Wild Wanderer

13,318, 13,351, and Ute Ridge – 13,466

RT Length: 12.29 miles

Elevation Gain: 4438’

I started this hike from Beartown. I’ve made the drive into Beartown now 4 or 5 times, and from what I remember, the road and river crossings were better this time than my previous visits, but once I made it after the river crossings the road was much worse. It has rained a bunch recently, and all of the potholes were now lakes. From my parking spot at around 11250’, I headed southwest, following the 4WD road.

After hiking for about .4 miles, I came to a junction and turned left, heading towards the actual trailhead.

I was now at the trailhead for Trail 869. I followed this trail to treeline. The trail is class 1, except where there are downed trees and overgrowing vegetation covering the trail. Then some route finding is required, but the trail always picks back up again. Once above treeline, the trail is easy to follow.

At treeline, I continued following the trail south

The trail was headed towards the saddle of 13318 and 13351, but before reaching the saddle I aimed for this point in the ridge. There are game trails to get you there, but the route is pretty obvious.

Once on the ridge, I turned right and headed west. Here’s my overall route to the summit. This is all class 2, with some scree mixed in. The boulders can be avoided on class 2 terrain, but be prepared for lots of kitty litter. Look for an access route to the left and center of the boulders, and you’ll find a scree path.

When I made it to the ridge, I realized I was at a false summit, turned left, and boulder-hopped to the true summit.

I summited PT 13,318 at 7:15am

PT 13,318:

My next goal was PT 13351, to the east. The summit is hidden in this picture by a false peak, but this was my route to the summit. I curved to the right of the peak, avoiding the rocky areas by staying on tundra, then headed for a small saddle.

First, to make my way down to the 13318/13351 saddle.

Then I headed up the slope, staying on tundra, circling around until I could see a small saddle at the ridge.

Once on the ridge, I turned right, and headed east towards the rocky area.

This rocky area was class 3, and once again choose your own adventure. The rocks were loose, and there seemed to be many options to make it to the summit. This is the route I chose:

I summited PT 13,351 at 8:30am

PT 13,351:

My next goal was Ute Ridge, to the northeast

Fist, I’d have to follow the ridge southeast and gain this point before heading down to the 13351/Ute Ridge saddle.

I headed towards the unnamed point. A few thoughts on this ridge: It’s rocky, and loose. It can be kept class 2 if you stick to the right of the ridge, class 3 ridge proper. Once again, ALL of the rocks are loose.

I was able to follow scree and tundra down to the 13351/Ute Ridge saddle. Now is a good time to look at the route you want to take to gain the ridge. I stayed below the rocks, but was able to find game trails through the scree to the ridge. The ridge proper has a lot of unavoidable rock formations, so I wanted to stay below them until they were gone before gaining the ridge.

And now to gain the ridge while avoiding the rock formations

And then following the ridge proper.

I came to a rocky area, and found a game trail up to the left

Then I continued following the tundra towards Ute Ridge

This next section is a little tricky when you’re down in it, so now’s a good chance to take a look at your route. The rocks here are loose. I chose to go right of the ridge when I had the chance. Just before the summit is a large rock band. There were several chimneys there to use as access. I ended up choosing the third chimney I came to, although they all had cairns indicating they “went”. If you want to avoid the chimneys altogether, you can continue further right and use class 2 terrain (although it looks like steep scree is involved).

Here’s the route I took:

This is the chimney I took:

At the top of the chimney I headed back towards the ridge, and followed the rocks to the summit. The boulders at the top are so large you can walk around them to the summit.

I summited Ute Ridge at 10:30am

Ute Ridge:

And now to head back down towards the chimney

Down the chimney, and back towards the 13551/Ute Ridge Saddle

From the saddle of 13551/Ute Ridge, my intention was to make it back to the ridge and the trail I’d hiked in on from Beartown. The trail goes along much of the ridge, so I just needed to aim for the ridge. You can do this by aiming for the gully, or taking the slope. I took the slope to avoid the willows. Once I was down in the gulch, I gained about 950’ to the ridge.

