Redcloud Peak, Sunshine Peak (8/2/07)

Route Name: Northeast Ridge from Silver Creek
Start Elevation: 10,400 ft. (Silver Creek Trailhead)
Redcloud Summit Elevation: 14,034 ft.
Saddle Elevation:13,530 ft.
Sunshine Summit Elevation: 14,001 ft.
Total Elevation Gain: 4609 ft.
Round-trip Mileage: 12 mi

TRIP REPORT:

As with our Handiest hike the day before, we got up very early (like 5am) to head on the road to our peaks for the day. Once more we made the drive to Silverton, dodging a few early morning deer, and made the trek up and over Cinnamon Pass. Today we stayed on the Cinnamon Pass road past the turn off for American Basin and Handies and went another 2 miles down the road to the Silver Creek-Grizzly Gulch trailhead. This is a very well-marked area and can't be missed. We found many other cars and even a few tents setup there. There are also outhouse facilities at this trailhead. We left the trailhead at 7:38am and headed up the steep trail into the forest. In the first 2 miles of the trail it is climb, climb and more climb. There are two small stream crossings you get to do in the forest and eventually as the trees begin to thin you meet up with Silver Creek. You hike side by side with the creek until you get to the edge of the basin north of Redcloud Peak. There is a rocky hill that marks the end of the basin which the trail will take you left (north) around it.

Once past this hill we followed a very smooth and well-marked trail which curves around the north and east sides of the basin. We saw a backpacker's tent on the southwest end of the basin as we hiked through. The basin was gorgeous and sunny as we hiked this morning. It is a mostly grassy basin with good wildflowers. As you reach the south end of the basin the trail gets steep once more and a set of switchbacks takes you to the saddle at 13,000 feet. From here you finally get your first glance at the aptly named Redcloud Peak. From the saddle it is a steep climb up switchbacks along the northeast ridge of Redcloud. The climb takes you up to a false summit just 200 feet below Redcloud. From there the final summit ridge of Redcloud is again a steep climb but a good one with almost no exposure. As we ascended the final hundred feet I commented upon the steadily increasing red rock that Redcloud seemed to have rolled out the "red carpet" for us on the approach.

We hit Redcloud's summit at 10:51am, a 3 hr. 13 min. hike up the roughly 4+ miles and 3600 feet of elevation gain. At the summit we noticed the clouds going bad and quickly. We had several white puffballs coming around us and the ones over our head were even starting to darken. No rain had shown up yet and with Sunshine only a mile away we couldn't pass up the opportunity to head on over. The thought of reclimbing Redcloud all over again to get Sunshine also didn't sit well. So we spent only a minute on Redcloud deliberating our options and then we quickly started the 1 mile ridge to Sunshine. We'd heard reports it takes 45 minutes and they were right. By the time our tired legs had made the finall 500 foot steep ascent up Sunshine from the connecting ridge it was 11:40a, about 49 minutes from Redcloud. We'd felt a few sprinkles but the rains were still holding off, and thankfully, no sign of any thunder or lightning. We spent about 10 mins on Sunshine getting a drink, some pictures, and a snack and then headed back for Redcloud.

We made the return trip in 55 mins having passed one hiker who had ascended the steep scree field to the west of the Sunshine-Redcloud connecting ridge. We saw the sign warning hikers not to descend that route (though many trip reports out there describe having done this) and decided ourselves to make the trek back to Redcloud. This time on Redcloud we got to spend a few more minutes there finally rejoicing in having gotten both summits thisday. We finally left Redcloud at 12:50p to make the long hike down. When we rejoined up with Silver Creek only a mile or two from the trailhead we ran into a pair of hikers who had descended the scree field from the Sunshine-Redcloud ridge. They said it was slow climbing but not too bad. It definitely cuts a few miles off the trip. They said after the scree field there is a well-marked trail leading you out of the basin back to the Silver Creek trail.

The rains didn't find us until the last half mile from the trailhead. Even then they never turned into a downpour but rather just enough of a sprinkle to force us to put on the gore-tex jackets for the last bit of the hike. We hit the trailhead at 3:15pm it a roughly 7 1/2 hour day to climb both Redcloud and Sunshine. Once more we made the long 2 1/2 hour driveout over Cinnamon Pass, past Animas Forks and into Silverton. We made it back to the condo around 6pm.

TRACK:

I do not have a GPX track of my own from this hike so I have included a generic KML file of the hike over Redcloud to Sunshine and then back. This gives an idea of what the trail looks like and what the area of Redcloud and Sunshine look like.

