Mount Belford rises to 14,202 feet in the Collegiate Peaks Wilderness of San Isabel National Forest, about 15 miles northwest of Buena Vista in Chaffee County. Named after James B. Belford, a Colorado Territory supreme court justice and later a U.S. congressman, the peak shares a productive cluster with Mount Oxford to the east and Missouri Mountain to the south, making Missouri Gulch one of the more efficient trailheads in the Sawatch for collecting fourteeners.
The Northwest Ridge route is the standard line: Class 2, roughly 8 miles round-trip with about 4,500 feet of gain from the Missouri Gulch trailhead at 9,650 feet. The trail crosses a bridge over Clear Creek, climbs through forest on steep switchbacks, and follows the gulch south past the ruins of an old mining shack before breaking into open terrain around 11,300 feet. A signed junction at 11,600 feet splits off the Belford trail; bear left. The northwest ridge gains more than 2,300 feet in under two miles, switchbacks easing through the lower rocky section to broad tundra above. A false summit near 13,800 feet precedes a flat shoulder at 13,900 feet; the final push east to the top is straightforward.
The Belford-Oxford traverse is among the most popular two-summit combinations in Colorado, adding roughly 3 miles and 1,400 feet for an 11-mile day. Afternoon thunderstorms are a serious hazard on the exposed upper ridge throughout summer; an early start targeting the summit by midday is standard. The season runs from late June through September.
