Displaying items by tag: Lake City

After an amazing day of rigorous hiking which culminated in a successful summit of Half Peak by Sarah Musick and I, we slept at our fantastic campsite in the picturesque valley below Cuba Gulch, near Lake City, Colorado. Instead of taking the longer, more scenic (and steeper) route to Jones Mountain via Cataract Gulch near our campsite, Sarah and I opted to drive over to American Basin and approach Jones Mountain from that side. Usually, climbers looking to summit Jones Mountain approach it from Silverton; however, because Sarah and I were already on the Lake City side of Engineer Pass and were driving a Suburu Forester, we decided to take an alternative route. I had researched our route ahead of time by consulting the out-of-print and quite handy 13er guidebook by Gerry Roach. Upon arrival at the American Basin trailhead for Handies, Sarah and I set-up camp and she decided to quickly hike up Handies since she had never done it before. I decided to stay behind and rest my legs. My ankle was still quite sore from my basketball injury two months prior and my legs were feeling pretty heavy yet from our climb up Half Peak. I spent the afternoon napping by my camera while taking a time-lapse video of wildflowers in American Basin. Upon Sarah's return from Handies we celebrated by opening up some Odell Myrcenary, one of my favorite Imperial IPAs. Good stuff. 

After enjoying our beverages, I convinced Sarah to hike up American Basin with me for some photography. The clouds were setting up nicely for sunset and I found a sweet little waterfall which made a nice combination with American Peak in the background. Sarah shot a quick panorama of me setting up a shot in the basin with her phone which depicts the scene quite well I think. 

And here's the shot I was setting up to take...

I also decided to hang out past sunset and well into the night in order to get some night photos. I always wanted to get a Milky Way selfie and I thought this spot would be perfect for that shot.

I also set-up for a Milky Way panorama from this spot, relying on the faint light of the moon to light up the hillside.

After freezing my hind quarters off, I decided to head back to camp and hit the sleeping bag for some sleep. Knowing the weather would be great, we decided we would start early enough to get some photographs of the basin at sunrise, but not so early that we would be hiking in the dark. Our route took us up the main Handies Peak trail and then off-route for most of the rest of the day. After hiking about 1/4 of the way up Handies, we split off the trail and started our leisurely stroll up the fragile tundra and wildflowers below American Peak. As the sun began to rise, American Peak began to light up with sweet alpenglow.

The view of UN 13,535 behind us wasn't so bad either...

After enjoying the awesome sunrise, we began to head up the un-trailed section to the west saddle of American Peak. Our target was the lighter colored rocks as seen below. We planned to just bushwhack our way up the side of the mountain. 

The climb was not too bad - the hardest section was the loose scree and dirt just below the saddle. 

We were quite excited to reach the saddle and get our first glimpses of Jones Mountain.

Our route took us up a very faint trail to the ridge between American Peak (left) and Jones Mountain (right). The hiking was pretty easy going.

Once we were between Jones and American the views opened up a bit and we could see just how rugged Jones looked from this vantage. The summit of Jones is seen at the far right.

We headed down (and then up again)...

Upon reaching the summit of Jones Mountain, we ran into another hiker and his dog. My mind was blown when I realized that the other hiker was Mike Megorden, a friend of mine from high school! We played on the high school football team together. Pretty small world!

Sarah and I celebrated our 16th summit together with views of the Grenadiers and Needles behind us. What an amazing view. Oh, how I had missed this part of Colorado!

I set-up my tripod and shot some panoramas using my telephoto lens. The air was still a bit hazy, which added some interesting tones to the photos. Looking south.

Looking south-east.

Looking east. You can see the rugged ridgeline of American Peak.

Looking north east - featuring Uncompahgre and Wetterhorn. 

Looking north.

Looking north-west.

Zoomed in on Uncompahgre and Wetterhorn. I think this one would look pretty nice printed large.

After enjoying the views we decided to head back down. We were contemplating American Peak and would need to make a decision when we hit the American - Jones ridge. The weather was looking 50/50.

A glimpse sideways at Jones' north face reveals how rugged it really is.

I was pretty amazed at how great the flowers still looked for this time of year. Here's a shot of some alpine sunflowers with Jones in the background.

Sarah and I rested at the ridge and decided not to take on American Peak - the weather was starting to look a bit questionable; however, the tundra was quite inviting for nap-time.

Sarah and I took our time heading back, enjoying the great scenery on the way.

Back on the American Basin side, we ran into a huge field of wildflowers which I had to stop and take photos of. I really want to go back and get this same shot at sunset or sunrise someday. Here's a shot Sarah took of me composing my photo.

And the crown jewel shot of the day - a mix of awesome wildflowers with the shoulder of Handies Peak in the background at the right. American Basin truly is one of the best spots in Colorado. 

Sarah and I got back to our campsite and packed up. We decided to drive back to Lake City and up Nellie Creek for our next adventure: Uncompahgre Peak. I had done Uncompahgre back in 2000 with my dad, but was excited to see if I could get some photos at sunrise from the top. We cracked open some more tasty Odell brews and prepared for our next adventure...

I hope you enjoyed following along for this adventure up Jones Mountain. Next up: Colorado 14er Uncompahgre.

This is the first installment of a three part series, exploring some amazing peaks in southwest Colorado near Lake City.

