Hiking Challenger Point, Kit Carson Peak and Mount Adams in Colorado's Sangre de Cristo Wilderness

We summited 14,000-foot peaks Challenger Point and Kit Carson Peak and 13er Mount Adams in early August 2024. This was a massive day and we got the good weather we needed as we covered 19 miles and nearly 9,000 feet of elevation gain. These three peaks are in Colorado's Sangre de Cristo Wilderness near the town of Crestone, following the Willow Creek Trail.

After an easy hike up to the lake, the trail steepens, but remains class 2 to the summit of Challenger Point (14,086 feet). However, this was perhaps the most challenging section of the day--particularly on the descent--as much of the rock is loose and steep up to the summit ridge.

We continued down to the saddle between Challenger and Kit Carson, which is the top of a Kirk Couloir, a fun snow climb in the winter and spring. Following "The Avenue," we continued toward Kit Carson, with a short stop at The Prow, a high point just off the trail at 13,994 feet. Continuing down The Avenue, we reached the first of several steep gullies and decided to climb this low fifth-class route to the summit of Kit Carson Peak (14,167 feet). While this route had several short sections of low class 5, the majority of it was ledgy and more in the class 3 and class 4 range of difficulty.

We took the standard route back down to The Avenue, which is less direct than the route we ascended, but much less steep and coming in at difficult class 2 or easy class 3, depending on your route finding abilities. The downside of this route compared to the class 5 route we took to the summit is there is more loose rock here.

After Kit Carson, we retraced the route back over Challenger and down to the lake before starting up towards Mount Adams in the mid-afternoon. As with many 13ers, there is not much of an established route so bushwacking was needed through some lower sections. However, it is generally an easy route up to the summit block, which then follows a class 3 route up a steep gully on the climber's right from the ridge to the summit at 13,937 feet.

Descending in the daylight, we were able to take in the beautiful waterfalls that were obscured in the darkness on the ascent.