Here are some pictures of the route:

Heading west on the tundra eventually brought me back to the easily identifiable trail that would lead me back to Beartown

Once back on the 4WD road, I followed it back to my parking spot

I made it back to my truck at 1:15pm, making this a 12.29 mile hike with 4438’ of elevation gain in 8 hours, 15 minutes

For those of you interested, this is what the second river crossing looked like in late August of 2024:

Boskoff Peak – 13,134

RT Length: 10.63 miles

Elevation Gain: 3398’

I started this hike at 5am from the Rock of Ages Trailhead. The trailhead has a porta-potty, and room for a couple dozen vehicles, but the road in is at minimum high clearance (with a creek crossing).

The trailhead starts at the south end of the parking area. I took the trail to the left, the Rock of Ages Trail, at the junction immediately following the entrance to the trailhead.

I followed the Rock of Ages trail for 1.5 miles

After following the Rock of Ages trail for 1.5 miles, I came to a junction, and started following the Elk Creek Trail east.

Here is where the trail got interesting. I kept gaining, then losing elevation, then gaining it back again. I knew this would be frustrating on the way out (it was). I continued following the class 1 trail

I then came to another junction, but the sign was broken. I followed the trail to the left.

I followed these class 1, well defined trails for 4.3 miles, until I came to the base of a gully running down from Boskoff Peak

Here I could clearly see Boskoff, and it’s ridge in front of me. I left the trail, and headed southeast up the tundra slope towards the ridge.

Once on the ridge, I turned left, and followed the tundra northeast. I pretty much stuck to the ridge to summit. Here’s the overall route:

I followed the ridge until the tundra ended.

The tundra ended at the base of a rock formation and several gullies. I took the right gully up, the left one down. Both were class 2. The right gully was more stable, but the left gully made for some fun scree-surfing on the way down.

Here are some pictures of the right gully

Both gullies end at the same place. From here, there’s a well defined game trail on the talus leading northeast along the ridge. I followed the talus trail until it ended at another pile of rocks.

I went a little to the right, hopping over loose talus doing a couple of easy class 3 moves, then aimed for the ridge.

The rest of the hike is class 2, all the way to the summit. Just be careful, the boulders and talus here are loose. I wouldn’t want to do this ridge if the rocks were wet, as I relied a lot on the traction of my shoes to keep balance. I followed the ridge to the summit.

I summited Boskoff Peak at 7:50am

Boskoff Peak:

Now to head back. This was an out and back hike for me, so I turned and headed southwest down the rocky ridge

Then back down to the talus

And back on the talus to the gully. This time I took the gully to my right down, scree surfing to the tundra.

Back on the tundra, this is the route I took back to the trail below.

When I made it back to the trail, I turned right, and followed Elk Creek Trail back to Rock of Ages Trail

I then went left, and followed the Rock of Ages trail north back to the trailhead

I made it back to the trailhead at 10:45am, making this a 10.63 mile hike with 3398’ of elevation gain in 5 hours, 45 minutes.

On to the next trailhead!

S4 – 13,256

RT Length: 11.57 miles

Elevation Gain: 4082’

There were only two other vehicles in the lot when I parked at the Blue Lakes Trailhead. It was raining, so I waited for the rain to stop, and was on the trail at 5am. The trailhead starts at the south end of the parking area, and is clearly marked.

Immediately after the trailhead there’s a junction. I went right, taking the Blue Lakes Trail.

This was the only junction until I made it to Blue Lakes. I followed the trail 3.5 miles to Blue Lakes. About 2.5 miles into the hike it started raining again, and I had to take shelter for a bit under a tree. However, the trail was class 1, and easy to follow the entire way.

There was an easy creek crossing

And then I continued my way up to Blue Lakes

Once I arrived at Blue Lakes, there were several social trails to campsites. I stayed on the trail closest to the lake, skirting the west side, towards a creek flowing into Blue Lakes.

At the last campsite before the creek, I followed the drainage on the right side of the creek up to treeline.

Once at treeline, or at least very close in a wide open space, I crossed the creek and headed west up the slope, keeping the creek to my right.

At the top of the slope I continued heading west, staying on the tundra. You can go right and use the talus, but it’s going to be a LONG day of talus, and I’d rather use the tundra when available.

At about 12330’, I went right and dropped about 50 feet down to the talus. There is a game trail here on the talus that will bring you to the upper basin.

