"Once out of the treeline it is very very steep although fully walk up and easy to find the trail. Any steeper and you’d be scrambling. More false summits than we were expecting." — AmyScrambles • Aug 31, 2025

"7/13/2025 *I'm pretty sure this ended up being 13.8 miles, but a mile was stolen from me. We all know not to use AllTrails for routes, I guess it's not the way to go if you care about tracking your stats either. Had a great day on Elbert today with my good friend, saw some amazing wildlife and made a few new friends on the way down. We rolled into the North Elbert Trail trailhead around 04:30 after jumping someone's car on Halfmoon rd, which would give us some good karma through the day. The parking lot started to fill up after we got there but it seemed like there was a decent amount of room to park at the trailhead. After cooking up some breakfast tacos on my griddle and almost booting it back up after passing the outhouse at the trailhead (I cant say I've smelled much worse and I didn't even go in) we started the climb with first light at 05:30 since we had forgotten our headlamps. Oops. We watched the sun rise through the trees and burn off the clouds for the first 2.5 miles or so, giving us an absolutely beautiful bluebird sky. The trail to treeline was pretty relaxed besides a couple of staircase sections, but staircases wear me out so maybe I'm a little biased. We mad..." — Trusey • Jul 13, 2025

"HP #20! Extra special one - got engaged at the top!!! Trail was well marked and no snow was left! Took us 4 hours up, and 3 hours down. Great mountain for our first 14ner!! " — emkabalka • Jun 24, 2025

"June 5, 2023. A nice day on the mountain. Only used hiking boots, no traction needed. Summit views were amazing. Saw one mule deer, brown-capped rosy-finches, and a few marmots and pika. " — runningvegan • Jun 5, 2023

"A failed summit on Wheeler, NM in the snow just the day before had us in pretty low spirits. After Wheeler we drove up to Leadville, CO where we checked into our VRBO, got some food and planned and packed for Elbert in the snow the following day. Waking up at 3:45, we headed out to the trailhead in the cold dark. Hit the trail early to get a head start on our 10+ mile hike and 4,500' of ascent. Elbert was hard to be sure. Long haul to the treeline where we stashed our snow shoes and went on through the wind stripped mountainside. Temperatures dropped as we climbed, with wind gusts in the 40-50mph range. After a couple false summits we finally found the top of Colorado and the sun popped out to greet us. As Zach came up he said "nothing about that was easy" - I couldnt agree more." — wiweasel • May 12, 2023

"Climbed the east ridge with the Lockwood Foundation's annual Trailride a 14er event. Beautiful experience with dozens of other people helping a woman with ALS gain one more peak. https://youtu.be/Ji-oBhXbwNU" — cheeseishappiness • Sep 12, 2021

"Reached the parking lot by 0400 and started hiking around 0420 The road to the trailhead was closed so it added 1mi exactly each way, which was relatively easy, but a pain coming back. I made quick of the climb, reaching trailhead by 0435, the tree line by 0550, and summited by 0750. I stayed at the summit to wait for some folks for about 40 mins, which cooled me down quite a bit. I descended and made it back to the trailhead by 1042 and to my car 15 mins later. There was some smoke from the Dixie fire in California which impacted some of the views, but still magnificent. I look forward to exploring more 14ers in the area soon. The hike was not too difficult, but the two false summits do crush your spirit a little, even if you expect them." — mchikes • Aug 9, 2021

"Up from the North trail, which due to road closures ended up being around 12 miles. My first 14er and first time being up past 12,000 ft in a few months, so I was feeling the elevation. Overcast day, but great views at the summit. Nice run down to the car just as afternoon thunderstorms were rolling in. Not the most exciting mountain, but beautiful scenery. " — daviddeang • Jun 24, 2021

"I have been thinking about Mount Elbert, elevation 14,433, for the last 4 years and planned to hike this peak as a little celebration for turning 65 this year. It was special to me because it is the second highest peak in America, not counting Alaska, and the highest peak in Colorado. For my 60th I did the first highest peak, Mount Whitney in California with my son Garret. Turning 61 I hiked the highest peak in Arizona, Humphreys Peak with my daughter Christina. I really did not want to hike this peak by myself. I asked 6 people to go with me and 2 wanted to go but they were engineers and their firms would require them to quarantine for 14 days when they returned to New Mexico because of the Covid-19 epidemic we are experiencing. I reluctantly went by myself. I planned on driving up from the Albuquerque area Sunday August 30, 2020, spending the night near the Mount Elbert 4WD trailhead in my 1992 Land Cruiser, hiking the peak Sunday August 31st, then driving back that day or spending one more night. I left my house at 7:30 AM. It was a 6 and 1/2 hour drive north through central New Mexico and central Colorado to near Colorado's midpoint. I passed the 2WD trailhead. The 4WD tra..." — Phil-Robinson • Aug 31, 2020

"Camped at one of the dispersed sites about 1/4 mile before the trailhead, very convenient. Got up early to hit the peak before any potential storms came rolling through, had beautiful weather up there. A few false summits, but only the last one really fooled us. These trails are very busy. Cool to greet the CT and CDT trekkers passing through on our way down." — jodola • Jul 17, 2020