Mount Flora

Elevation: 4002 m (13129 feet)
Elevation Gain: 555 m (1822 feet)
Mount Flora is a front range peak located along the Continental Divide almost immediately west of Denver, CO. Although the peak‘s accessibility and spectacular views make it a popular objective, there are conflicting reports relating to the origin of its name. Some hold that the peak was named by renowned botanist Dr. Charles Parry, who was taken with the mountain’s flora (and named a number of other local peaks, including adjacent Mount Eva). Others, however, assert that the mountain was named by explorer John Wesley Powell, who started a Boy Scout camp at nearby Berthoud Pass. Before establishing the camp, Powell met Flora Thomas for whom, it is said, he named Mount Flora. Flora Thomas’ son, Chauncey, would eventually become a prominent Denver writer. After his death in 1941, Chauncey Thomas’ ashes were spread on the summit of Mount Flora and at Berthoud Pass, where a monument also honors him.
My Ascents:
June 25 2023
Trailhead: Berthoud Pass Parking

In June 2019, my work sent me to Denver for a few days of meetings. Thanks to long summer daylight hours, I was able to bag 10 Colorado peaks after work on that trip and, in the process, fell in love with those more southerly Rocky Mountains. When I returned home, I’m sure that I drove my wife Brianne crazy ranting about how awesome the hiking around Denver would be for our family…

Fast forward a few years, and work (once again) wanted to send me to Denver in June (after having already sent me to Bavaria, Southern California, and upstate New York in the span of only eight weeks). Obviously, I wasn’t disappointed to be going back to Colorado, but all of this recent work travel had me weary 😩; I’d been away so much that I was starting to really miss my family! As my planned trip to Denver neared, Brianne and I therefore made a, somewhat, last-minute decision to buy an airfare ✈️ for her and our beautiful 9-month-old Lillian 👶 so that they could join me in the Mile-High City (while our parents generously agreed to take care of our two older girls 🙏). I’d still have to attend meetings and work from 8 am to 4 pm, but we’d at least get to spend our evenings together. Better still, I’d finally get the chance to show Brianne just how awesome the hiking around Denver is!

With the first of my meetings scheduled for Monday morning, we took advantage of a very early flight to Denver on Sunday to maximize our free hiking time together. After leaving home at 4 am, we flew from YYC to DEN, picked up our rental car and I drove west towards the mountains (while Brianne and Lillian each enjoyed a nap or two). By 12:40 pm, we finally arrived at our first Colorado trailhead: 3446-m-high (!) Berthoud Pass.

Lillian and Brianne look thrilled to be on a more southerly Continental Divide (despite having only slept for 4 hours the previous night)! Brianne was actually happier that we still had our suitcases with us in the car after a baby poo-splosion 💩 and a spilled Coke saw Lillian soil two pairs of her pants before we’d even started hiking… 🤦‍♂️

As you might expect given the trailhead’s elevation (which is similar to the summit elevation of Mount Temple back home), there was still a “little” bit of snow in late June.

LEFT: Brianne models the latest in Colorado hiking accessories: a super cute baby training weight (who is now wearing her last pair of clean pants for the entire trip 😬).
RIGHT: Up, up we go. Like all of the hikes that I’ve enjoyed in Colorado, the Mount Flora trail was extremely well-made, marked and maintained, making it easy to follow (even for sleep-deprived Canadians 🍁🥱)!

As we huffed and puffed our way up in the noticeably thin air, we quickly left the tree line below us and ran into a significant snowfield where the trail contoured around Colorado Mines Peak (which is an outlier of Mount Flora).

Canadian moms and infants, of course, feel at home in the snow (even in late June!). In fact, Lillian was so at ease here that she decided to doze off for another nap. 😴

Beyond the snow, we continued through beautiful alpine meadows towards the Mount Flora-Colorado Mines Peak col.

At the col, we were treated to a spectacular view of aptly named Blue Lake, which proved to be the biggest “Oh wow!” 😮 moment we’d had since Lillian blew through 2 pairs of pants in a 5-minute span at the trailhead. 😂 Click to see larger.

From the col, we continued east towards the next high point (left), which Brianne hoped was the summit. Mount Flora isn’t an overly arduous affair but the combination of extremely thin air, very little sleep and a heavy baby saw Brianne moving at a slower-than-usual pace…

LEFT: Soiled pants #3!!! 🤣 Unreal! Inattendu! Lillian!!! 🤣 As we hiked above the col, Brianne felt a disconcerting warmth spreading from the baby on her tummy. 😐 Removal and inspection of said baby revealed that faulty diaper placement had yielded yet another pair of unwearable pants and a pee-soaked Mom…
RIGHT: If you want a 12,000-foot elevation diaper change done right, sometimes you have to do it yourself…

LEFT: Lillian looking rather pleased with herself in her “emergency” sleeper… 😇
RIGHT: The alpine rock garden that served as Lilly’s changing table.

Another lovely entry in the day’s flower pictures file. The peak's flora were beautiful (whether that's where its name came from or not)!

With no spare baby clothes left, we hastened our ascent, hoping to summit before Lillian needed, yet another, change!