Once in the upper basin, there will be an obvious drainage to the right. I went through the drainage, rock hopped for a bit, and then ascended 600’ of the worst talus ever to a gully. I put on my helmet and started up. Here’s the overall route:

As I ascended further up the gully, the talus became looser, but there were also areas of sand mixed with scree. The rain that morning had turned the sand into a thicker substance, which gave me some much needed traction. When you enter the gully, stay to the LEFT. I tried to stay to the right because it looked more stable, but found I was unable to cross over to the left when the time came, because I was now in an hourglass, and traversing it meant rocks above and below me would give way in a rockslide towards the base of the gully, like a funnel (or an hourglass). After the first few attempts at traversing from up high and sliding several feet before stopping, I downclimbed and re-traced my steps up this part of the gully, sticking to climbers left. Also, if you’re doing this with other people (in your group or not) stay clear when someone is in the gully, and even if you don’t think anyone is below you on your descent, yell to see if anyone is there. Large rocks will fall as you ascend and descend (there’s nothing you can really do to prevent it).

Keep heading left, until the scree ends

Once the scree ends, if you haven’t already, now is the time to put on your helmet. The rest of the summit is class 3 and class 4 on the loosest terrain I’ve ever experienced. NOTHING is stable. Trust nothing above, in front of, or below you without attempting holds several times to make sure they are solid. There is large kitty litter on solid rocks, loose talus, and rock slabs that look stable but are hanging precariously, especially from above.

From the top of the gully I headed east, to follow the ridge. Here’s the route I took:

You should now have a good view of the class 4 chimney to the summit. This is a very loose chimney, and it stops halfway and starts again. Even the large boulders are loose, so be careful with hand and footholds until you’re sure it won’t move. I started out by climbing straight up the center, until I came to a “y” where both sides looked perilous. I decided the right side looked more protected. The were both loose, sometimes with just large wobbly boulders stacked on top of each other to climb, and sometimes what looked like 10 foot boulders sitting atop rocks the size of a microwave. Between the two chimneys, there’s probably 40 feet of climbing. I wouldn’t trust an anchor here: to many of the boulders are loose. (There weren’t any anchors set up).

Here’s the overall route I took:

And some closer pictures of the chimney(s)

Chimney 1:

Chimney 2

From the top of the second chimney to the east you can see the route you scramble up to the summit

But wait! There’s more! Keep heading east, and climb down and then up this rock slab covered in kitty litter. It’s not tall, maybe 7 feet, but another fun surprise!

And then it’s a quick walk to the actual summit, on… you guessed it, more talus!

I summited S4 at 9:40am

S4:

And now to head back. I re-traced my steps to the chimney(s)

Safely down the chimney(s), I made my way back to the top of the gully.

Here are some pictures of the descent down the gully

And the route down into the basin

Once in the rocky basin, I stayed to the right of the creek and descended on the talus to the tundra towards Blue Lakes.

I headed east back to treeline and crossed the creek

Then headed north back towards the Blue Lakes Trail

And followed the trail in the rain all the way back to the trailhead

I made it back to the trailhead at 12:30pm, making this an 11.57 mile hike with 4082’ of elevation gain in 7.5 hours

On to the next trailhead!

Paiute Peak – 13,094

RT Length: 11.32 miles

Elevation Gain: 2781’

I was parked at the Brainard Lakes parking lot. I already posted about why I was parked there, and not the Mitchell Lakes trailhead, so I’m going to skip that part this time.

I was on the trail at 4:30 am. My first order of business was to hike the 1.3 miles to the Mitchell Lake Trailhead.

From the Mitchell Lake Trailhead, I followed the Blue Lakes Trail west towards Blue Lake. This is a well defined, class 1 trail with no junctions, so I was able to follow the trail the entire way. From the Mitchell Lake Trailhead, it was around 3 miles to Blue Lake.

From Blue Lake I had a clear view of Paiute Peak. Here’s an overview of the rest of my hike

First, I followed the trail around the north side of the lake

When I came to a grassy drainage, I left the trail and followed the drainage north

At around 11580’ I crossed the creek at a small waterfall, and headed northwest.

After crossing the waterfall I kept heading west, aiming for the ridge in the distance. This was choose your own adventure. I chose to go up and over the rocky gullies, doing my best to avoid the snow. This can all easily be kept class 2.

At this point , the lake at 11833’ was to the north of me, on my right. I kept heading west, to gain this ridge. There are a couple of cairns here, and parts of a game trail, but the main goal is to head towards the gully.

