Private 14er in Colorado opens hiking reservations
Reservations have opened to hike a privately owned 14,000-foot mountain in southern Colorado.
The mountain is “like no other,” reads the billing on Cielo Vista Ranch’s website: “Culebra Peak offers a unique climbing experience. Unlike any other fourteener in Colorado, hiking impacts are largely absent — Culebra is essentially ‘untrailed.'”
Unlike every fourteener sitting on public land, Culebra is unique, too, for the long-going arrangement between the private landowner and interested climbers.
Cielo Vista Ranch charges $150 per person for reservations that opened this month. Reservations are for Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from the first weekend of January through the last weekend of July. (The land is reserved for hunters between August and December.)
The website lays out several rules, including one about solo hiking not being allowed. That does not mean one needs a partner, but other people with reservations need to be on the mountain that day — for safety, according to the website.
Solo hikers are more so turned away in the winter, the site reads: “Once it warms up and the road is open, days are booked.”
When snow closes the road, the hike to and from the trailhead adds significant mileage to the round trip. Otherwise, the trip covers about seven miles and 3,000-plus feet of elevation gain — depending on the selected route.
Culebra is “untrailed,” Cielo Vista Ranch’s website reminds: “With lush vegetation and no defined trail guiding the way up the mountain, one can really become captivated by the beauty and undisturbed environment that surrounds this range.”
The website suggests charting a route up and a different route back down, among other conservation tips. Other things to know: One must be ready with photo ID to drive past the gate at 6 a.m. (camping allowed outside the gate), and one must sign out no later than 6 p.m. or else be fined for $100 search and rescue.
More information: cielo-vista-ranch.info