THE SOUTHEAST ROUTE to Mount Columbia leads you through pine forests and towards an extensively easy to navigate ridgeline. This is a solid 12-miles round trip that will take you up to the summit. Once at the top, the view consists of snow contoured peaks for miles all around you. Just the perfect backdrop for some summit beers and the chance to say you’ve summitted a 14,000 feet peak.
When on a 14er, you might need to pull out your Lewis and Clark skills to find the route. Different than just going off trail, route finding is necessary when the trail is too faint to follow, doesn’t have a direct path from one cairn to the next, or when debris like dead trees or boulders are all over the place. In the image above, Brea navigates a section of rock where a little bit of choosing your own adventure is required to get to the defined trail further up. While route finding is sometimes necessary, it is vital to stay on trail whenever possible to help prevent erosion, protect the surrounding ecosystem, and lower the risk of becoming lost.