And now to head up the gully. I did this by heading north, staying to the right of the snow. If there isn’t snow when you’re doing this route, you can aim for a rather large vertical rock sticking up straight (you’ll know it when you see it, as it stands out). This gully had game trails leading to the top, and I’m sure you could take them all the way to the top of the gully. However, I stayed to the right of the snow and then climbed up the rocky rib. This was mostly class 2, with a few easy class 3 moves thrown in.

At the top of the rock rib, you’ll see what appears to be the summit of Paiute Peak to the north. It’s actually a false summit, but aim for it.

From here, the true summit is to the northeast. Head towards two boulders that look like the summit (they’re another false summit)

From those two boulders, the summit of Paiute Peak is visible to the north.

To get there I downclimbed a difficult class 3 section (or easy class 4) with exposure. This was much more difficult to downclimb than to upclimb. And it was very windy this day, making this ridge extra spicy. The route down and then up to the summit are obvious. There was a cairn at the top, and a summit register.

I summited Paiute Peak at 7:30am

Paiute Peak:

From the summit looking back, it really, really looks like where those two boulders are is higher, but there was a register here, so I’m assuming it’s the true summit. Now to head back. This “v” was much easier to upclimb. I used the same route down as I did on my way back up.

I then made my way towards the gully.

I went southeast down the rocky rib

Then descended the gully

At the bottom of the gully I turned left, and made my way back towards Blue Lake

I aimed for the drainage, then followed it south towards Blue Lake and the trail below

Back on the trail, I followed it east back to the Mitchell Lake Trailhead, passing several lakes along the way.

Back at the Mitchell Lake Trailhead, I followed the road back to the Brainard Lake parking area.

I made it back to the Brainard Lakes trailhead at 10:30am, making this an 11.32 mile hike with 2781’ of elevation gain in 6 hours.

On to the next trailhead!

Navajo Peak – 13,419′

RT Length: 14.52 miles

Elevation Gain: 3346’

This hike starts from the Long Lake Trailhead inside Brainard Lakes Recreation Area. This area is permitted. There are basically two options for permits (I’m summarizing) either timed entry between 8am-5pm, or an overnight permit. Overnight parking permits aren’t granted unless you have an Indian Peaks Wilderness overnight permit first. Both permits go on sale at the same time. Since I wanted to start before 8:30am, I needed to first get an IPW permit, then try to get an overnight parking permit.

I was able to secure an IPW overnight permit for the weekend but had difficulty securing overnight permits to park inside of Brainard Lake. Eventually I was able to get two 1-night (overnight) permits, one for Long Lake Trailhead and the other for Niwot Campground. I tried to get two consecutive in the same area, but they weren’t available for the dates I was allotted my IPW permit.

When I checked in at the Brainard Lakes Recreation area, they didn’t like what I had done (secured two one night permits at different sites), and decided a better option was to grant me a two night permit for Brainard Lake. I’d have rather parked for two nights at Long Lake or Mitchell Lake, or even what I had done originally, which was one for Long Lake and the other for Niwot. But they weren’t having that, so my mileage was increased by a couple of miles for this hike, since Brainard Lake is over a mile from the trailheads. Also, after you’re inside the park, they have other ‘security checkpoints’ where you need to show you’re your permits again, and they also patrol the parking lots hourly to make sure your permit is valid. Have I mentioned I’m not a fan of the permit system? I’ve yet to see one that works smoothly, especially for mountaineers who are concerned with weather and start times.

As I was hiking early in the morning the next day, being flashed with bicycle lights from behind me at 4:30am, I realized there’s another option around the permit system: ride your bike from the winter closure to the trailhead. I don’t own a bike, but this is definitely an option for the future… if I ever get a bike.

In any event, after minimal drama and parking a little further away than I’d have liked (but hey, it was better than parking at the winter closure…) I was on the trail at 4:30am, starting at the Brainard Lakes parking lot. My first step was to follow the road for 1.3 miles to the Long Lake Trailhead.

Once at the Long Lake Trailhead, I followed Pawnee Pass Trail west

After hiking about 1.5 miles from the Long Lake Trailhead, I came to a junction and went right, following the Isabelle Glacier Trail

At the next junction I went right again, to continue along the Isabelle Glacier Trail.

At the next junction, I came upon two bull moose. When they saw me they snorted and grunted, so I hid behind a tree for 20 minutes until they’d made their way up the hillside, casually munching on willows as they went. I’ve been charged by moose in the past, and while other than the grunting and snorting (which could have meant “It’s too early to be awake”), I kept my distance. Once they moved, I continued following Isabelle Glacier Trail

I followed this trail all the way past Isabelle Lake, west/southwest, through rocky areas and willows, towards Navajo and Apache Peaks. This is a class 1 trail, but the willows, rocks, and creeks overtake it at times.

