DeCaLiBron, Colorado 14ers

My brother-in-law, Scott Hatfield, and I decided to make a spontaneous journey to Colorado over Labor Day weekend to get some more 14ers in this year.  After the trip, he has 7 under his belt, and I have 6.

This was an 8 mile hike that took us across 4 different 14,000 ft mountains!  Awesome hike and very tough.  They call it the DeCaLiBron - Mt Democrat, Mt Cameron, Mt Lincoln, and Mt Bross.

Sunrise hiking up Mt Democrat

We started this hike around 5:00 am and used headlamps for the first hour.  The trail head at Kite Lake actually starts above the tree line, around 12,000 ft.  This made it extremely chilly to get started.  The last 14er that we did last year was Mt Quandary.  We started this hike off with our heavier layers and ended up shedding as the sun rose.

Mt Democrat - from the saddle between Democrat and Cameron

Mt Democrat...approaching the summit

Democrat was a little bit tricky....got to love those false summit's!

After Mt Democrat, we head back down to the saddle and then up to Mt Cameron for the 2nd 14er of the day.

Mt Cameron Summit

Two down....two to go.  The easiest of the 4 was probably Mt Lincoln.  And that's only because the decent down from Cameron wasn't very long before going back up to the Lincoln Summit.  We agreed that Lincoln was our favorite summit of all 4 peaks.

Mt Lincoln Summit

Mt Lincoln - almost there...

Good view of Lincoln on the way to Bross

The hardest part of this hike was the way down to the trailhead from Bross.  You basically are hiking down 2,000 ft of elevation in just over a mile down.  That's pretty steep.  We were wiped after this hike!  Definitely needed my celebratory beer!

Good view of the Kite Lake Trailhead on the way to Mt Cameron

Mt Cameron (viewed from Democrat)

Good view of Democrat from the Cameron Summit

The fast way down....though pretty sure it wouldn't be fun.

And then there was one....only one more mountain to summit.  The top of Bross is technically closed because it's on private property.  But you can find your way up to the top anyway, so we did.  

Bross Summit with Democrat in the background

First time using my GoPro....complete hike, edited down to a few minutes.

Rome - Wedding Cake

This monument is nicknamed by Romans as "The Wedding Cake."

On our final day in Rome, we took the elevator to the top for some final sight seeing.

The Pantheon

The Roman Forum

The Colosseum was being cleaned while we were there.  This image shows the scaffolding that was around it.  Unfortunately this doesn't make for great shots, that's why in my Colosseum pictures I had to use various angles to avoid the scaffolding.

Our final meal and gelato stop.  I definitely miss the gelato!

After clearing customs in Chicago, we were all ready to be home!

And finally....some good Mexican food for our first meal back home!

Mi Cocina

Mi Cocina

You just can't leave Italy without picking up some "Symbol of Life" Pasta.....  Yes....it's exactly what you think it is.  Refer back to the Pompei pictures for more "Symbol of Life" references.  haha!

And last but not least....just in case you missed this on Facebook.  The girls thought it would be extra funny to capture a montage of awesome pictures of me!