Wilderness Wanderings: 1998

Sunday, August 9, 1998

Mt. Shavano, Tabeguache Peak (8/9/98)

Route Name: East Slopes
Start Elevation: 9,750ft
Shavano Summit Elevation: 14,229 ft.
Tabeguache Summit Elevation: 14,155 ft.
Total Elevation Gain: 5600 ft.
Round-trip Mileage: 9.5 mi

TRIP REPORT:

We nearly got this day started off on the wrong foot. We had decided to head to the south side of these two mountains. We were following one of the two routes mentioned in Lamperts book, I think it was the Jennings Creek route up Tabeguache. Well we made it to this trailhead and found it to be closed. We nearly thought the day was lost until we realized there was a marked trail on the maps that heads up the east slopes of Shavano. This is now accepted as the standard route. We started much later than anticipated and had a little scare in getting it all going this day but we found the old Blank Cabin that marks the trailhead of the east slopes route.
The hike began with a beautiful stroll through the aspen forests. The trail winds through the trees well up to around 12000. From this point on the route is a big traverse along the southeast slope of Shavano. This indeed crosses the Angel of Shavano when and if there is snow on the face. The trail heads for the saddle at 13,400. As we neared the saddle we were greeted by some beautiful mountain goats who were hanging out ahead of us. From there on out it was a pretty basic scramble up the rock slope to the summit of Shavano. By the time we summited it felt like we'd had a full day already between the hiking and the driving. Denny decided to call it quits here. David and I headed on to Tabeguache as the weather was holding well for us. The hike over to Tabeguache is a mile each way with about 500-600 feet of elevation loss. When David and I made it over there we found someone kind enough to snap our shot with Shavano back behind us (and Denny on top waiting for us). The weather started to get cloudy on us so we scampered back to Shavano for the descent.