I came to the last pond before the glacier, and left the trail to head southwest into the upper basin. Here’s the route I took

And some step by step pictures. First, I had to leave the trail. I crossed over the snow still skirting the lake, and headed towards the large boulder in the distance

I then crossed the creek, crossed the boulders (some were loose, most were not) and headed for the scree. Luckily, it had rained last night, so the scree was easy to grip.

At the top of the scree I was greeted with tundra. I kept following it, heading southwest

Now in the upper basin, I had a great view of the gully I wanted to take to ascend the ridge. If you look around, you’ll see remnants of a plane crash that happened in the 1950s. The higher you go up this gully, airplane gully as many like to call it, the more debris you’ll see. This is the route I took up the gully.

I made my way southwest over some boulders towards the gully, until I found a scree path. A few thoughts on this gully: Besides the fact this was the only part of the hike I experienced insanely intense winds all day, it was easy to navigate, there were social/game trails to follow, it wasn’t very loose, and the scree was solid. In short, it’s probably one of the easiest gullies I’ve ever ascended, and if they were all like this, I probably wouldn’t mind them so much. I headed south until I saw an obvious “y” in the gully, and went right. It’s easy to know where you turn right because you’ll see parts of the airplane to the right.

I went to the left of the airplane debris, then followed climbers right of the gully to the ridge (although both sides will get you there, just use the terrain you like best).

At the top of the gully, I could see the rest of my route to the summit of Navajo Peak. Until the chimney at the end, the rest of the route is class 2. If you find yourself in class 3 territory, you’re making it too difficult.

From the top of the gully I turned left and followed the saddle across a small ridge

From here the rest of the route looks daunting, but there are tons of game trails that will get you to the right spot. Aim for the very right edge of the rock formation, where you’ll see a chimney. Once again, this should all be class 2.

Here’s a look at that chimney. I found this chimney to be difficult class 3, easy class 4, so if you’re looking for a good practice chimney, this would be it. There isn’t a lot of exposure, and I was able to find adequate hand/footholds if I stretched a bit. At the top of the chimney, exit left.

At the top of the chimney I turned left, and climbed over boulders a short distance to the summit

I summited Navajo Peak at 8:30am

Navajo Peak:

This was an out and back hike for me, so I turned around and headed back towards the chimney.

I descended the chimney, and made my way back down to the saddle.

Then headed back down airplane gully

Passing the crash site, and continuing to follow the gully north

At the base of the gully, I rock hopped towards the tundra I could see in the distance

I could now see Isabelle Glacier trail in the distance, and descended down into the lower basin towards the trail.

Back on the Isabelle Glacier trail, I followed it east back to the Long Lake Trailhead.

Back at the Long Lake Trailhead, I followed the road 1.3 miles back to Brainard Lake

I made it back to the trailhead at 12:30pm, making this a 14.52 mile hike with 3346’ of elevation gain in 7.5 hours

Precipice Peak – 13,144

RT Length: 4 miles

Elevation Gain: 2364’

I know most people do Fortress and Precipice together in one day, but for personal reasons, I wanted to spend more than one day in the basin, and these were the only two peaks I had left, so I made it a two-day trip. I parked at the Wetterhorn Basin Trailhead, at about 10750’. The road to get in is mostly 2WD, until the last 2 miles, which are 4WD and requires clearance. Here’s where you park for the 2WD trailhead

And here’s a picture of the Wetterhorn Basin Trailhead parking area. The road in was worse than I remembered from two years or so ago.

From the parking area, here’s a visual of the route to the ridge

The route starts to the north of the parking area, parallel to the “Wetterhorn Basin” sign, at the drainage. I headed east up the drainage.

There’s a faint trail here, that I kept finding and losing, but as long as you stay to the left of the drainage and right of the hillside, heading east, you’re going in the right direction.

After hiking for about half a mile, there will be a large tree blocking the trail (the trail is obvious here). Climb over the tree, and head north/northeast, looking for a dirt gully. There are a few cairns in this area to help, but I wouldn’t rely on them.

I found the dirt gully and headed up, towards the ridge. This dirt is very steep and very slippery. I’d recommend wearing microspikes for traction. I gained about 300’ of elevation to 11400’.