Brianne toils up the gentle slope above the col, hoping to find the summit of Mount Flora just ahead…

… About that summit, hun – sorry. Upon cresting the hike’s first major high point, it became apparent that the summit (left-ish) was still some distance away. Fortunately, the hiking to get there was magnificent. Unfortunately, Brianne’s struggles with the thin Colorado air started to make this pleasant walk seem like an arduous climb…

Brianne wonders whose idea it was to attempt a 13,000-footer with no acclimatization, no sleep and no spare baby clothes left. 🤔

An exhausted, anoxic Brianne nears the summit (with her tongue literally hanging from her mouth for good measure 😛) as Mount Flora’s long ascent ridge and the snowy Colorado Rockies fill the scene behind her.

LEFT: Thanks to the relatively flat terrain high on Mount Flora, there were several bumps which could have been the 4,002-m-tall summit. Rather than running from one to the next with an altimeter in the thin air, we elected to stop at the one with a sign and a cairn.
RIGHT: A high altitude marmot shares the wonderful summit view of, still frozen, Ethel Lake with us.

An expansive, 4,002-m-tall panorama east towards Ethel Lake from the summit of Mount Flora. Click to see larger.

The bump immediately to the north of Mount Flora (center left) looks to be almost exactly as high as the summit (and also features a cairn). Fortunately, the topo map indicated that the bump we were on was the summit so I didn’t need to run over there without my wife (who was D-O-N-E by this point)!

Looking north towards a number of distant/unfamiliar Rocky Mountains, including (from left to right): Longs Peak, Mount Meeker, Apache Peak, North/South Arapahoe Peaks and Old Baldy.

More proximate peaks to the north included (from left to right): Parry Peak, Mount Eva (corniced and in front of Parry Peak), James Peak and Mount Bancroft. From Flora, energetic parties (not us on this day) can continue hiking to most of these to tag a cheeky number of summits in one outing.

To the east, nearby Breckinridge Peak can also be tagged but it’s really just an outlier of Flora so why bother when you’re beat? Beyond Breckinridge, a rolling sea of forested mountains eventually gives way to prairies and Denver.

Snowy summits, red rock and verdant valleys alliterate the panorama to the south. Click to see larger.

Looking southeast towards 14,000-ers Mount Evans (center) and Mount Bierstadt. The former features a scenic road to the top, making it extremely accessible.

Snow and alpine meadow-covered peaks to the southwest include (from left to right): Grays Peak, Torreys Peak, Bard Peak, Mount Parnassus, Engelmann Peak, distant Mount Massive (the 2nd highest peak in the Rockies), Woods Mountain and Golden Bear Peak.

A closer look at 14ers Grays and Torreys. When planning the trip, these were on my shortlist but, given their abundant snow cover, I’m glad that I didn’t try to drag my wife and baby up there!

Bard, Parnassus and Engelmann beyond a, surprisingly, unnamed outlier of Flora.

Looking west beyond the antenna-cluttered summit of nearby Colorado Mines Peak. Pettingell Peak is the pointy mountain on the center-left horizon.

While I ran around snapping photos, Brianne fed Lillian and settled her for another nap 😴, while attempting to catch her breath. By this time, she’d also developed a wicked headache and a general sense of malaise due to her rapid rise to 4,000+ meters elevation so we posed for a quick summit selfie before beating a hasty retreat to lower ground.

Brianne and our sleepy baby on the road (down) again…

Taking in the colorful, westward panorama as we begin our descent. Click to see larger.

Byers Peak (left) and Ptarmigan Peak (center) highlight the view beyond more proximate, meadow-topped Vasquez Ridge as Brianne continues her retreat to lower ground.

LEFT: Enjoying the view while attempting to catch up to my wife on descent!
RIGHT: Finally caught her (she wasn’t messing around, thanks to her poor throbbing head)!

I stopped for one final panoramic photo and she was already a blip in the distance again. 🏃‍♀️ Click to see larger and try to find Brianne/Lillian amidst the spectacular Colorado scenery.

Enjoying views of Blue Lake (once more) as we descend towards the corniced col between Flora and Colorado Mines Peak.

I'm Blue; Da ba dee da ba di; Da ba dee da ba di; Da ba dee da ba di; Da ba dee da ba di; Da ba dee da ba di; Da ba dee da ba di; Da ba dee da ba di.

At the col, Brianne’s head started to feel better and there was actually a serious discussion about ascending the 103 vertical meters (337 feet) to Colorado Mine’s Peak to claim a cheeky two’fer. An achy back and a lack of sleep, however, won the day and we elected to skip the antenna-covered summit in favor of the more direct route down on its west (right) side.

LEFT and RIGHT: The significant snowfield we’d crossed on ascent proved just as simple on descent (provided that you didn’t slip)! Once again, Lillian napped through the whole thing… 😴

LEFT: Just above Berthoud Pass, the trail seemed to switchback needlessly, so we took advantage of a smaller, more direct spur trail to get back to the parking lot more quickly.
RIGHT: Thanks to the hot sun and steady wind at elevation, we managed to dry two pairs of Lillian’s soiled pants on our rental car’s windshield while we were off peakbagging. 😂

LEFT and RIGHT: Craft beer 🍺, Detroit-style pizza 🍕 and a very cute, well-rested baby provided a welcome end to a beautiful (but long) day that saw 8 naps 😴, 3 pairs of soiled pants 💩 and a spectacular hike up to 4,002 m elevation 🏔️ in the Colorado Rockies !