Chiefs Head – A Rocky Mountain Classic

Some of the easier and more popular fourteeners see hundreds of hikers on summer weekends (check out this handy peak usage guide on 14ers.com to find out which peaks are most crowded). In fact, foot traffic on the peaks has gotten so heavy that a dedicated initiative was formed in 1994 to protect and preserve Colorado’s fourteeners.

If you’re looking for solitude, you may want to try one of Colorado’s lower-elevation peaks.

Rocky Mountain National Park (another place often associated with crowds) has dozens of peaks that see very few hikers. This past weekend, I climbed Chiefs Head, the third-highest peak in RMNP. My partner and I didn’t see a soul for the first 8 hours of the hike and had the summit all to ourselves. 

(Side note: If you followed the Chiefs Head link above, you discovered Summitpost.org, a valuable resource for route information on just about any peak in the world.)

Part of the reason for the lack of crowds on Chiefs Head is its remoteness – the route we took from Sandbeach Lake is 16.4 miles and over 5,500 feet of elevation gain, more than half of it off-trail.

Realizing that afternoon thunderstorms must be avoided (especially during National Lightning Safety Awareness Week), we hit the trail at 4:00 a.m.

Sunrise at Sandbeach Lake was peaceful and a bit surreal:

We made the summit at about 10:00 a.m. The sun never did make an appearance…

The moral of the story is, don’t limit yourself to just the fourteeners! There are hundreds of peaks in this state that offer the same majestic views and physical challenge, without the crowds.

A great place to research what’s out there is Lists of John (click on Colorado Peaks by Elevation). You can view members’ lists of summits and add your own profile and peak list. The site is a great way to keep tabs on who’s climbing what in Colorado and track your own accomplishments. 

And if you're interested in hiking in Rocky Mountain NP, pick up a copy of Lisa Foster's Complete Hiking Guide. In the book's preface, Foster explains how she set out in the summer of 2004 to "finish hiking every named destination in RMNP." The results of her quest are documented in the book, which covers 440 destinations and 668 trails and routes.

-Sarah