flexible

Mt Lincoln Summit Panorama - Quandary is just to the right of center

Nalumon looks from Mt Lincoln - Bross is on the left, Cameron center right, and Democrat down the ridge to the right of Cameron

The weather was starting to look a little more threatening but it was still off in the distance (in various directions) and besides continuing on was the fastest way down. Mount Bross is private property owned by a mining consortium or something like that. The trail goes quite close to the summit and you are supposed to avoid trespassing. If we did go up there we would have wandered to a more distant point to see if that was in fact the summit and then returned to where the cairn was marking the 14,172 ft summit of Mount Bross. We would have also taken a number of attempts to get a handstand photo (on Raquel's phone) before returning to the trail and descending.

Raquel takes a pic on Mt Bross - Cameron is on the left, Lincoln over the phone, and Quandary over the hat brim

we all pose for a Mt Bross selfie

Nalumon trying out a possible Bross summit

The descent from Bross was long and tedious with a lot of steep loosish scree but usually not loose or small enough for proper scree skiing. I was very glad to have trekking poles. The weather continued to get darker and more threatening but by now we were well off of the peaks and ridges. Back in the basin it started sprinkling and then when we got to the trailhead it started raining hard. We hid under the eaves of the outhouse until it backed off to a steady drizzle. Then we walked the seemingly endless 1.7 miles back to the vehicles.

looking across the valley to Kite Lake and Mt Democrat - and a long way to go down

the descent was rocky - Nalumon wore gray to hide

taking shelter from the rain under the outhouse eaves

Summary of August 17, four 14ers (one starred), fortuitous rides, 9.25 miles and 3700 feet of elevation gain (and more descent), rain, and some tired slackers.

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