The tallest peak in Summit County is again one of the most popular Colorado 14ers – those peaks of at least 14,000 feet.
Quandary Peak, located about 10 minutes south of Breckenridge, welcomed an estimated 26,500 hikers last year, according to the latest report by Colorado Fourteeners Initiative.
That makes Quandary the second-busiest 14er in the state behind Mount Bierstadt outside of Georgetown with an estimated 28,000 hikers. Combined, those two 14ers saw more traffic last year than all 29 peaks over 14,000 feet in the Elk Mountains near Aspen, San Juans near Telluride and Sangre de Cristos of southern Colorado.
But Quandary has been busier before. Much busier. Traffic there in 2024 was down slightly from 2023 and cut nearly in half from the record highs of 2020, when close to 50,000 people hiked the trail.
Two things have happened since then.
First, most 14ers have been losing traffic over the past five years, and the Fourteener Initiative should know – it has infrared trackers on all 55 public 14ers. (Mount Lindsey in the southern Sangre de Cristos is on private property.) Hiker visits are down 38% from the outdoor-fueled frenzy of the pandemic.
Colorado 14er visits (2016 to 2024)
- 2024… 265,000
- 2023… 260,000
- 2022… 279,000
- 2021… 303,000
- 2020… 415,000
- 2019… 288,000
- 2018… 353,000
- 2017… 334,000
- 2016… 311,000
The surge in pandemic hikers caught Summit County’s attention. Hikers were parking on busy Highway 9. Some narrowly escaped being struck by cars.
The solution was mandatory paid parking at the Quandary trailhead. During high season, June 14 through Sept. 14, you will pay $55 for a full day on weekends and slightly less for half-days or weekdays. A shuttle from downtown Breck is $7 for most, free if you are a Summit resident.
Town and county officials praise the system, saying it has managed crowds at the trailhead and on the trail. One neighboring property owner disagreed, loudly, with signs accusing the county commissioners of racketeering. That saga ended with fines and tickets – and $600,000 for the owner’s one acre.