Colorado was having a going-out-of-business sale: four 14ers for the price of one.
Actually, "The Decalibron" is the term for a 7 mi, 3300' loop hike that lets you bag four 14ers on just one hike. Such a deal!
The usual order is to take the loop clockwise, thus "De-Ca-Li-Bron" but I decided to take it CCW, thus the title. Some recommend going up Bross to avoid loose rocks on the descent, but the descent from Democrat was no peach. The latter seemed to have more ball-bearings-on-hardpack than Bross, which - at least going up - seemed more amenable to plunge and side stepping. Elsewhere - especially on Democrat - there's lots of walking on teeter-totter rocks. There was even a snow patch that had a trampled-down path through it; no microspikes would be needed. There was also a snow patch that another party tried to glissade down; it was a bit of a pathetic sight because they didn't get anywhere.
One downside of going CCW is you have to gain about 700' near the end of the hike in order to get Democrat. Not only that, but that mountain has a false summit. If you go CW, you get Democrat out of the way first and then you have lesser hikes up Cameron and Lincoln.
The hike didn't take that long, but I underestimated how long it would take based on the stats. Despite sleeping the night before at 12k' and hiking a 14er a couple days before, I don't think I'm completely acclimatized. As on Quandary, taking big steps knocked the wind out of me.
The hike starts at a dirt parking lot at 12,000'. The lot is not at all private. In most cases I'd urinate on the ground at a campsite (enjoy that mental image) but I had to use one of the two pit toilet stalls. In the morning, there was a line for those stalls.
Getting to the parking lot was an adventure unto itself. While most cars could make it most of the way, the last 3/4 mile or so is AWD/4WD and high clearance only. In fact, I had to use the "stick shift hill start" technique and even so my Subaru Forester stalled out a few times before it made it up those humps. That said, I saw a Cyber Truck in the lot so it can't be that bad.
Note: I have to replace my main phone so I was using the other phone with lower resolution.
