Mount Cameron: The contested fourteener of the DeCaLiBron loop
Mount Cameron sits on the ridge between Democrat and Lincoln, just 138 feet of prominence above its parent. The strict 300-foot rule excludes it from "official" 14er counts; the climbing community counts it anyway.
Mount Cameron is the most contested fourteener in Colorado. It sits on the connecting ridge between Mount Democrat and Mount Lincoln, has its own named summit and USGS benchmark, and tops out at 14,243 feet — but its prominence (the elevation drop between Cameron and the higher Lincoln) is only 138 feet. The widely-applied 300-foot prominence rule excludes Cameron from "official" 14er status.
The climbing community counts it anyway. Cameron is the "C" in DeCaLiBron — the famous four-peak Mosquito Range loop — and most 14er-completion lists that climbers track include it. The peak is at once the most-walked-over 14er in Colorado and the one that gets the most footnotes.
The peak at a glance
- Elevation: 14,243 ft (4,341 m)
- Rank in Colorado: 17th of 56 peaks above 14,000 ft
- Range: Mosquito Range
- County: Park County
- Coordinates: 39.3469° N, 106.1183° W
- Standard route: Traverse from Democrat or Lincoln (Class 2) — combined with DeCaLiBron loop
- Public land: Pike National Forest
How Mount Cameron got its name
The peak was named for Simon Cameron, a Pennsylvania senator and Lincoln's first Secretary of War — the political figure for whom the rest of the Mosquito Range's politically-themed naming gives Lincoln-era continuity. Cameron resigned from the cabinet in 1862 amid procurement-corruption allegations, but the naming dates to the post-war mining boom rather than to any of his political successes.
The standard route
Cameron has no standalone trailhead. The peak is reached as a side-trip from the Democrat-Lincoln connecting ridge — a half-mile detour that adds about 200 feet of gain to a DeCaLiBron loop. Most climbers tag it on the way from Democrat to Lincoln without breaking stride.
When to climb
The Colorado fourteener climbing season is short. The standard window runs from late June through mid-September — after the snow has melted off the trail and before the first serious autumn storm. Outside that window, you're committing to a winter ascent: snow travel, avalanche assessment, post-holing through drifts, and route-finding without a visible trail.
Inside the window, the rule that has saved more Colorado lives than any other is be off the summit by noon. Afternoon convective storms build over the high peaks almost daily in July and August. Lightning is the leading weather killer in the Rockies. Plan for a pre-dawn start — most experienced climbers leave the trailhead between 4:00 and 5:30 AM.
Where it sits
What climbers wish they'd known
The summit is signed. The high point has its own benchmark and small cairn on the broad ridge between Democrat and Lincoln. Easy to walk past without noticing if you don't know to look.
Before you go
A 14er is a long, exposed day at altitude. Read these first if you haven't already:
- Planning your first multi-day backpacking trip — same logistics apply to a long single-day summit push.
- How to choose the right trail difficulty — converting class ratings into honest fitness estimates.
- Leave No Trace, in one minute — alpine tundra heals on a geological clock. Stay on the trail.
Looking for the standard route on the map? Browse Colorado trails on the Outdoors App or jump to the Near Me view if you're already in-state.
If you liked this peak
- Mount Lincoln — the parent peak
- Mount Democrat — the loop's entry
- Mount Bross — the closed loop peak
Hero photograph: West aspect of Mount Cameron from a hike up Mount Democrat. by Jeremiah LaRocco, licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.