PHOTOS:

If you would like to see all of my photos from this hike click the photo below and it will link to my Google Photos Album:

Handies Peak (8/1/07)

Route Name: Southwest Slope from American Basin
Start Elevation: 11,600 ft. (parking lot on 4WD road)
Summit Elevation: 14,048 ft.
Total Elevation Gain: 2448 ft.
Round-trip Mileage: 5.5 mi

TRIP REPORT:

We left the condo around 5:30am this morning to head for Handies. We made the drive up to Silverton and then found CO-110 heading northeast out of Silverton (also County Road 2). This road travels for about 7 or 8 miles out of town on a mostly flat dirt road. You'll then hit what seems to be an RV park where the road starts heading uphill and gets much rougher though still passable for 2WD. After a few more miles of bumpy driving you hit the ghost town of Animas Forks. From here the 4WD road heads east and you have a choice between Engineer Pass or Cinnamon Pass. We went up and over Cinnamon Pass which turns out to be a beautiful drive. The 4WD isn't bad and the road is mostly straight with not too many switchbacks. At the summit of Cinnamon Pass you're up in a green meadow area with ridges of peaks to the north and south. The trailhead for Handies in American Basin was only about another mile from Cinnamon Pass.

We left the trailhead for Handies at 7:45am. We had gone to the extent of the 4WD road in American Basin (as did several others) which cuts about 1/2 mile off your trip heading in. The climbing was very good and the route easy to follow as you headed up into American Basin. As you get about a half mile into the basin you start to veer left (southeast) into the upper parts of the basin. The trail will take you to the bottom of a green slope on which you climb several steep switchbacks which will take you to just below Sloan Lake. From here you traverse along a rocky trail east across the back end of the basin to a few longer switchbacks which take you up to the saddle at the southeast end of American Basin. Once on the saddle you're at roughly 13,500 feet elevation. From there it was a steep climb up the summit ridge to Handies. There is really no exposure along any part of this trail and the path is well-defined the entire way. We summited at 10:15am, only 2 1/2 hours from the trailhead. There were 3 or 4 other groups at the summit some of which had come up the Grizzly Gulch trail. The view was hazy but we were able to pick out most of the other San Juan 14ers.

We spent a good half hour on the summit talking to the other hikers. We found out much of our group up there were schoolteachers. We headed down from the summit at 10:45am and made a quick hike back to our jeep getting there at 12:15pm. The legs still felt good when we hit the bottom and the altitude didn't even get us today. After having spent last night in Ogalalla, Nebraska at relatively low elevation we were calling Handies our acclimation hike for the trip.

Once in the jeep we spent the next 2 hours plus once more driving Cinnamon Pass and heading out to Animas Forks and Silverton. We spent a little bit of time at the ghost town on our way out. The road at this point in the early afternoon was littered with ATV's and tourists making their runs on the rentals into the mountains and the ghost town.

TRACK:

I did not have a GPX track of my own from this hike. I have taken a generic KML of the Handies trail and embedded it into Google Maps so you can get an idea of where the trail takes you and what the Handies Peak area looks like:

PHOTOS:

To see all of my photos from this hike click the photo below and it will link you to my Google Photos Album:

Culebra Peak (8/4/05)

Route Name: Northwest Ridge
Start Elevation: 11,240 ft.
Summit Elevation: 14,047 ft.
Elevation Gain: 2807 ft.
Round-trip Mileage: 7.00 mi (by the books)

TRIP REPORT:

This hike was one of the more unique hikes we've taken. For starters, it is all on private land which required several hoops to be jumped to make this a reality. When we hiked this in 2005 the Ranch which owns the land required prior registration and payment in order to hike on a given day. I can't recollect exactly what we paid, but it was in the $50-$100 range a person. The morning of the hike we had to show up there early, 6am or so, to meet a man at the gate to get entrance to the ranch. We then signed our life away on some waiver forms and were finally on our way. At least the people we met at the ranch office were quite nice to everyone and at least tried to make it an easy process.
Our other worries were simply making it to the ranch in time that time. It is somewhat remotely located when it comes to the roads and we were staying way off in Alamosa. It was quite a long drive, the last of which were all dirt, to get there in the first place. Once passed the ranch HQ it was a 3.4 mile drive to "Four-way". We ended up stopping here as our vehicle did not have 4WD. The actual end of the road was another mile and some elevation ahead of us. We were fortunate enough to find someone with room in the back of their vehicle to give us a ride to the trailhead. The early morning view was beautiful. Mostly clear blue skies with just a small cloud rolling in over Culebra's ridge.

The early hiking, to our surprise, was actually bushwhacking our way up the drainage to the NW ridge. Luckily there were not that many actual "bushes" to "whack" but there was no real defined trail as we ascended. As we ascended past 12,000 feet our next adventure of the day was just beginning. Thick clouds were coming in right on top of us the more and more we ascended the slope to the ridge. It came to the point where visibility was down to 20-50 feet. We could not see the ridge crest ahead of us nor anything below us. We were fortunate enough to have an idea of where we needed to go and had the power of an old Garmin GPS. We continued the ascent to the ridge.

Our next surprise of the day came as we nearly gained the ridge. We ran into a couple of hikers who were already descending. They were coming at us from the north on the ridge and said they had already summited and were on their way down. Now I knew roughly what the terrain looked like and I know the summit was not to our north along the ridge at that point. We're pretty sure they got lost and thought they had topped out, but by no means did they top out on Culebra. We think at best they had hit Point 13,400 which is at the northern end of the horseshoe-shaped bowl to the west of Culebra.