Living in Portland, Oregon has certainly slowed my progress towards climbing the highest 100 mountains in Colorado. Last year, I was only able to summit one mountain on my (at the time) remaining list of 17. This year I wanted to change that a bit. I started planning very early in the summer to spend about a week in Colorado trying to work on finishing my goal. I made plans with my best friend Sarah to head to the San Juan Mountains to tackle some of the more remote peaks I had remaining. Sarah still had the need to complete two 14ers in that area, including Handies and Uncompahgre, so we would certainly be able to string together some plans that included peaks on both of our lists. I flew in to Colorado Springs from Portland on August 19th with my wife. It also happened to be our 9th wedding anniversary. We had dinner with awesome old friends at a new vegan bar in Colorado Springs called the Burrowing Owl. I tried hard to sleep well that night, knowing Sarah would be at my door at 4 AM for our trip to the Lake City, Colorado area to begin our week of summiting peaks in Southwest Colorado.

For this trip we decided to car camp, which turned out to work really well. We played almost the whole trip by ear, not really planning any specific days in advance other than having the knowledge on how to get to various trailheads. I utilized my new F-Stop Loka backpack to ensure my Nikon D800 and the Nikon holy trinity (14-24 f/2.8, 24-70 f/2.8, 70-200 f/2.8) were secure and ready for adventure. I have to say in advance that I really liked using this pack for climbing mountains. Enough gear talk though - let's get to the adventure! Bear with me on this trip report, as it is the beginning of a great adventure that is very important to me. The photos progress in quality as we go!

Sarah picked me up at 4 AM and we drove to Gunnison to buy groceries. I was absolutely exhausted from the night before and slept a bit in the car. Of course Sarah took full advantage of this and took a photo (a lot of the photos here are hers).

Upon reaching Gunnison, we decided to buy a bit more food for meals, having only packed some dehydrated meals. We stocked up on tasty supplies and head for Lake City, one of my favorite spots in Colorado. Our first objective on this trip was to get as high as possible on the road leading to the trailheads that service Half Peak near the old ghost town of Sherman. I knew through research that the main trailhead was lower and that there was another trailhead much higher that offered a seclusive alternative route up Half Peak via Cuba Gulch. The advantage of using that upper trailhead would be that we could also use the area as a base camp to accomplish other goals, like Handies Peak, Jones Peak, Niagra Peak, and American Peak. If we did not decide to use that trailhead as a base camp, we could easily go up the road and hit American Basin, so it was a logical place to start. 

Sure enough, we found an incredible campsite just about a quarter mile before the end of the road and the start of the Cuba Gulch trailhead. The campsite offered perfect access to water and was nestled between an amazingly beautiful gully coming down off of the north side of Half Peak and a huge granite rock formation making up the bulk of the northern side of the valley. Having been away from Colorado for a year, I was quite honestly in heaven. I just loved the spot. 

 What a beautiful area.

After setting up our camp site we decided to assess the weather. The time was 11 AM and the weather looked absolutely fantastic. Having summited several high peaks in the afternoon and evening in the past, I was fairly confident that we could climb Half Peak with a late start as long as we kept an eye on the clouds. We both decided that we'd give it a shot and head for the trailhead, a mere 1/4 of a mile away. My main concerns for this week were altitude sickness and my ankle, which I had severely injured in June playing basketball pick-up game at a park near my apartment in Portland. The ankle was still sore and not 100%, but I felt pretty good in my great boots. 

Sarah and I quickly reached the trailhead and shot some photos there, per tradition.

You could rest assured that locating Sarah at any point of the day's adventure would not be a problem. 

You know you miss Colorado when even after 2 minutes on the trail you let out a silly laugh like a child when you hike through some willows. Sarah stopped to see if I was OK and I just said that I was really happy to be in Colorado and she replied, "I figured that was what was going on." The amount of wildflowers on the trail was quickly evident and a very pleasant surprise. I figured they would all be long gone by late August; however, the trail was filled with tons of them!

The Cuba Gulch trail was just about perfect - not too heavily used, but not a total bushwhack. We found it to be a very nice adventurous trail off the beaten path, for sure. The climb up into the gulch was a long one, with the steepest sections happening only right at the start. We stopped only a couple of times - once at a really great footbridge over a waterfall for a requisite selfie.

I have to admit, it was pretty amazing to finally be back in the Colorado backcountry with Sarah - we have climbed so many awesome peaks together.

After about an hour and a half of hiking up through the dense forest and wildflowers, Cuba Gulch began to open up. 

We followed the description provided by Gerry Roach's awesome 13ers book and found the end of the Cuba Gulch trail right before a huge open area of willows. We knew that from that area we'd need to navigate ourselves up a slope to the east following game trails. I opened up my topo map that I had borrowed from my dad and verified our position based on our surroundings and formulated a plan.

The slog up from here was pretty brutal - only faint game trails and lots of willows adorned the hillside before us. We finally prevailed though, and reached a nice plateau with views looking east at the rest of our day. Holy crap - we thought. Is that really Half Peak? That long, insane trek? All the way up that huge valley in front of us? Yep. Check out the huge ridge line! I don't think Sarah was too thrilled. Based on the map, I knew we'd need to cross that huge valley, as high as possible to the right and then hit the saddle between the lower peak on the right and Half Peak on the left. Giddy up.

I spent some time here admiring the view of Half Peak - it really was quite a sight to see. The scale, the distance, the sheer awesomeness of the cliffs of its faces - everything was just so great to behold.

 

We decided to keep going - there were very few clouds in the sky, which was filled with light layers of haze likely produced by the recent huge wildflowers in the state of Washington. As we continued on the upper reaches of the basin, following the most southern slopes to avoid willows, I spotted a huge moose down in the basin below us, quite a distance away. This was a rare opportunity to utilize my heavy 70-200 lens to photograph him. He was really far away and so he still looks quite small, but you can easily make out his huge velvet antlers. 

As we continued up the long basin, I could not help but admire the view of Half Peak's west face - it really stood out prominently among the area's peaks. This peak really has some very interesting features and looks totally different from all angles. We got to see it from the north a couple days later and it looked completely different.

