Challenger Point - Beautiful Summer 14er hike from Willow Creek Trailhead to Challenger Point Summit

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📍 Place: Sangre De Cristo Wilderness, Colorado, USA
📅 Date: August 7th, 2024
🚩 Trailhead: Willow Creek Trailhead
🏔️ Destination: Challenger Point
📏 Distance: 13.3 miles/21.4 km
⬆️ Ascent: 5,363'/1,635M
🗺️ Route: Willow Creek Trailhead→ Willow Lake → Challenger Point

This was a challenging hike. The approach is very long and just getting to the top of Challenger is over 5,000 ft of elevation gain. I started the day not certain if I would summit Kit Carson as well. When I got to the top of Challenger, I decided to call it a day and and return another time to climb Kit Carson.
You need to know you limits and when to turn around. This was one of those days. This area is immensely beautiful, especially the cascading waterfall at the far end of Willow Lake. Most people backpack up to Willow Lake and camp just below the lake and use that as a base camp for climbing Challenger and Kit Carson. Enjoy the beauty!

00:00:00 - Intro and information
00:00:35 - The Approach
00:14:46 - Sketchy Stream Crossing
00:32:34 - Campsites
00:42:18 - Willow Lake
00:54:20 - Stream Crossing
00:59:54 - The Ascent
02:24:03 - Challenger Ridge
02:40:03 - The Summit
02:41:04 - Turning Around
04:04:42 - Back at the lake

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