Overlook Point – 13,005

RT Length: 8.89 miles

Elevation Gain: 1872’

This one felt way too easy.  The most difficult part was the drive in.

The road to Lime Mesa Trailhead is mostly 2WD.  Mostly.  At the turnoff point just before Henderson Lake it’s another 5 miles to the trailhead.  The road stays 2WD for about 2.5 miles, then becomes 4WD.  The road just gets worse as you drive, so as soon as you feel uncomfortable with the conditions pull over and park.  There are several dispersed camping areas along the road. 

Henderson Lake:

Road after Henderson Lake:

The trailhead is obvious, and starts at the north end of the parking area,  I was on the trail at 5am.

I followed the class 1 Lime Mesa Trail North for 3.4 miles.  After hiking for about half a mile I came to a junction, and went left.

I kept hiking along the class 1 trail as it wound north through Lime Mesa

After hiking for a total of 3.4 miles, and at around 12420’ of elevation, I left the trail that had started going east and headed north.

This is where I was headed

I ascended a gully, then headed towards the ridge.  This was mostly tundra, until the end, when it became rocky.  All class 2.

There was a big cairn at the top of the ridge

When I got to the top of the ridge, I was at PT 12802.  I could see Overlook Point to the north. 

I continued following the ridge towards Overlook Point. Rocks became tundra, and then the tundra became rocky again.

Following the ridge, I eventually came to a rocky area.  This is easier to descend than it looks.  It can be kept class 2 if you just follow the gully down.  Here I lost about 100’ of elevation as I made my way towards the saddle.

And now to gain the ridge.  This was a fairly easy ridge hike, where I gained about 300’ of elevation to the summit.  I just kept to the ridge. 

I summited Overlook Point at 6:40am

Overlook Point:

And now to make my way back towards PT 12802. I turned around and descended the ridge to the saddle.

Then it was up the rocky sections.  This is the route I took

Then southeast following the ridge to 12802

And then back down to the Lime Mesa Trail

I turned right onto the Lime Mesa Trail, and followed it 3.4 miles south back to the trailhead.

I made it back to the trailhead at 8:15am, making this a 8.89X mile hike with 1872’ of elevation gain in 3.5 hours.

On to the next trailhead!