Arrived at 5:40 am. Only a handful of cars in the parking lot. Lot is not very big. There is no bathrooms in the lot and also no trashcans. If you need to go to bathroom pop over to elbert or one of the bathrooms along the road/way to get to the trailhead. Otherwise be sure to plan on packing out what you pack in. Trail is actually 14.5 miles per 14ers.com. So be prepared that this is longer than what all trails states. This is the standard route for this peak. This trail is well maintained and in good shape. Trail is currently in summer conditions. Basically this is just a REALLY LONG trail with a lot of elevation gain. There is nothing technical about it. When you get to the ridge there is still a pretty well defined trail. You will have to step over some rocks but nothing bad. The inclining meadow leading up to the ridge though seems to go on forever! Bring plenty of water, food, O2, and be prepared. If you are bringing your dogs. Pack out their poop bags! Also keep them on a leash! Saw pica, marmots and some birds i had not seen before. No goats though. I did this in 6 hours total hiking time but was moving at a fairly fast clip. read more

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Okay I do dumb things sometimes... Welp trying to hike Massive in the winter ranks high up there. We started at the Leadville Hatchery and the weather looked gorgeous...and then it didn't, Lack of any trail made matters shall we say a tad more difficult. Did not summit but did not die...win win??? Will do in the summer when sanity will prevail. read more

I did the southwest slopes route to massive, clocking in at 9.5 miles, including the extra 1/2 mile round trip distance to my car. I almost made it to the trailhead in my crosstreck but couldn't make it over that last incline! The road is about 3 miles of bumps, but nothing too crazy and doing if you have 4WD and take your time. AllTrails says the hike is around 7 miles, but I find that they usually underestimate the distance. Also about 4K elevation, so this may not be the best to do as a first one. I found it pretty easy and not technical at all. The trail was very easy to follow and the first couple of miles are relatively flat. The elevation definitely builds after that and you're walking uphill until you summit. The beautiful views, goats and wildflowers make it very enjoyable. I went on a Monday at sunrise and it was pretty quiet on the mountain and very beautiful! read more

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INTRO: This is my first review of a 14er even though I've completed 32 different ones, along with 6 repeats, at the time of this writing. I don't intend to give any less than 5 stars for any mountain because 1) The experience on each one is unique; and 2) I feel most fortunate to live in a state where such scenery, recreation, and emotional satisfaction are even available to me in this abundance. We chose to do the shorter (8-mi roundtrip) but steeper, non-standard Southwest Slopes route. My '07 Subaru Forester made it all the way up the last rocky half mile of rough road to the trailhead (TH). Plenty of areas to set up base camp at the TH and back along the road. The creek was running decently if one needed to filter water here, and several vehicles continued past the TH and crossed the creek. We started hiking at 0530 and summited at 0900. We're not slow hikers and could've pushed it faster if we wanted (we run and are training for the Pikes Peak Ascent this year), but we took our time to enjoy ourselves as is our usual 14er MO. A fast hiker could do it in 2:30hrs, while a moderate pace could be estimated to be around 1hr per 1000ft gain per 1mi. This route is steep but the views are spectacular, and you can spot many alpine lakes once you gain elevation. Before the steep stuff begins, the creek follows the trail, and we passed several flat areas available for backpackers' tents. Once we reached the turnoff 1.3 miles in from the TH, we left the last of the reliable water source and flat ground. The summit was crowded on a Sunday, which was expected for a typical summer weekend in the Rocky Mountains. A lone mountain goat was spotted near the summit. A family of albino marmots lives on the SW slopes, and on our way down we were lucky enough to glance up at a rock to see a bright white one sunning itself. Pika were beginning their haying period, and we saw several scampering into rocky niches with bundles of plant material clamped between their jaws. As far as alpine wildflowers, it appears most have already reached their peak for the season and are dying off... except for Fireweed and the Gentian. It has been awhile since I've been on a mountain at the right time where I saw so many different types of Gentian, but here the cup-like blossom made its presence known in various forms: Arctic, Star, Fringed, and Mountain Bog. We also recognized the thistly raspberry plants along the trail, with some beginning to develop the succulent fruit. Finally, general notes: Afternoon thunderstorms appear like clockwork in this state during monsoon season, so I suggest hikers plan to BE ABLE TO GET OFF THE SUMMITS BY 10-11AM. Also, dog owners, PLEASE LEASH YOUR DOGS. I am not opposed to dogs on 14ers; HOWEVER, I don't care how friendly or trained they are, over the years I've seen many of these "friendly" but unleashed pets trample willy-nilly on the delicate alpine tundra, take dumps where you can't get pick up after them (human & canine poop does not break down easily above treeline!), trip other hikers, and chase down and even CATCH wildlife (pika, marmot, ptarmigan, etc) which are hardy enough to survive up here but cannot survive your dogs. Thank you. read more

