MT. OXFORD
14,153 ft.
September 25, 1998
By Tim Briese
Mt. Oxford is one of the most challenging 14ers to climb in the Sawatch Range, because it is surrounded by many miles of roadless wilderness. The standard way to climb it, and perhaps the easiest, is to climb Mt. Belford first and then continue across the ridge to Oxford, which requires a long eleven mile hike with a demanding 5900 feet of elevation gain. I attempted Oxford this way the year before but turned back at Belford’s summit because of 70 mile per hour winds and an ailing climbing companion. This time, in my constant quest to explore new places, I decided to attempt Oxford via the longer Pine Creek approach from the east. This requires a challenging 16 mile hike and 5400 feet of gain, which I was unsure if I could do on a dayhike. I liked the idea of taking on a new challenge, though.
I left home at 4:30 a.m. with my lab Allie and headed into the mountains. As I got away from the lights of the city I was excited to see a fine display of Northern Lights in the starry sky. It had been several years since I had witnessed their grandeur. I arrived at the Pine Creek Trailhead north of Buena Vista about 7 a.m., just as the sun was rising. I donned my hiking boots, deposited a $3 fee to hike across the Pine Creek Ranch, and was on my way. Allie and I hiked past a couple of horses standing in a pasture watching us and soon entered the national forest. We followed the easy trail up the beautiful valley along Pine Creek, past rock walls and boulder outcroppings, and through stands of yellow aspens, until we reached a junction with the Colorado Trail after about four miles.
At this point the valley opened up and widened out. From here I could see the summit of Oxford towering above the valley to the right a few miles ahead, as well as its long east ridge running toward me. I had planned on hiking up onto that ridge and following its gentle grades to the summit, but the wind was really picking up and I did not cherish a long two or three mile hike above timberline walking into the teeth of a howling gale. It would have been doable, but quite unpleasant, at best. As I sat there resting I changed my plan and decided to continue on up the valley on the Pine Creek Trail past Little John’s Cabin and then make a steep, rough bushwhack directly up Oxford’s south face.
It was a pretty hike up the valley, under a partly cloudy sky, with meadows, beaver ponds, golden yellow aspens, and views of the surrounding mountains. There was a particularly impressive view of Mt. Harvard to the south. Along the way I passed the camp of some backpackers located at the edge of the trees above a meadow that I hiked across. After I had hiked about six miles from the trailhead I reached Little John’s Cabin. It was an interesting structure, a relic of Colorado’s early mining days, with an old rundown corral and some outbuildings, all of which were locked up.
A few hundred yards past the cabin I left the trail and struck off to the right up a steep slope, pushing my way through dense stands of aspen saplings. As I bushwhacked upward I had to work my way through a couple of formidable cliff bands. It was rugged going, but fun. I selected a route through more aspens above the cliffs and then through a stand of pines as I approached timberline. From there I hiked up steep slopes through tundra and across boulder fields. I stayed to the east below the crest of a ridge to avoid the brunt of the howling southwest wind. As it was, the vigorous wind swirled around me in choppy gusts, but it would have been much worse without the protection of the ridge.
As I climbed higher the terrain became very steep and rocky, and I began to wonder about rocks above me falling. Eventually I neared the summit, having gained about 3300 feet in elevation from the valley floor below in two and a half hours. Just before stepping into the brunt of the wind on the summit plateau I paused to put on my wind coat and stocking cap. Then I stepped into the gale and strode across the summit to its highest point. I quickly found a sheltered spot behind some rocks to sit down to eat and rest. Four other climbers had just left the summit a few minutes before I arrived and were heading back across the ridge toward Belford into the face of the wind. I enjoyed the fine views all around, and noted that I could see all the way to the Elk and San Juan ranges in the clear air.
I arrived on the summit about 12:30 and began my descent about 30 minutes later. The wind nearly knocked me down as I walked back across the summit plateau, and it was nice to drop back down behind the ridge again. I carefully picked my way back down through the rocks and scree, and followed the guidance of Allie’s nose to stay on my ascent route. About a thousand feet below the summit I left the route I had come up on and got into a steep, narrow gully that had remarkably solid footing in its bottom, as if the dirt and rocks had somehow been cemented together. I followed this pleasant route all the way down to treeline where I came upon a faint trail which I followed for a while before bushwhacking the rest of the way down into the valley through a dense stand of yellow aspens.
It felt good to return to the gentle floor of the valley, and I sought out a nice spot to sit at the edge of a meadow along Pine Creek to rest and filter some water. After a few minutes I began the hike back down the trail. It was a beautiful hike down the valley in the golden afternoon light with the deep blue sky above. I frequently paused to turn and look behind at the pretty aspens whose yellow leaves were now backlit by the sun, which provided some picturesque sights with the mountains towering above.
Down along the lower, wooded portion of the trail I saw a big coyote trotting past in the woods nearby. Allie began to follow it but I quickly called her back, to avoid a potential skirmish. I could tell Allie was getting very tired, for she was now walking behind me, instead of running ahead as she had done earlier in the hike. I was exhausted when I arrived back at the trailhead at 5 p.m., after a long ten hour outing. It felt great to accomplish this 16 mile hike, though, which was the longest mountain hike I had ever done.