Sarah caught me taking some photos of Half Peak's impressive cliffs.

It is worth mentioning that Sarah has been training for the Pikes Peak Ascent, while I've been training to taste all of the different beers that the great city of Portland, Oregon can offer. With that being said, I spent a great deal of the hike behind Sarah, which afforded me the opportunity to take lots of photographs of her as we climbed up. 

As we reached the end of the basin's flatter section, we encountered some good up-climbing sections on loose, but very manageable rock. 

The views from the upper basin were of course very good. We appreciated the lower 13ers and high 12ers that were visble from here, including this prominent point to the north of us, which I have yet to be able to identify. 

We continued up very faint game trails until we began to identify some cairns in the distance, which belonged to the Continental Divide Trail, which headed east and south from our junction.

There were a lot of vantage points by which I could photograph Sarah looking really awesome on the ridges and trails. 

The numerous opportunities to photograph the scenes before me offered a nice respite from the steep climbing off-trail.

Once up the steep part of the basin, we stopped for a minute to enjoy the view. At this point I passed the camera off to Sarah to get some photos of me enjoying our surroundings.

It is safe to say that I was really enjoying being in "my happy place" - the high country of Colorado.

It was at this point that Handies Peak (big, center) and American Peak (far left) became visible. It was nice to see a couple of our future objectives.

It might be hard to make out Sarah in this next panoramic photo, but it does help to show the massive scale of the scene before us here. Half Peak, which is very large, is actually just a small peak in the center of frame, with the American Basin peaks to the left. What an amazing approach Cuba Gulch provides!

It was about here where we met up with the Continental Divide Trail, which immediately showcased two mountain bikers. It was quite a surprise to run into these two mountain bikers, and I could only imagine where their journey was taking them.

Half Peak made a nice backdrop for this mountain biker on the Continental Divide Trail.

The Continental Divide Trail made for a nice leading line up to Sarah's visage in the distance. I was really enjoying all of the photography opportunities, but my legs were getting really tired.

As I caught up with Sarah, our gaze was pulled to the east, where some very prominent peaks loomed in the distance. In this case, our view was of the mighty 13er, Carson Peak. 

This was the point of no return. We had reached the terminus of the basin and the start of the huge ramp that was Half Peak. The ramp was at least 2 miles long by my estimate, perhaps even more. Unfortunately, I don't have any map software installed on my Mac to be able to measure the distance accurately; however, I can tell you - it was quite long! We spent a good 60 minutes hiking up this long ramp and about 2/3 of the way up we reached the start of the scrambling ridge section that I was excited  to tackle. If you own Roach's 13er book, you'll recognize this view of Half Peak - the only photograph he shows in the whole book of the peak!

The hike up this beast took a toll on my legs, but I was super pumped to get closer to the top!

We continued up and found ourselves really enjoying the more difficult terrain on between the two flatter sections of the peak.

The clouds were holding nicely, intermixing with the haze to produce some really interesting effects, juxtaposed with the rugged terrain at our feet.

The ridge up Half Peak offered lots of amazing places to enjoy the rocks and view.

After a few more minutes of grunting up Half Peak's barren slope, we arrived at the summit, elated and exhausted. 

 

I was pretty lukewarm about the light, photographically speaking; however, I think this 180 degree panorama turned out pretty well. This is the view looking south-west-north from the summit. How many 14ers can you spot?

The views of my two favorite peaks - Vestal and Arrow (left and right respectively) were fantastic, only obscured a bit by the haze. I really liked how this black and white shot turned out. Again, nothing super special, but the subject is one of my favorites in the world.

This next photo from the summit was looking north east. I had to really study my google tool to figure out that it was a shot of Quarter Peak in the foreground, and I'm pretty sure that's the 14er Sunshine behind it - or at least, I think that's what it is!

This next one should be easy - Wetterhorn and Uncompahgre!

Sarah was taking our time on the summit to text our wives to let them know were still alive and OK on the summit. I just loved how Vestal and Arrow rose above her to the left.

Sarah of course took the opportunity to take some shots of me enjoying my craft from the top of the world.

Geeking out.

A glance down to the north and west presented some really intersting cliffs on a decending ridge away from Half Peak towards the trailhead - what a magical place.

Next up - a wider panoramic view showing Handies, Wetterhorn, Uncompahgre, Sunshine and Redcloud. Not bad. Quarter Peak dominates on the right.

After basking in the glory of being on top of Colorado's 86th highest mountain, we decided it was time to head down. We did not want to get caught in the dark above tree line and it was already 5 PM. The look down from the top sure was good though...

As the sun began to set, the light just kept getting better and better on our decent. I just loved this next photo - the catwalk of a ridge from Half Peak leads the eye through the bottom half of the frame and up to the more grandeur scene to the north, including the rugged Chicago Basin 14ers and Vestal & Arrow. 

We reached the bottom of the huge ramp in no time at all, but my legs were just destroyed! My ankle was sore, I had taken several Ibuprofen, and I was pretty tired. We had to eat. The huge cairn marking the Continental Divide Trail seemed like a great place to stop.

As the sun went down I found energy levels increase. The light was getting to be really great and I knew that it was going to be a magical sunrise. Sarah caught me taking lots of photos of flowers, which I could not help myself from doing. What can I say - I'm a sucker. I was too lazy at this point to get the tripod out though! Haha!

Sunset was quickly approaching, and golden hour had mostly arrived. The back-lit wildflowers were just incredible.

 

I found this awesome rock formation and captured a great sunstar right through it, which also illuminated these wildflowers in the foreground. Yes!