Gaining the ridge for us was exciting as it made navigation much easier in the white-out. It also meant we'd knocked out more than half the elevation. Along the ridge there are several massive cairns which help you know you're sorta in the right spot. As we moved along the ridge some clearings in the thick white-out were beginning to open. This was good news for us as it meant we might actually get visibility when we neared the summit. This photo here shows our very first look at Culebra's summit:

First look at Culebra's summit through the fog

From where that photo was taken and beyond the trail begins to curl south, then southeast, and finally east around a bowl and this then gets you to the summit ridge. As we traverse on the ridge around the bowl we started to get more and more great views of the surrounding area:

Past the bowl the summit hike ahead is fairly easy. Actually as a whole this hike barely strayed above class 1. The greatest challenge was the white-out conditions and the necessity to know where you are and where you are going. This photo gives an idea of what the final climb towards the summit looks like:

Getting closer to the summit here.

Near the summit you do finally get small bits of rock scrambling, but its barely class 2. A small grass meadow awaits you just before the final summit push and some beautiful views of the southern Sangres. This was a special summit for us as it was the #54 finisher for our good friend Jim Laatsch. Pictured here showing off "5" and "4":

Jim Laatsch, 14er finisher, Congrats!

We had done the Blanca group with him the year prior and also did Elbert two days prior to this hike. He had amazing stories to tell us about several of the peaks such as the Crestones and Wilsons that still await us. We did some celebrating up top and the clouds allowed us a few good pictures and thankfully: no rain. The hike down was mostly uneventful. We at least could see everything we were doing without the white-out on the descent.

TRACK:

I did not have the original track from this hike so I have embedded one from a more recent hike:

PHOTOS:

To see all of my photos from this great hike click the photo below and it will link you to my Google Photo Album:

Mt. Elbert (8/2/05)

Route Name: Northeast Ridge
Start Elevation: 10,040 ft.
Summit Elevation: 14,433 ft.
Elevation Gain: 4393 ft.
Round-trip Mileage: 9.00 mi (by the books)

TRIP REPORT:

There are two things that stand out about a hike of Mt. Elbert. First is of course the reality of standing atop the highest point in the state of Colorado which is an admirable feat. Second is the reality of false summits. On Mt. Elbert - they are a bummer and they are great.
For us this hike began from the standard Mt. Elbert trailhead. We had our good friends Jim and Karen Laatsch with us for this hike. The first section of this trial meanders up through the forest. It begins on the Colorado Trail as did Mt. Massive. After the first mile of hiknig we hit the junction where left puts you on the Colorado Trail and right takes you up Mt. Elbert.
Its about another 1.3 miles till you begin to reach clearings and near the end of treeline. This is at just below 12000 feet. From here it is a long stroll up the northeast ridge of Elbert. This makes for a very straightforward hike after this point. Aside from the disappointments of the false summits, its all right in front of you.
The great crux of this route is the elevation. Even hitting 14000 feet, which is quite an accomplishment on most 14ers, still leaves you with another 400+ to go. The challenge of the terrain never went above class 1 for us. We took our time well, resting as necessary, on this stroll up Elbert. For Denny this was his second summit of Elbert. He had done it previously as his first 14er in 1989 with his brother Bob. For the rest of us, it was a happy first up this top-ranked summit and an enjoyable one to return to. The views were just amazing with Massive nearby and shots of the whole of the Sawatch range.

TRACK:

I do not have the original track for this hike and so I have included one of our more recent tracks:

PHOTOS:

You can view all of my photos from this hike by clicking the photo below and it will link you to my Google Photos Album:

Oak Flat Loop Trail (Black Canyon NP) (8/1/05)

Route Name: Oak Flat Loop Trail
Location: Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park
Trailhead Elevation: 595 ft.
Trail High Point: 753 ft.
Round-trip Mileage: 2.00 mi.

TRIP REPORT:

Instead of piecing together my faint recollections of this hike I have instead opted to include the short blurb from NPS.gov describing what to expect on this hike:

Oak Flat Loop Trail
Strenuous - 2 miles round trip
The Oak Flat Loop Trail (built by Student Conservation Association volunteers) offers variety to the hiker who would like to explore below the rim without taking on the challenge of hiking to the river. Parents should be aware that the trail is narrow in places and traverses some steep slopes.

The trail begins near the Visitor Center. Go a short distance to the Oak Flat Loop/River Access sign and follow the trail which leads right. Descend through a grove of aspen to another signed junction. Turn left here to continue on the Oak Flat Loop. The trail meanders through a thicket of oak scrub (Gambel oak) passing near a rock outcrop, a pleasant location where you can relax and enjoy the view. The trail then heads west where it begins its ascent through a forest of Douglas fir, Aspen, and Gambel oak. On the return leg one encounters another unmarked overlook offering spectacular views downstream. Pets are not allowed.

TRACK:

I do not have a GPX track of my own from this hike so I have included a few other options to see the trail we hiked. First, I've included a snapshot of the park map from NPS.gov showing where the Oak Flat Loop Trail is and what it looks like on their map:


And second I've embedded an estimated track of the Trail into Google Maps for instant viewing:

PHOTOS:

My photos from this hike are included here: