Colorado 14ers: Mount Bierstadt

I broke every rule in the 14er book…

And it was almost a costly mistake. While I made it back to my car just in time to avoid lightning, hail, and rain, I probably wouldn’t recommend skipping out on the key safeguards that I did on July 13, 2025.

Some cardinal sins I broke include:

Starting in the afternoon: The best practice for hiking Colorado’s 14ers is to start as early as possible, sometimes even before sunrise. This allows plenty of time to summit by noon or earlier, avoiding afternoon thunderstorms that can form rapidly in Colorado’s elevated mountains. I started at 4:30PM, knowing I only had about 4.5 hours left of daylight to complete my hike.
Lack of Research: Usually, I like to read up on the 14er route before I go, but with this decision being so hasty, I didn’t. I relied on the fact that the trail was fairly obvious, which definitely isn’t the case for all 14ers.
Expecting a Fast Time: Most guidelines put the hike at 4.5-5.5 hours for average hikers. If this was the case, I wouldn’t have gotten back to my car until 9:30-10:30PM, and I would’ve risked some serious weather exposure. I was counting on the super late sunset leaving some lingering light, but with storms rolling in, that wasn’t the case at all. I did complete the hike in just over four hours, but my breaks were minimal, and I rushed my time at the summit as well as the descent in order to finish faster.
Ignoring the Signs: While the weather was pretty nice when I started my hike, there were already potentially ominous clouds in the distance. Additionally, after hiking for about 20 minutes towards Mount Bierstadt, I didn’t see a single other hiker. For such a popular trail close to Denver, this should have been a red flag that what I was doing wasn’t very conventional.
Burning Through Food Quick: My only sources of calories after I left my car were some Xtra Flavor Cheddar Goldfish, two Kellog’s Blueberry Pastries clocking in at 100 calories together, and an Amber edition Red Bull. I finished them before I summited, during a break before the elevation grade got steep towards the final third of the ascent. If I were to get stranded for any reason, all I would have had left would have been a couple of water bottles.

Long story short, while I had a good time and added my fourth 14er to my career list, it was probably an ill-advised attempt.

I decided around 2:45PM on that Sunday afternoon that I wanted to hike a 14er (later in the week may have made more sense, but I felt I had the opportunity in the moment.) Mount Blue Sky’s traditional route would’ve been even quicker, but the parking lot/road to the trail was closed for year-long maintenance.

That left me with Mount Bierstadt, a little further and a little longer of a route. But by 3:00PM, I was on the road, and shortly after 4:30PM, I was on the trail.