Half Peak at sunset just looked magical.

Descending the upper basin was like being in a Western movie - it was so surreal being all alone up there walking into the sunset. 

I found endless opportunities to photograph the scenes we stumbled upon, like this awesome huge stand of wildflowers with the killer sun colors lighting up the sky above.

And then I found these awesome flowers, perfectly arranged before the setting sun. What a beautiful basin to enjoy.

It was really hard peeling myself away from this area - the light, the flowers, the view, the stillness to the air - it was all just so therapeutic. 

I think Sarah was getting a kick out of it also; however, I knew she was hungry and anxious to get back to the trail below.

The colors in the sky were rapidly changing from moment to moment, likely exacerabated by the haze and smoke in the air. I didn't really mind! 

The pinks and purples were starting to color the sky - making for a very pleasing sunset.

As we reached the lower reaches and the end of our view of Half Peak, I found myself gazing back often. It probably did not hurt that the sky was exploding with color.

I even stumbled upon a small patch of Indian Paintbrush - which complimented the scene in a quite lovely way. 

We finally reached the end of the upper basin where the drop off back into Cuba Gulch lay before us. I wanted to stop one last time up there to get some shots of the sunset, which had really produced some great color in the clouds to the west - see!?

One parting shot of Sarah before the downclimb into the nasty willows gave us our final view of Half Peak.

After a very long slog in the dark through Cuba Gulch, we finally reached the car in the dark at 9:30 PM, but not before encountering what we believed were two elk on the road between the trailhead and our campsite. They were quite stubborn and were scaring us a bit with their glowing eyes and strange behavior; however, Sarah's rock-throwing skills (not at the elk, at the ground) scared them off into the woods. We reached camp, cooked dinner, and crashed, despite the amazing night sky that was above. I just could not stay awake to photograph it. Not to worry though, in my next two trip reports for our next days of climbing, there will be plenty of night sky photos to make up for it. For now - enjoy one last parting shot of Sarah's feet while she was doing dishes the next morning - I just know she'll love it!

P.S. I'm pretty sure that Roach lists this hike at 11 miles RT; however, I think it was closer to 12 or 13 miles total.

Coming soon - my trip reports of Jones Mountain and Uncompahgre Peak! Hope you enjoyed this trip report of Half Peak via Cuba Gulch. If you'd like to inquire about any of the photographs, please do visit my photography website, or on Facebook! Feel free to leave a comment below as well. Happy trails!

UN 13,832 and UN 13,811 (UN = Unnamed) have been on my radar for quite a few years now. My dad and I were hoping to tackle them both back in 2009 but weather steered us elsewhere. I've also eyed them as a potentially fantastic winter climb from the Williams Creek TH, but have not had the ability to string together the time to pull that off either. So, when I figured I had the opportunity to take a vacation day and do some climbing, I quickly picked out these two gems. I coached my son's first t-ball game and then afterwards drove to Lake City for an estimated 1 AM arrival at the trailhead. I planned to meet my friend Regina there (she was coming down from Denver via Highway 285) and get a few hours of sleep before we set off to climb early Friday, June 1st.

Interestingly enough, UN 13,832 and UN 13,811 are the only two mountains of the highest hundred peaks in Colorado (Centennials) with neither an official nor unofficial name. These two fantastic thirteeners (ranked #90 & #99 respectively) are located just east of the 14ers Redcloud and Sunshine near Lake City, Colorado. If you're like me, you are wondering why these two mountains in the highest 100 are unnamed. These unnamed mountains are located within a large section of BLM (Bureau of Land Management) land, specifically, BLM's Redcloud Wilderness Study Area. According to Summitpost, "in 2004, these two mountains were "protected" from being named when the USGS turned down a proposal to christen them after two of Colorado's mountaineering pioneers, Carl Blaurock and Bill Ervin. Apparently the policy is to not approve new names of mountains within wilderness or wilderness study lands, and a competing Blaurock/Ervin naming proposal was selected for a pair of peaks in the central Sawatch Range."

With all that being said, I needed something to do to keep me awake on my drive down to Lake City... so I focused on trying to think of clever names for these two mountains. With the close proximity to Sunshine and Redcloud, I figured it might be fitting to name UN 13,832 something to do with the moon. The sun shines, then it sets... the clouds get red (Redcloud), then the moon rises. How about "Moonrise" for UN 13,832 and "Not Last" for UN 13,811 (since it's ranked #99 / 100)? Let's see if they stick anywhere.

Speaking of the moon, on the way down to Lake City, I decided that it would be pretty awesome to stop near Lake San Cristobal and get a shot of the stars and moon, so that's just what I did. I stopped right off the road heading towards the trailhead and took a 5-shot vertical pano (my camera was vertically orientated vs. horizontally oriented) of the Milky Way, moon, and Lake San Cristobal. I think it worked fabulously! Please click to see a larger version or to purchase on my photography website.

With the shot I had envisioned complete, I continued on up the road towards the trailhead. I finally reached my destination at around 12:45 AM and decided it was suitable to sleep under the stars in my sleeping bag, so I set out to do just that. Shorly after I settled in, Regina arrived and set-up her gear to do the same. I took the time to take one last set of photos (why not). This one turned out even more magical, I think. It is 7 veritical shots as a panoramic of the Milky Way over "Sundog," the 13,432 ft. mountain connected to Sunshine Peak's north ridge. The moon had just set and allowed for a great scene. I was actually inspired by another photographer's (David Kingham) photo from last month and wanted to give this a shot. Click on it to see a larger version on my photography website.

