Salida 14ers-Peak Bagging and Buena Vista 14ers-Peak Bagging

Summits. Sawatch Range Fourteeners dominate the Upper Arkansas Valley's western flank, accounting for more than a quarter of the state's total population of these highest of peaks.

With the Fourteeners as star attractions, hikers congregate in the valley every season, especially peak-baggers, whose goal it is to climb to mountain summits. Climbing a Fourteener is not for the faint or meek. It means judicious planning; proper preparation, clothing and gear; 4 a.m. wake-up calls; and the ability and determination to hike steep slopes with 4,000 feet or more of elevation gain.

Those making the summit on a mountain hike experience the satisfaction that goes with meeting a goal, the camaraderie of fellow climbers and wondrous views from the valley floor, three to four thousand feet below, to the distant horizon stretching for hundreds of miles.