At the top of the gully, around 11400’, a trail will pick up that heads right (east) along the ridge. There are cairns here to help get you to treeline, and a faint game trail to follow. There are also cairns in the clearings (but I didn’t find any in the treed areas).

Once at treeline, here’s a visual of the route to the saddle

First, I went around this large rock, which has a cairn on it. It’s important to remember because it’ll be your exit point on your descent.

Then I headed northeast, across the rock/scree field, aiming just to the right of the caves in the distance.

At the base of the caves, a faint trail picks up, and you should be able to spot cairns in the distance to your right. Put on your helmet, and follow cairns through the class 3 rocky terrain.

When the rocks end, so do the cairns, but from here the route is easier to figure out. You’ll want to dip down a bit into this drainage, and ascend on the tundra towards the large rock towers

Stay to the right of the towers, aiming for this small saddle

When you hit this small saddle, turn left, and head towards the window in the rock ahead of you. There will be a very good trail leading the way.

Climb up and over the center of the window. This is class 3, and there are plenty of hand and footholds. It’s probably no more than 7 feet high. Just be careful, as the holds are rocks in held together by loose dirt, and could come loose.

Once you climb through the notch, turn right, and ascend this hill. I did my best here to stay on the scree and tundra, away from the rocks.

From here I mainly stuck to the ridge, except for two times when I went left to keep this class 2. There is a visible (yet faint at times) trail from here to the summit. Here are some pictures of my route up the ridge.

Here is what I thought was the summit. It’s not. This was the second time I went left, around the block on a nice trail

And from here I could see the true summit, which was an easy hike on a well-worn trail

I summited Precipice Peak at 7:45am

Precipice Peak:

This was an out and back hike for me, so I turned around and made my way back to the false summit

And then back down the ridge to the notch

I climbed through the notch

And made my way back down to the tundra

Where the tundra stopped at the rocks I turned right, and headed back down towards the basin. Also, from here I could see the parking area (circled in red)

I made my way towards the rocky area, and followed the cairns back down into the basin

I was aiming for that large boulder in the distance

Once at the boulder, I picked up the trail through the trees, and followed it until about 11400’

At 11400’ I found that dirt gully, and headed southwest towards the drainage, losing 300’ of elevation.

Once I was close to the drainage, I turned right, and followed a slight trail west towards the parking area

I made it back to my truck at 9:30am, making this a 4 mile hike with 2364’ of elevation gain in 3 hours, 45 minutes.

On to the next trailhead!

Fortress Peak – 13,241

RT Length: 5.76 miles

Elevation: 2482’

I parked at the Wetterhorn Basin Trailhead, and was greeted to a herd of cows. They were all over the basin, and would be my companions for the next few days. They had a penchant for licking my truck. The drive in is 2WD on a dirt road until 2 miles before the trailhead, where it becomes 4WD and requires clearance. None of these pictures are as clear as I’d like. The fires weren’t helping in the morning, and the sun wasn’t helping with shadows in the early afternoon. I know not to head east early in the morning, but I did it anyway. Sorry!

I was on the trail at 6am, following Wetterhorn Basin Trail No 226 south for just under 1.5 miles.

After hiking for 1.4 miles, and at around 11050’, I came to a drainage, and followed it east

I came to an obvious “y” in the drainage, and went left, still following a drainage.

The drainage became narrower, so now I hiked to the left, trying to stay on tundra, but mostly staying on rocks

This next part is difficult to explain. You’re going to WANT to head straight up to the rock formation in front of you, but don’t do that. Instead, continue following the drainage, but aim to the right of the rock formation.

You’re trying to avoid the mess to the right of this picture… loose kitty litter on solid rock

Now is the time to put on your helmet. Ahead there’s a more solid gully to climb. You can climb either to the left or right, I chose right.

At the top of this gully is another gully to the northeast.

This one was more difficult then the last. Solid on the sides with large scree down the center. I went straight up the center

And then walked on tundra to the ridge.

Once on the ridge, I turned right and followed it east, staying below the ridge. I noticed a cairn that marked an ok game trail, and followed that trail as it skirted below the ridge. The cairns especially helped in this area.

At 12700’, just before the rock formations directly in front of the trail, I left the trail and headed northeast for the ridge once again, this time on scree.