 

We crashed at 1:45 AM and decided to set the alarm for 5:45 AM, which came all-too quickly. There was one other hiker at the TH that started before us (and did wake me a few times by starting his car), so solitude was looking to be guaranteed. I promptly threw down some coffee soymilk (which was surprisingly good and filling) and we departed! I knew from the get-go that I wanted to do what Roach calls "Point Fever," which is to say, combining UN 13,832, UN 13,632 and UN 13,811. The route is a long but easy 12.8 miles and gains 4,727 ft. in elevation. A nice leg burner. [Colorado's Thirteeners - Roach & Roach, pg. 222]

Here is a map of the route we took from the Silver Creek TH (click for larger version):

So, that's just what we set-out to accomplish. The semi-early start granted us a nice view of Handies Peak and Whitecross Mountain across the valley. It was really great seeing them from this side since my climb of them with my dad in 2010 on Father's Day. 

As we climbed on the trail, we stumbled upon an open area with boulders. I was immediately struck with a rush of nostalgia, remembering vividly coming through that part of the trail and seeing a marmot during my climb of Redcloud and Sunshine in 1987 at the age of 9. Crazy! 

Before long, we were gaining altitude and came across a nice stream. It seemed the perfect spot to test out my 9-stop ND filter, so I put it on my Tokina 11-16 lens and did a very long exposure. I liked how it turned out.

As we gained elevation, parts of Redcloud came into view to our right. It was immediately taken aback by how little snow was left. It was truly remarkable. Indeed, Colorado's state-wide snowpack levels are at 2% of normal. Very dry.

Regina was setting a nice pace for us and the weather was holding up quite nicely. I had no worries about my chances of summiting both 13ers.

Before we knew it, we found ourselves gaining the ridge between UN 13,832 and Redcloud. We had also caught up from the guy that left before us that morning.

Gaining the saddle was no problem, and the views were great from there. As expected, the other hiker turned up to climb Redcloud. Solitude was guaranteed at this point. Here's a 360 degree view from the saddle, with Redcloud at far right and UN 13,832 just under the sun.

The hike from here was just long and gentle - easy class 1 / 2 stuff. Here's a view of UN 13,832 as we approached from the ridge.

Looking back at Redcloud, with Sunshine barely peaking up over the ridge.

And finally, Uncompahgre Peak came into view for us!

Heading up towards the next saddle made for easy and fun trail / ridge walking.

I was impressed by how far apart Sunshine was from Redcloud - much further than I remember.

We finally topped out on UN 13,832 at around 10:30 AM. Regina was loving the view of Wetterhorn and Uncompahgre, no doubt. 

Also awesome was the view of the Grenadiers and the Needles. Eolus, Sunlight, Windom, Silex, Guardian and others all stuck out quite prominantly. This perspective really shows you how far part Eolus is from Sunlight. Pretty amazing.

I also did not mind the great view of Wetterhorn from here. Such a cool looking mountain!

Regina decided she was not going to continue over to UN 13,811, so I fired off a few more shots, including the below panoramas, and headed off for UN 13,811. Regina was going to wait for me below the saddle of Redcloud and UN 13,832. 

The San Juans are truly great.

UN 13,811 was still quite a ways off, as seen from this next shot.

I began my hike over and was constantly drawn to the view of Wetterhorn and Uncompahgre. I just loved those two mountains.

UN 13,632 was one obstacle in the path to UN 13,811, so I needed to go up and over it as well.

All while still enjoying my view...

Within about an hour, I finally made it over to UN 13,811 to complete my 75th Centennial. Pretty impressive and almost there!

I snapped off a few shots for a panorama from 13,811 also , still in shock over how little snow was truly left.

The view back over to 13,832 was sobering to say the least. I was starting to feel a little tired in the legs, so I was not really looking forward to the hike back. I did however, really enjoy the surprising view of 13,832 from here.

I headed back over to UN 13,832, which was quite the demoralizing slog. I reached the saddle of Redcloud and UN 13,832 in quick order and met up with Regina at a small tarn below Redcloud Peak. THe view of Whitecross was very cool from there.

And of course Handies and Whitecross were our guides for the duration.

Regina led the way while I snapped off this super great shot of her hiking out. I think this was one of my favorites from the hike.

We crossed over a small stream that had some wildflowers growing at it. I thought it was a nice looking scene to stop and enjoy.

Before long, we had reached treeline again and Handies was all that we could make out above the trees.

The remainder of the hike went without incident. I will say that these two mountains are pretty fun. The hike is very long, but affords welcoming views of very recognizable 14ers and 13ers in the area. Solitude is almost a given, since most people in the area are there to tackle the more famous 14ers Redcloud and Sunshine. I think you will also enjoy the hike if you choose to take it. 

We stopped in Gunnison on our way home for some much needed sustanance at our favorite Mexican food place on Main St. Until next time... I hope you enjoyed this trip report!

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Hiking in the San Juan Mountains was quite possibly the best gift a dad could get. Make that two dads.

My dad is who introduced me to climbing mountains at the young age of six, and it was fitting that we spend Father's day climbing a mountain that we had both had our eyes on for quite a few years. While my dad had originally planned in the 1980's to save Handies Peak as his last 14er, he decided to give up that idea. The last time my dad climbed a 14er was Uncompahgre Peak in 2001 - another father-son outing in the San Juan Mountains, nearly 10 years ago. Having prepared for the past two months through rigorous training and exercise, my dad, now 60 years old, believed he was ready again for climbing. Since all I talk about anymore is climbing mountains, it was no surprise that his interest in climbing is renewed and I was very pleased that he asked to join me on my attempt of Handies Peak. My dad (Old Climber on this site) and I debarked from Colorado Springs at roughly 5:00 PM on Friday, June 18th 2010, heading straight for the rugged San Juan Mountains in southwestern Colorado. We drove south down State Highway 115 and connected with Highway 50 heading west. We stopped for a bite to eat in Salida and drove to Gunnison and south towards Lake City. The drive up towards Cinnamon Pass from Lake City was a somewhat confusing one in the dark - there are a couple points where you can make a wrong turn - neither intersection having been mentioned on the route description at 14ers.com. To top things off, the road was pretty rough, but my Jeep handled it like a champion. We managed to find our way to the American Basin near Handies Peak and began setting up camp with our headlamps on at around 11:30 PM.

