As seems to be typical for the Mosquito Range, we had bad weather for our hike. We were clouded in for almost all of the day, never having a clear view of any of the surrounding area - just the trail in front of us except for a few moments on each mountain.

To get to the mountains, take Colorado Highway 9 north out of Fairplay to Alma. From Alma, take County Road 8 west to Kite Lake. You'll have to ford a couple of streams to get to the lake, as the water from snow melting off Mt. Bross crosses the road significantly in a couple of places. If you have a jeep, you'll have no problem. If you're like us and don't have 4-wheel drive, you need a little faith. It can be done!

Kite Lake is situated at approximately 12,000 feet, above the Bristlecone Pine National Scenic Area, a forest of bristlecone pine trees nearly 1000 years old. Because the lake is slightly above timberline, the climb up the mountains does not involve a lot of elevation gain. There is a campground here ($3 per night) which makes an early morning start possible.

We began our climb at 6:40 am after a wet night in tents at Kite Lake (even with kerosene we couldn't get a fire going!). As we left camp, crossing a stream and heading toward Mt. Democrat clouds were chasing us uphill. They overtook us in about 10 minutes, obscuring Democrat's false summit.

There are many trails in the valley - you need to be careful to take the right one! We had decided to do Democrat first, so when the path split - one trail leading northernly, another path leading east - we took the northern path, which eventually leads to a saddle between Mt. Democrat and Mt. Cameron. Fortunately, we had a compass which pointed us in the right direction - there was no way we could see where either path led with the clouds surrounding us.

The northern path starts pretty gently, then becomes much steeper and turns to the northwest at about 12,700 feet until you reach the saddle at about 13,400 ft. From here you should have a good view of the Sawatch Range across the Arkansas Valley to the west. All we could see was white, but it wasn't raining yet. From the saddle, head southwest up the ridge to the summit of Mt. Democrat at 14,148 feet. We topped out at 7:30 am - it's only a little over a mile from the lake to the summit.

Next is Mt. Lincoln, the highest of the three at 14,286 feet. To get to Lincoln, unfortunately, you have to retrace your steps down 750 feet to the saddle again, and then head up the other way. In about a mile and a half, you'll be at the top of Mt. Cameron where you should have a great view of Quandary Peak to the north across Platt Gulch, Mt. Democrat behind you and Mt. Lincoln ahead of you. From the summit you drop down a little over 100 feet to the saddle between Cameron and Lincoln - and then up Lincoln's ridge to its summit. We were hit by a quick snow storm while on the saddle. Then, it actually cleared enough for us to take a picture while we were approaching Lincoln from Cameron! For the entire half mile between the Cameron and Lincoln summits you'll be above 14,000 feet. We hit the Lincoln summit at 10:20 am and stayed for ten minutes.

Now for Bross! Head back down Lincoln the way you came, but this time, skirt Cameron's summit to the east, heading along a trail that will take you to the saddle between Cameron and Bross at about 13,800 feet. While we were at the saddle it cleared enough (barely!) to take a picture. Once you've reached the saddle, it's an easy walk southeast to the Bross summit. There are mining roads here which go very near the top. We made the summit at 11:17 am and had lunch in the clouds.

Now you're faced with a decision. Option 1: you could go back to the saddle again, up Cameron and down to the saddle between it and Democrat, and then back down the original path, or you could take Option 2: hike just a little way down toward the saddle, then head due west - without a trail - steeply down about a thousand feet of scree. Naturally, we chose Option 2, which is a lot of fun - but you do have to be careful of going too fast. Eventually, this route will lead you to a trail which takes you back to Kite Lake and, in fact, is the "path leading east" mentioned above. (It's important that before heading down the side of Bross you journey a little way toward the saddle first; otherwise, you may end up in a different drainage which will put you below Kite Lake.)

One nice thing about hiking when the weather is not perfect is that you have the mountains pretty much to yourself. We saw only six other people on the mountains that day.

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