Back on the ridge, I followed it east towards the summit. The terrain here became slippery. Rocks the size of softballs and footballs were held together by dirt, and that’s what I was walking on. There were steep runnels on either side of the trail, which at times was less than 2 feet wide. A slip would have been dangerous here, on either side. This was all class 2, but I’d advise wearing microspikes for traction.

I summited Fortress Peak at 8:15am. There was a summit register in one of those pipe tubes, but the paper inside was so wet I didn’t want to disturb it, so I left it alone.

Fortress Peak:

Here’s what some of that exposure looks like

Now to head back down. This was an out and back hike for me, so I just retraced my steps, back down the sketchy section with no traction just below the summit.

Then I hiked down the ridge until I was parallel with the rock formations on my left (circled). Here I turned and headed southwest towards the game trail.

I then followed the game trail south, back to the gullies. I descended near this big rock (circled).

Now for the second gully.

At the base of the second gully, I headed west towards the tundra ridge that would bring me to the drainage.

And now to follow the drainage back to Wetterhorn Basin Trail No 226

Back on Wetterhorn Basin Trail No 226, I followed it 1.4 miles north back to the trailhead.

Where the cows were still licking my truck

I made it back down to the trailhead at 10:30am, making this a 5.76 mile hike with 2482’ of elevation gain in 4.5 hours.

Here are pictures of the start of the 4WD road, and where to park if you have a 2WD vehicle

The Citadel – 13,295

RT Length: 11.45 miles

Elevation Gain: 3255’

I arrived at the Herman Gulch Trailhead and was on the trail at 4:30am. The trailhead has spots for dozens of vehicles (if not more), and the trail is clearly marked.

I followed the Herman Gulch trail for less than a quarter of a mile, until I came to the junction with Waterous Gulch Trail, turned left, and continuing following the class 1, well-defined Herman Gulch Trail all the way to Herman Lake.

It was at about here I encountered a porcupine, which immediately turned and ran away from me.

I continued following the trail, skirting the south side of Herman Lake

I followed this trail as it headed southwest towards the saddle of The Citadel and PT 12671. Here’s where I was heading:

There’s a pretty good trail that goes MOST of the way, crossing the creek that flows out of Herman Lake and through the willows. I lost a little bit of elevation during this part, but it was negligible.

At about 11970’ I came to another large creek, and here I left the trail to cross the creek

From here the trail is difficult to follow, but there are plenty of cairns to follow to get you to the saddle.

Now on the saddle, I turned right and headed west up the ridge, on a good game trail that was easy to follow.

Now to make my way towards the saddle. The route will be obvious.

If you haven’t already, now is a good time to put on your helmet. From the saddle, head northeast and look for a solid band of rock. This rock band is important, because the gullies are miserable. Once on the rock band, ascend towards the tundra, then follow the line of tundra northeast. Once you’re on the tundra, you can stay on tundra until the top. This is class 3, and a slip would have you falling quite a ways, like hundreds of feet before you stop, so take care in this area. Here’s a visual representation of how I climbed from two different angles. It’s probably a good idea to start memorizing the route as you’re hiking up the ridge from the saddle of The Citadel and PT 12671.

And some pictures of my route:

From here, to the north, I saw what I thought was the summit. It wasn’t, but I headed towards it anyways.

I made my way to the false summit, and could see the true summit to the west.

So, I downclimbed a bit, and headed towards the saddle ahead of me.

At this saddle, there was what I would consider a class 4 chimney to downclimb. I sat there for about 10 minutes, waiting for the wind to die down before downclimbing. The wind was insane, and I had to hide behind rocks to get away from it. The downclimb was much more difficult than the upclimb, as it was committing, and I wasn’t sure there would be adequate footholds down below where I couldn’t see (there were). Here’s what the wide chimney looked like to downclimb. It was probably 10-15 feet of downclimbing.

Now to head to the saddle, and summit the peak.

The summit was a short class 3 scramble to the summit block, which is a bit exposed. It was EXTREMELY windy today, and I had to hold on tight to keep from being blown over, but I was able to summit.

I summited The Citadel at 7:45am. Sorry for the terrible picture and less than stellar video… I only took 1 photo, because I was afraid of losing my phone to the wind, and there wasn’t much room to move around on that summit block without falling (once again, wind).

The Citadel:

Here you can see the false summit to the east

I made my way back to the saddle between The Citadel and the false summit

Here’s a look at your options to upclimb. There are two, I took the one to the left do downclimb and upclimb.