Here are some interesting statistics from this amazing adventure:

Total elevation gain: 3,629 ft.

Total distance hiked: 8.22 miles

Total time hiking: 8 hours, 15 minutes

Total photos taken: 346

Total wildlife sightings: 3

Total distance driven: 480 miles

Trip duration: 28 hours

A map of our driving route to our campsite in the American Basin  from Colorado Springs

As we began setting up camp, I turned back towards my vehicle to see two glowing eyes about 20 feet away. These were no ordinary glowing eyes - these were quite large and clearly fit a very large animal. I whispered to my dad, "Ray - look - there is an animal over there!" Ray got out his flashlight and revealed a giant moose! We were both in shock, as neither of us had seen a moose in the wild in Colorado before. The moose walked around our campsite for much of the remainder of the night and at one point got within 5 feet of the tent before walking away. I decided to name the moose "Tim" since I thought it would be funnier and more convenient to refer to the moose by name instead of "it" or "moose."

The moon was about half-full and lit the basin up quite well. We could make out the ridge line of Handies Peak and the American Basin crags (American Peak, ranked 102nd highest in Colorado).

We enjoyed the views of the basin in the moonlight and set the alarm on my Suunto Core watch for 5 AM.  The tent was sitting on a lot of wierd bumps, so sleeping was not the easiest of tasks. I think I did get a few hours of pretty spotty sleep before the alarm went off. We woke up and broke down our camp pretty quickly while eating some oatmeal. "Tim" was still hanging around, eating some willow trees 50 or so yards away from our campsite. We prepared our packs and debarked up the road towards the trailhead, but not before taking a photo of the basin around our campsite.

Handies Peak seen at left of center with American Peak at dead center and UN 13,512 at far right. The American Basin is a very peaceful locale.

The plan for the day was to ascend Handies Peak (14,048 ft. and ranked 40th in Colorado) via the standard trail and then to traverse over to Whitecross Mountain (ranked 222) to the northeast of Handies. Starting the hike pretty early and at a respectable elevation, I believed that the itinerary would be quite manageable.

A topo map with my route shown in red. We began the hike near the word "Fork" on the map.

Ray and I quickly began the hike up the trail at 6:15 AM and within minutes, the sun began to light up the surrounding peaks, including American Peak.

American Peak gets a healthy dose of sunlight.

The basin itself was quite serene, with waterfalls everywhere and green slopes and orange mountain tops surrounding us in all directions.

Ray Payne with an awesome waterfall in the background

We probably could have made better time, but I was taking tons of photos the whole way up!

Matt Payne with American Peak in the background.

The trail was mostly snow-free, with a few sections of snow obscuring the trail. We were able to quickly follow the trail up the side of Handies Peak, weaving our way up towards Sloan Lake.

Ray Payne gazes up the side of the relatively steep trail leading up Handies.

Shortly before reaching the turn-off for Sloan Lake, I stumbled across a beautiful ptarmagin, still in the process of changing out of its winter coat and into its summer colors.

A ptarmigan rests on rocks near the trail leading up Handies Peak.

The ptarmigan peers back at me, wondering if it is on the menu for dinner.

The ptarmigan made a loud squak and flew down the trail and away from our threatening gaze. What a pleasure it was to see wildlife!

Shortly after heading away from Sloan Lake, the trail turns back towards Handies and down through a small snowfield. The snow was steep but easy to navigate.

Ray navigates through a steep snow field.

The trail quickly zig-zags up Handies and before we knew it, we gained some incredible views back down into the American Basin.

Sloan Lake sits in front of American Peak, with the Handies standard route trail below. The first view of distant San Juan Mountains is revealed.

We rested in the shadows for a bit and resumed the hike up towards the saddle between Handies Peak and American Peak. Once gaining the saddle, views east into the next valley over were presented with the morning sun welcoming us.

A 360^o view from the Handies - American Peak saddle. As a reminder - many images can be clicked on to view the full resolution versions!

We continued up towards the summit of Handies and were wildly surprised with a view of Rio Grande Pyramid, one of the top 100 summits in Colorado (ranked 97).

Rio Grande Pyramid sits prominently in the far distance to the south of Handies Peak.

This was a particularly exciting discovery for Ray and I since we are planning to climb Rio Grande Pyramid at the end of August of this year. Getting a first-hand view of this magnificent mountain was quite awesome.

We also could not help but notice the other quite prominent mountain sitting in front of Rio Grande Pyramid Peak on the near side of Pole Creek Mountain (ranked 138th in Colorado) - Half Peak (ranked 86th in Colorado).

Half Peak (left of center) sits left (northeast) of Pole Creek Mountain, and Rio Grande Pyramid.

Additionally, views of Mount Sneffles (ranked 27th in Colorado) and the surrounding mountains came into view.

Ray Payne gazes towards Mount Sneffels to the northwest.

Ray snapped a shot of me before I continued up the trail.

