Mount Belford and Mount Oxford
From the Missouri Gulch trailhead. Returning via Elkhead Pass
Ken and I were planning on climbing forboding Pyramid Peak this weekend but Ken began picking up flu-like symptoms on Thursday. We were planning on leaving Friday night but he called and persuaded me to delay the trip for one day thinking he could perhaps recover. Well, on Saturday I called him and he wasn’t any better. So, after he asked me not to climb it without him, we decided to delay it for two weekends. However, it was getting late in the season. Two weekends away and it might be too icy or slick to climb. We’d have to wait and see. In the mean time I knew I wanted to do something but there didn’t seem to be too much to choose from. I basically only had the Sawatch to choose from for driving reasons and I certainly was going to do a fourteener since I would be alone and I wanted to reach 40 fourteeners before the end of the year. So, I realized that there was one peak that really stood out: Mount Oxford. I’d missed Mount Oxford last year because of bad weather. And this was the perfect opportunity. I had thought in the past that I might climb it from Pine Creek but I wasn’t in the mood for a 20-mile overnight backpack so I decided to car-camp at the Missouri Gulch trailhead and hike it from the standard route.
I drove out late on Saturday evening and arrived around 10:30 pm. The night was a little cooler than previous nights that I’d spent out in the mountains. Fall was definitely on the way. Because I left after dark, I didn’t see any mountains as I drove, however, when I awoke, I noticed that a dusting of snow had fallen high upon the peaks. The first snow had arrived much earlier than last year. I began up the trail around 7:30 am. The trail starts switching back steeply. I was expecting this though since I’d been here exactly 11 months ago. I made great time though and I was out of treeline within a little over an hour and I noticed that Belford, again, had a good helping of snow on it. It thankfully wasn’t nearly as deep as last year though and the weather was much better as well. The wind wasn’t blowing nearly as hard.
I considered hiking up to Elkhead Pass but that seemed too far away so I started heading up Belford with the idea that I’d cut over at the last minute and head straight for Oxford. Well, it didn’t work out quite that way. I should have studied the map a little more. I cut over but got onto some annoying talus and a little cliff band (yes, on Belford!) so I hiked up and around the cliff band and noticed that I was literally only 20 feet from the summit of Belford. So, I decided to tag the summit, have some lunch, and then head off to Oxford. If you climb Oxford from this route, you might as well plan on doing Belford as well. The ridge is only 20 feet lower than the actual summit, which means that the ridge where you start the climb of Oxford from is higher than Oxford itself.
After chatting with some folks from out of state who were too pooped to continue on to Oxford, I set off. I thought I might be able to be on top within an hour. It actually took 15 minutes less. Not bad at all. The ridge from Belford drops steeply but the climb up to Oxford is very gentle indeed.
The summit of Oxford is very non-descript. I think I may vote Oxford as probably the most bland summit I’ve been on yet. However, the views were great. I could see Leadville and many other fourteeners. Mount Harvard was a giant bulk to the south. Mount Elbert had much more snow on it than these peaks did too. Out to the east I could make out the Buffalo Peaks. I didn’t stay on top very long. It was kind of cold when the wind blew so I kept hunkered down. I didn’t feel like putting on my pants though because I knew I’d be hot as soon as I got out of the wind and back into the hot sun. I started back and then took another fairly long rest in the middle of the ridge back to Belford. I decided not to go down the northwest slopes but instead hike south to Elkhead Pass then head back north up the Missouri Gulch trail and back to the car.
What a great idea it was to hike to Elkhead Pass! This was definitely the highlight of the trip and I would recommend to anyone who is hiking Belford and Oxford to definitely hike via Elkhead Pass. It’s maybe 2 miles more in distance but it’s much more gentle and it’s twenty times more beautiful. This was one of the prettier spots in the Sawatch Range. The tundra is so expansive and the mountains around you are quite dramatic. Missouri Mountain (below) looks more like a Mount Sneffels from here. I passed some people on horseback on the way up. One of the horses was looking pretty tired and the rider was leading him. This is a great spot for horseback riding. I also passed some hikers who where heading to Belford and Oxford who had just come from Missouri. They were in the middle of a charity climb where it seemed that they were hiking all of the fourteeners within a month or two. They said that Oxford would be the fortieth in 3 weeks! I told them that my knees wouldn’t let me do that.
Here’s a neat shot of Missouri Mountain from Elkhead Pass. From here, it was a very pleasant hike out to car. The views of Missouri Mountain are astounding the whole way. I zoomed out pretty fast and made it back before 3pm and ended up catching up with the guys I’d met on Belford who decided not to hike Oxford. Overall, the hike was very enjoyable. I would not have enjoyed it nearly as much if I had skipped Elkhead Pass.