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"I forgot the camera." It seems like every time I go somewhere I have to admit that once I get there. So much of my life has failed to become a Kodak moment only because I forgot the camera. But on a positive note, without any photographic documentation to confirm or deny what happened, you get to make stuff up or otherwise exaggerate how awesome your trip was. On this trip I was reminded that life gets simpler once you're in the great outdoors. For example, out there things only survive by eating other things. And when you're visiting YOU ARE the other things. I'm not saying that you should be afraid of being mauled by a grizzly, or being slowly devoured by a pack of hungry marmots, or sucked dry by thousands of mosquitoes. OK, that last thing yeah, I was starting to wonder if the mosquitoes were going to remove all the blood from my body. There were way too many Mosquitoes. But, Mount Massive is a great place to visit. While there are people who can go to the top and back in one day I am not one of them. So I made it an overnight trip. I highly recommend that if you are out of shape. Plus it will give you time to acclimate. It is 14,421 feet high and once you get close to it you realize why it's called Mount Massive. It almost looks like 3 mountains but it's actually just one huge 3-mile long ridge line with 5 separate summits above 14,000 feet. There have been very few times I've gotten vertigo while being at high altitude but being up on the ridge line did it. Words can't describe the view and I forgot the camera. If I just say it was indescribable then I'm not really describing how awesome it was, but I'm also not doing it an injustice by trying to describe it. So just go and see for yourself. read more

Our plan was to do a Mt Massive loop taking the West slopes up and the Southwest slopes down per our Roach book. When we got to the trailhead the map did not show a West slope route. We decided to abandon the loop idea and just do the Southwest slope up and back. The Southwest slope (3.4mi each way) was well marked and easy to follow and pretty. No problem summitting. As a FYI do not plan on taking the West slope route it appears to be gone. read more

I did not make it to the top (impending storm drove us to turn back for the treeline at around 11:30AM) but this is a great hike, and I hope to summit it one day. Along the way, we heard and saw dozens of pikas, a few yellow-bellied marmots, tons of wildflowers (we'd come straight from Crested Butte in late July, and they're good here too). If you're interested in the "shortcut" -- aka 2.6 miles to the summit via the Southwest Slopes from North Half Moon trailhead -- a few things to know ahead of time: -the 2.6 miles consist of a relentless uphill climb and are going to take a while (would budget at least four hours, unless you're in good (I mean Colorado trail runner good) shape) -You do NOT want to be on top of this thing during a thunderstorm. Be prepared to have to turn around if the clouds start to get ugly, keeping in mind it's slow going downhill at that grade. -the road to North Half Moon trailhead is kind of scary once you're past the Mt. Massive trailhead... make sure you have high clearance, and drive slowly. If you need additional convincing, look to the left and check out the sheer, unguarded drop... -the views are gorgeous the whole way up, if you turn around -the trail doesn't end at the first boulderfield... look out for stairsteps, there are a few cairns -if you hear a loud "EEE!" coming out from the rocks, that's a pika -I climbed on a Saturday morning and discovered that what I had heard described as "crowded" is relative in Colorado vs. NYC (at least on the SW slopes). There were bagpipers on the mountain, which was amazing. -Really was thrilling and beautiful even getting 3/4 of the way up. Just do it! -And Leadville is such an awesome town. After our failed summit bid, we hit up (in order) Matchless Mine, City on a Hill for coffee, Melanzana, the National Mining Hall of Fame, our hostel, and then had margaritas at the Grille -- what a day! read more