Hiking in the Collegiate Peaks Wilderness

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In August, we drive out to Colorado and hike in the Collegiates, which are in the San Isabel Wilderness. We drive into Buena Vista, CO on an early Sunday morning and crash out in the local park for about 3 hours to wait for the sun to rise. Then we have breakfast and finally go to the home of of our shuttle driver. After our vehicle is parked at Vicksburg, our shuttle driver hauls us to the Trail Head off HWY 24 about 10 miles North of Buena Vista. We hike the first day, about 6.6 miles on the Pine Creek Trail to Little Johns Cabin. On day two, I stay at Little Johns Cabin, while my brother and his son, and my son hike the South Pine Creek Trail to reach the summit of Mount Harvard, at 14,420 ft. in elevation. On day three, we leave Little Johns Cabin and continue up the Pine Creek Trail to camp in the Missouri Basin. On our way we pass Bedrock Falls. We turn right on a trail that goes to Elkhead Pass. The trail to the left goes a short distance to Twin Lakes and Silver King Lake, both are managed trout waters. On day 4, our boys stay and hang around base camp, while Larry and I take out to hike some of the local peaks, Iowa and Missouri Mountains. On day 5, we hike North and go over Elkhead Pass at an elevation of 13,250 ft. We reach Vicksburg, via the Missouri Gulch Trail. The entire trail is just over 16 miles. We've heard of some people hiking the opposite direction to get the hard part over with first and then the trip from Elkhead Pass to HWY 24 is downhill the entire 12 miles. However the 4 miles from Vicksburg to Elkhead Pass is very steep, according to my GPS profile track data. VERY STEEP. The route we took takes you gradually uphill and there are times you may need to rest to take in more oxygen, but it is very doable for a weekend hiker. You can see my track on SPOT Adventures http://findmespot.com/spotadventures/index.php/view_adventure?tripid=312790