Having gained the amazing views of the San Juans, I was re-energized to hike faster, so I quickly made my way up towards the summit of Handies. I peered back to catch the first glimpse of the Grenadiers and Needle Mountains near Silverton. I have always been completely awe-struck by these mountains, so seeing them from here was quite exciting for me. Views of Pigeon Peak (ranked 57), Vestal Peak (ranked 77), and Arrow Peak (ranked 104) were impressive. Due to the fact that I am climbing Vestal's Wham Ridge and Arrow Peak in three weeks, this view was especially awesome.

Ray Payne ascends Handies with the Grenadier range and Needle Mountains showing themselves above American Peak. Pigeon Peak seen just above American Peak, with Arrow and Vestal Peaks to its left.

I was able to complete the climb of Handies at 9 AM, a brisk 2 hours and 45 minutes after we started, and was greeted at the top by Ray within minutes. Handies was the 48th 14er for Ray and the 36th 14er for me.

Matt and Ray Payne celebrate on top of Handies with the Grendiers and Needle Mountains in the background.

The wind on top was fairly chilly, so Ray and I found shelter on the eastern side of the summit. Ray got out his topographical maps and I began to take my ritual photos for the 360 degree panoramic photo from the summit. The views from Handies were much more impressive than I could have ever imagined.

A 360^o view from the top of Handies Peak. The views of the mighty San Juan Mountains were astounding. Click on the image for the full resolution version (very large).

A 180^o view looking northeast to west from Handies Peak.

I continued to marvel at the sheer impressiveness of the Grenadiers. The thought of climbing them in a few weeks seemed very surreal. Vestal's Wham Ridge looked impossible.

The Grenadiers and Needle Mountains zoomed in.

Views of other areas of the San Juans also did not disappoint. The Ice Lake Basin and Wilson group were quite impressive as well.

Looking west from the summit of Handies Peak

In my office at work, I have a framed topographical map composed of many different 7.5 minute maps of the Grenadiers and Needle Mountains. I had always wanted to capture a comprehensive photo of that area, showing the various summits of the region. I had a great time using the 100summits.com Google Earth plugin tool to attempt to correctly identify all of the mountains in the following giant panoramic photo. I would greatly welcome and appreciate any feedback or corrections to the labels, as the viewpoint from Handies made for a distorting and confusing process for peak identification. Be sure to click on the images to see the full resolution versions and the labeled photo (2nd photo).

A large zoomed-in panoramic photo of the San Juan Mountains.

Many mountains are labeled in this version. Send corrections to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

For a more natural way of viewing this photo, check out THIS PAGE.

Views of both Wetterhorn Peak and Uncompahgre to the north were also outstanding.

Wetterhorn Peak

Wetterhorn Peak (left of center) and Uncompahgre Peak (right of center) rise up impressively to the north of Handies

Looking further west, were able to identify Mount Sneffels and Teakettle Mountain (ranked 98th).

Mount Sneffels (largest at center) and Teakettle Mountain (right of Sneffels)

Due west of our position on Handies, were caught view of the Ice Lake Basin. We originally thought this was the Sneffels group; however, upon further investigation, we believe we have correctly identified the mountains west of Handies as U.S. Grant Peak (ranked 119) et.al.

The Ice Lake Basin - send corrections to Matt at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

After the whirlwind of photo taking, I decided to sit-down and eat some food. Ray ate his hard-boiled egg (apparently a long-standing tradition for him), while I chowed down on a Clif Bar and some cashews.

Ray chows down on a hard-boiled egg with Wetterhorn Peak behind him.

Matt Payne relaxes on the summit of Handies.

Sitting on the east side of Handies to eat, we were able to get a great view of Grizzly Gulch, Sunshine Peak and Redcloud Peak (ranked 53 and 46 respectively).

Redcloud and Sunshine Peaks rest just east of Handies.

Additionally, I was able to get a good glimpse of my second objective for the day - Whitecross Mountain. Whitecross looked further away than I thought it would, but with the insanely great weather we had and with my legs feeling superb, I was not concerned.

Whitecross Mountain and the traverse to it (partially obscured by snow).

We were joined on the summit by Ben Smith of 14erPlatinumTeam.com. Ben was with his friend Don, and they were quite friendly. We chatted for a bit about our climbing adventures and plans and exchanged website information.

I took more photos of the surrounding peaks.

Half Peak

Rio Grande Pyramid

I had Don snap one more photo of my on top and Ben volunteered to take some photos with his camera as well. He was kind enough to email me the photo he took of Ray and I on top.

Matt Payne on top of Handies Peak

Matt and Ray Payne atop Handies Peak - photo courtesy of Ben Smith.

Ray and I packed up and got ready for our traverse over to Whitecross Mountain. Ray informed me that he would probably not go to Whitecross but would wait for me at the saddle between Handies and Whitecross. This sounded like a good plan and we began to head north after bidding adieu to Ben and Don.

Shortly after making our way down towards the Handies - Whitecross saddle, we gained an excellent view down to the west into the valley we started in. Lo-and-behold we could see my Jeep way down below. 

Matt Payne's Jeep far below in the American Basin.

After making it down the steepest section from Handies' summit, we gained excellent views of the Whitecross traverse and the terrain we ultimately needed to navigate across.

Whitecross Mountain's traverse terrain

By this point, we could look back at Handies and get a really nice profile of it from the north side.

Ray Payne traversing towards Whitecross Mountain away from Handies Peak

Being mid-June still, we encountered some difficult snow on the traverse and at one point I fell up to my hips into a snow bank. This was rather uncomfortable, being on a quite steep section with about 100 feet of run-out below me. I decided to pause to gather my wits and to get out my ice axe. I used the ice axe as a safety device as I faced into the mountain and slow kicked steps into the snow while heading down at an angle towards the saddle. Ray followed in my footsteps and we both decided that it would have been smart to just stay high above on the ridge proper instead of angling around the side of the saddle near PT 13,577.

