Humboldt Peak Two Day Hike

Humboldt is a pleasant 14er hike that makes a good introduction to altitude. With a 4WD vehicle one can get to the upper trailhead. While single day ascents are reasonable from the upper trailhead sometimes people prefer to camp in a beautiful area and not be rushed or in winter where the 4WD trailhead is not accessible it may be more reasonable to do in two days.

During the summer season we generally take two routes:
- West Ridge: this is an 11 mile roundtrip hike with 4200' of elevation gain from the upper trailhead. After hiking past S. Colony Lake you ascend to a saddle where you have amazing views of the Crestones.
- East Ridge: while only 8 miles roundtrip from the Rainbow Trailhead this is still 4300' of elevation gain making it of similar difficulty to the West Ridge but the shorter distance and difficult routefinding make this a better winter ascent.