Mount Bierstadt facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Mount Bierstadt
Reflections of Mount Bierstadt (right) and The Sawtooth (left)
Highest point
Elevation	14,065 ft (4,287 m)
Prominence	720 ft (219 m)
Isolation	1.12 mi (1.80 km)
Listing	Colorado Fourteener 38th
Naming
Etymology	Albert Bierstadt
Geography
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Location	Clear Creek County, Colorado, United States
Parent range	Front Range, Colorado Peaks
Topo map	USGS 7.5' topographic map Mount Evans, Colorado
Climbing
First ascent	1863 Albert Bierstadt
Easiest route	7 mile hike

Mount Bierstadt is a high mountain summit of the Colorado Peaks in the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains of North America. The 14,065-foot (4,287 m) fourteener is located in the Mount Evans Wilderness of Pike National Forest, 9.4 miles (15.1 km) south by east (bearing 171°) of the Town of Georgetown in Clear Creek County, Colorado, United States. It was named in honor of Albert Bierstadt, the American landscape painter who made the first recorded summit of the mountain in 1863.

Mountain

Mount Bierstadt is located 1.4 miles (2.2 km) west by south of Mount Evans and 43.8 miles (70.5 km) west by south of downtown Denver.

Because it is generally considered an easy climb, along with its accessibility from nearby Denver, Mount Bierstadt is one of the most popular mountains to climb in Colorado. As with most peaks in Colorado, July and August make the best months for climbing Mount Bierstadt.

The most popular base from which to begin ascent of Mount Bierstadt is Guanella Pass, located to the west. From Guanella Pass it is approximately a 7 miles (11 km) hike, with a climb of 2,391 feet (729 m). The trail descends slightly into the fairly level marshlands surrounding Scott Gomer Creek before reaching Bierstadt's western slopes. On the rocky upper regions of the mountain the route of the trail is marked by a series of cairns. The trail levels about 200 feet (61 m) below the summit at saddle point before beginning the final ascent. Alternative trails cover the eastern slopes for longer hikes.

Once at the summit, a popular option is to continue the hike to nearby Mount Evans along a ridge known as The Sawtooth, an intermediate-level hike. Often such a trip will involve a detour down to Abyss Lake 12,650 feet (3,860 m) elevation), which occupies the bottom of the valley separating Bierstadt and Evans.

Albert Bierstadt's painting A Storm in the Rocky Mountains, Mt. Rosalie is based on sketches he made during his 1863 visit to the area. That painting shows either Mount Spalding or Mount Evans (it is ambiguous) from the Chicago Lakes, 3 miles (4.8 km) north-northwest, but Bierstadt and his guide William Byers climbed onward to the summit of either Evans or Spalding (the account is ambiguous).