Hiking Mount Bierstadt: An Easy Colorado 14er?

Welcome to Colorado, the land of 14ers!  You might be looking to check a 14er off your bucketlist, but where should you start!?  I present to you Mount Bierstadt in the Mount Evans Wilderness!

Colorado is well known for their 58 peaks that rise 14,000 feet above sea level.  Famously known as the 14ers of Colorado, people hike, scramble and mountaineer their way to the top of them every summer.  But which one is the easiest to start with?

Today we’ll be discussing how easy (but still challenging) Mount Bierstadt is, where to park, what to expect and all the other details.  So let’s dive right in!

Important Links

Mount Bierstadt Trail – AllTrail Link

Mount Evans Wilderness – General Info

Backpack Essentials – Freebie #2

Hiking Journal – Never Forget the Details of Your Favorite Hikes Again!

Parking

First things first, parking at the Mount Bierstadt Trailhead is VERY competitive.  Like, the parking lot will probably be full by 4am on a Sat/Sun or by 5:30am on a weekday.

You might be thinking “WOW, that’s insane?” and yeah, you’re right.  So why is it so busy!? 

Since this is classified as an “easy” 14er, many people hike this one.  It’s also popular because there isn’t a 4×4 road involved with getting to the parking lot.   

So where are you parking?  You can type “Mount Bierstadt Trailhead” into your favorite map app.  Or, in short, you’ll want to park here – Mount Bierstadt Trailhead.    

Oh, and on a random note for my ladies who can’t just turn their backs on the trail, there is a pit toilet available at the trailhead.  Just be sure to bring some TP in case they are out. I don’t know how often they restock.  

Location

So you’ll be parking at the Mount Bierstadt Trailhead and following the clearly labeled path to the summit.  But how far away is the trailhead from a few major cities?

Mount Bierstadt Trailhead/Parking Lot is about 1.5 hours from Denver, 2.5 hours from Colorado Springs, and 5.5 hours from Durango.  But now, let’s look at the stats!

Trail Stats

• Distance: 7.2 miles
• Elevation Gain: ~2,800 feet
• Estimated Time on Trail: 6 – 8 hours
• Difficulty: Moderately-Difficult

Before the Hike

Before you begin your hike of Mount Bierstadt, you’ll want to have all the hiking essentials.  This includes plenty of water, snacks, a medkit, a flashlight and all other hiking essentials.  (You can find a backpack essentials list in my Freebies!).

As there is little to no phone service in and around this area, I highly recommend that you download the hiking trail.  Or at least have a downloaded map on Google to navigate to and from the trailhead.  

You’ll also want to have sunscreen as well as other sun protecting clothes (sunshirt, hat, etc.).  Remember, your way closer to the sun than normal.  

Finally, make sure you pack extra layers to put on as you ascend into the higher elevation.  I was extremely glad I packed a hat and gloves for when I reached the top!  

Quick Overview

Mount Bierstadt is a 7.2 mile, out-and-back hike with about 2,800 feet of elevation gain.  You can easily hike to the summit in a day, but due to frequent summer storms in the afternoon, you’ll want to start early.  

The first 1 mile is downhill, and then you’ll begin an ascent of 2,800 feet over the next 2.6 miles.  The trail itself is very easy to follow.  It’s mostly a single track dirt path that ascends above the treeline.  Once you are above said treeline, you’ll be following cairns.  

The last push of this hike comes in the rock scrambling of the final 0.4miles.  This is not a hard rock scramble, but you’ll still want to take your time so you don’t twist an ankle, or worse.  

While the trail is very steep in some sections, based on the stats, this is one of the easiest 14ers.  However, due to the thinness of the air up there, I might argue that none of the 14ers are easy.  But we’ll get to that!

Now that you know where to go and you’ve had a bit of an overview, let’s dive into what hiking this trail was like for my husband and I in the Summer of 2025.  And while we are by no means experts, I’ll be answering the question of whether Mount Bierstadt is or isn’t an easy 14er.

Our Hike to the Summit of Mount Bierstadt

My husband and I hiked Mount Bierstadt in early August of 2025.  We arrived at the trailhead around 4:30am.  Once we were ready, double checked our gear and used the bathroom, we had boots on the ground by 5:20am.

With flashlights aglow, we made our way on the trail.  The first mile is downhill and this acted as a nice warm up for our legs.  The trail easily leads you through some thick brush before you begin your ascent around 1.2 miles. 

Our Ascent

At first, the trail’s gentle grade leads you out of the brush/treeline and onto your first set of switchbacks.  These switchbacks are easy and if you start early, you’ll be greeted with a beautiful sunrise and some alpen glow like we were.

As the brush gives way to just grass and rocks, the trail becomes steeper.  At this point we were right around 12,000feet and the steeper the trail, the quicker we became out of breath.  We did take frequent stops as we continued to hike upward.

Steeper, and then steeper again, this trail leads you up the mountain.  In all honesty, the steepness wasn’t too hard, but the thin air had us stopping far more frequently than is typical.  But we soldiered on.

We were lucky enough to see 2 mountain goats on our hike up, as well as many marmots and pikas.  There were also a few wildflowers still in bloom, despite it being a little late in the season.  And on and on we continued up, slowly getting closer to the summit.

The Last 0.4 Miles

Since this hike is on an exposed mountain, you can see the peak the entire time that you are hiking.  However, speaking from experience, every time we stopped and looked up, it didn’t feel like we were getting any closer.  

But after several hours of hiking, stopping to catch our breath, and then continuing, we finally reached the rock scramble!  Personally, I loved this part because it’s a new challenge that doesn’t involve trudging uphill anymore.  And it means we were almost there!

The Mount Bierstadt Summit

Finally, we clambered to the top and found the geological marker for Mount Bierstadt!  We had made it!  And we were greeted with a 360 degree view of Colorado.

The hike was tough, but absolutely worth it when you can see for miles and miles.  Here we ate lunch (even though it was still very much the morning), got our obligatory photos with a piece of cardboard, and then headed down. 

The Descent

Hiking down from the summit of Mount Bierstadtown was bittersweet.  We weren’t ready to leave the beauty, but we were ready to get back to the truck and rest our weary legs. 

The hike down was much faster, but we were sure to take our time.  We didn’t want any injuries when we still had miles to go!  

The last mile was all uphill – remember that easy downhill from the morning?  Yeah, now it’s all uphill.  But finally, after about 8 hours total (including about an hour at the summit), we were back at our truck.

An Easy 14er?

So is Mount Bierstadt really an easy 14er?  Compared to the other 14ers, this is definitely one of the easier peaks, and a great first 14er.  

However, I must caution you that just because it’s easy compared to the others, doesn’t mean it’s easy.  

You have to consider the altitude – you will be gasping for breath!

You have to hike fast enough to beat any summer storms.

And you have to be in good enough shape to hike this trail in the first place.

So when people say “that’s an easy 14er” they don’t mean that just any Joe-Shmoe can hike this trail.  It’s still a physical challenge, it’s just easier than the others.  

Conclusion

Mount Bierstadt is one of the easier 14ers in Colorado, but it’s still quite the accomplishment!  If you are lucky enough to summit this peak, you should be proud of yourself.  

Over the course of 3.6 miles, you’ll hike up to 14,065 feet and then go back exactly the way you came.  This trail might challenge you, but it’s a beautiful hike!

As always, if you have any questions, feel free to reach out to me at averagewildexperience@gmail.com and I’ll do my best to answer them.

-Happy Hiking!