After successfully making it past the snowy sections, I once again stumbled upon a ptarmigan. This time, it let me get very close to it before I even noticed.

A Ptarmigan feeds upon the tundra near the saddle between Handies and Whitecross

The views down into Grizzly Gulch were great during the traverse and I paused several times to get photos of the area.

Ray Payne, traversing towards Whitecross Mountain, with Redcloud Peak left of center.

Most of the way to the saddle between Whitecross and Handies, we encountered some nasty scree below the ridge that we were forced to cross. The rock was the kind that when you stepped on it, huge sections of rock would slide above and below your feet. While this terrain is rather fun when down-climbing, it was not so fun while going across it.

Scree with a red hue made for an interesting traverse to Whitecross Mountain.

Looking back towards Handies Peak - Ray Payne welcomes the break in crossing the awkward terrain.

Ray and I reached the saddle near some fun rock outcroppings and discussed my plans for heading to Whitecross. I told Ray to "send the cavalry if I'm not back by midnight." I took off most of my gear and left it with Ray so that I could increase my speed for the traverse.

Whitecross Mountain sits above interesting terrain

Ray Payne nears our meeting place

I started my traverse over to Whitecross at 11 AM. There were no threatening clouds and I felt solid.

Matt Payne poses on top of a rock formaton on the way up Whitecross Mountain

About halfway up Whitecross, I was able to get a better view of the cornice across the way and Golden Horn (ranked 116) behind it in the distance.

Cornice with Golden Horn behind it.

I made my way up Whitecross quite steadily and quickly. I made great time to the tundra field below it and could see the route up the summit block.

Whitecross Mountain's summit block

I also could see some amazing views of the western ridge of Handies and a couple lakes below it.

A small lake rests in the basin below the western ridge of Handies Peak.

I made my way up towards the top of Whitecross rather quickly and was greeted with views of another neat cornice sitting in front of Uncompahgre Peak and Whitecross (to its left).

A cornice sits below the summit of Whitecross with Uncompahgre and Wetterhorn in the distance.

I finished up the climb up Whitecross and enjoyed views of Handies and the valley below Whitecross which was obscured before. The traverse from the saddle took 30 minutes on the mark.

Handies as seen from the summit of Whitecross

The summit register lays out on the summit of Whitecross.

I signed the summit register (first to do so in 2010), and gathered a few more photos for a panoramic photo and a self-timer summit photo.

Redcloud and Sunshine are seen in better detail from Whitecross Mountain.

A view north, east, and south from Whitecross Mountain.

A self-timer summit shot on top of Whitecross Mountain.

After spending a few minutes on top, I headed back down the ridge towards Ray, stopping once on the way to capture a shot of some wildflowers on the ridge.

A macro shot of some purple flowers on the ridge between Whitecross and Handies.

After 20 minutes of down-climbing, I reached Ray again, having spent a total of 50 minutes on the traverse from the saddle and traveling a distance of 1.11 miles with 558 ft. of elevation gain. Ray and I packed our belongings and headed down the steep scree to the north of the saddle. We had studied our maps and determined that this route would get us back to the road eventually and that it was the safest descent route. The only downside was that we would be required to hike back up the road to my car. A small price to pay for a great traverse.

Ray descends the steep and loose scree below the Handies-Whitecross saddle.

Ray Payne with the Whitecross-Handies saddle above

On the way down, we captured one last view of Uncompahgre.

Uncompahgre Peak pokes above the surrounding ridges.

The route down towards the road was straight-forward and enjoyable. We made awesome time down towards tree-line.

A look back towards the Whitecross-Handies saddle and the steep terrain negotiated on the way down from Whitecross.

We made quick time to tree-line, and after less than an hour, we were entering the trees and much steeper terrain.

Ray Payne down-climbs from the Whitecross-Handies saddle.

The wildflowers on the fridge of the forest were amazing -yellow flowers were blooming everywhere on the mountainside.

A yellow flower blooms in this macro shot near tree-line.

Soon after entering the trees, the terrain became much steeper and was littered with huge deadfall and other fun obstacles. We negotiated through the deadfall for about 20 minutes until reaching somewhat of a clearing.

Deadfall on the descent of Whitecross and Handies.

From this clearing, we were able to find a small service road on the mountain side. We aimed for this road, hoping we were not trespassing on private property, and followed it down. We were grateful for finding the road, as it had a bridge across the Lake Fork Gunnison River where it connects with the main American Basin road.

We also saw a large mine shaft with railroad tracks leading into it - evidence of that at one time this region was heavily mined.

Railroad tracks lead into the darkness of an abandoned mine shaft.

Once back on the main road, we were able to get a good view of the valley and mountainside we had come down.

Ray and I hiked back up the road towards my Jeep. The road was pretty long and we needed to hike about a mile or so. American Basin was looking impressive in full sunlight.

American Basin

We crossed the head of the river near a large snowbank we had noticed on the way up the night before.

I took one more photo of the American Basin on the way back up to my Jeep. The waterfalls and surrounding terrain were very aesthetically pleasing after the long day of hiking.

We finally made it back to the Jeep at 2:30 PM and I took one final set of photos to illustrate the daytime views from where we camped.

We packed up our gear after eating some snacks and headed back down the road in my Jeep. This is one of the best hikes up a relatively easy 14er with highly rated views. Given the ease of climb and the rewarding views, I would say that Handies Peak should be on all beginner and serious hikers' to-do lists.

I hope you enjoyed this trip report for Handies Peak and Whitecross Mountain. Next weekend: Missouri Mountain, Iowa Peak and Emerald Peak with my friend, Ethan Buete.