Backpacking Colorado 14ers - Kit Carson Peak/Challenger Point

[Mikjik86]

This is a video trip report of our Backpacking trip near the town of Crestone Colorado where we backpacked 14ers Kit Carson Peak (14,167') and Challenger Point (14,086') on August 4th-5th, 2025.

I backpacked Kit Carson/Challenger Point with my buddy Dom, who has been in many of my past videos. You can find his YouTube channel ‪@thedomroute‬

We drove out from Western Colorado on Monday August 4th, 2025 getting to the Willow Lake Trailhead where we hoisted our backpacks and headed to Willow Lake to find camp for the night. The hike to the lake is roughly 5 miles with 2500' feet of elevation gain. The trailhead is pretty low at around 8,800' feet and temperatures were pretty hot. We backpacked up to Willow Lake where we found a fantastic campsite as the evening sun glistened on the surrounding peaks. We enjoyed setting up camp with some furry friends. I have some new gear from ‪@ATEPAOutdoors‬ that I feature in the video. Check them out for some fantastic affordable Backpacking/Camping gear! We enjoyed a quiet evening at camp and prepared for our climb the next day.

We woke up the next morning to beautiful skies, and even more critters near camp. The bighorn Sheep in the area are not shy to say the least. It was fun watching the babies jump around and enjoy the morning. We had some coffee and a small breakfast and loaded up the daypacks for the climb.
The climb itself for both peaks was showing roughly 5 miles and 3,600' feet of elevation gain. Although short miles, the steepness was evident right off the bat. You start by navigating around Willow Lake and then starting up the ridge to Challenger Point. I am surprised that Challenger is listed as a class 2, as I feel many of the moves heading up the headwall were more in the class 3 realm. There are multiple braided paths that get you up to the ridge, where views of Challengers summit greet you. The final summit push to Challenger is relatively easy and you are rewarded with 360 views of the Sangre De Cristo and the valley below. Once on the summit of Challenger we could see the route over to Kit Carson while some lingering clouds hovered to the East. These clouds never were an issue, yet its wise to consider your surroundings especially when we needed to come back this was on the way down.We skirted over to Kit Carson going along "The Avenue" and then heading around the backside of the mountain. From there you climb steeply up to the summit of KC. The views were fantastic rom the top with Crestone Peak, The Crestone Needle, and Humboldt Peak in the distance. We descended back down KC and again over the Challenger Point. We cracked a couple beers from ‪@fremontbrewing1982‬ on the summit and headed back down.

Once back to Willow Lake, we broke camp and started the 5 mile, 2,500' feet descent back to the Trailhead.

This was a fantastic trip, and a quick getaway to bag a couple of peaks. I would highly recommend camping at the lake, as doing both peaks as a day trip would be a long day.

I hope you enjoy this video, and please comment below if you have any questions regarding navigation, gear, camping options, or anything else.

As always, thanks for watching and Safe Trails!