And now to make my way back to the grassy ledge. There’s a cairn indicating where to descend.

And now to downclimb the grassy ledge. Once again, I stayed on the tundra until I reached the rock rib, then headed for the saddle to the right.

I was now back on a trail, and followed it to the saddle of The Citadel and PT 12671.

Here’s an overview of my hike to Herman Lake from the saddle. This was on a mostly class 1 trail, with cairns to help when needed.

Back at Herman Lake, I followed the Herman Gulch trail east back to the trailhead. You’ll know you’re getting close when you can hear the illustrious sounds of I70 in the distance.

I made it back to my truck at 10:30am, making this an 11.45 mile hike with 3255’ of elevation gain in 6 hours.

On to the next trailhead!

Keller Mountain – 13,080

RT Length: 11.89 miles

Elevation Gain: 4086’

I parked at the Rock Creek Trailhead at 5am, and the parking lot, which holds about 20 vehicles total if everyone parks nice, was already full. I’m guessing all the vehicles were from weekend backpackers (I arrived on a Sunday morning). The drive in is mostly 2WD on a dirt road, but you’ll want high clearance for the last quarter mile or so. I saw someone trying to head down in a Honda Odyssey who was having major issues (although it was probably just the driver, not the vehicle).

I was on the trail at 5:30am. The trail starts at the east end of the parking area.

I followed this trail for 2.3 miles, headed west, and staying straight at the first junction to stay on North Rock Creek Trail No. 46.

After hiking for over 2 miles on this class 1 trail, I turned right, and started bushwhacking northeast to the ridge. There were a lot of downed trees in this area, so navigation was an adventure. I just kept heading northeast, gaining 760’ of elevation in .7 miles as I made my way to 10900’

At 10900’ I came across a well-established game trail, and followed it west towards treeline.

At 11400’ the trail fizzled out, but the route was obvious. I was headed southwest, following the ridge to treeline.

At treeline my next goal was to ascend the tundra and then rocky slope, still headed southwest. The rocks here were solid, and easy to navigate. I just kept following the rocky, class 2 ridge.

If you get here and think “Wow! That was almost too easy!” it’s time to strap on your helmet, because you’re only at PT 12847, and the rest of the route is about to get class 3. Here is the real summit of Keller Mountain, a mile off in the distance and a fun ridge to get there.

First, I had to get around this point. Going up is straightforward, and I stuck to the ridge. Going down, however, was a bit more challenging in the route-finding department. You can go directly up and over this class 3 ridge, or descend to 12750’ and keep this section class 2 by skirting the ridge.

I took the ridge on my ascent, and skirted it on my decent. Here are some pictures of this ridge. At times I dipped down to the left (never to the right) to ascend on rocky tundra.

The descent off this ridge was a little more challenging, as there were gullies to navigate that had recent rockfall, and were unstable. I stuck to the left side of the ridge all but in one obvious spot, where I dipped to the right and re-ascended to this small saddle.

Now the real fun begins. There are several more gullies to navigate, but luckily here, I found a few cairns. Once again, I stayed to the left of the ridge. I kept wanting to head back to the ridge, but found the gullies and large rock outcroppings kept keeping me about 50 feet below the ridge proper, so every time I’d make it to the ridge, another gully or rock outcropping would pop up and I’d have to descend again. Here are some pictures of my route along the ridge (red circles are cairns).

Here’s a picture of the final gully, the only one filled with scree. You’ll see a cairn off in the distance here on the tundra ahead of you on the hillside, but don’t aim for it (circled in red). Go around the rock outcropping and ascend the gully instead. It keeps you from some sketchy stuff below.

At the top of this last gully I turned left, and followed the ridge west, and then southwest to the summit of Keller Mountain. This part was all class 2. There was no summit cairn, but there was a summit register here

I summited Keller Mountain at 9:15am

Keller Mountain:

Here’s a look back at that ridge, and the route I took to get to the summit. Notice how you don’t want to dip too low on the ridge, due to the chasm below.

This was an out and back hike for me, so I headed back to the false summit, and descended the ridge back to the gullies

By now I’d had enough of this fun ridge route finding and decided to stay at 12750’ and skirt this part of the ridge, keeping the rest of the hike class 2.

Back on the ridge, I followed it to the top of PT 12847

And then back down to treeline

Once at treeline, I followed the ridge northeast until I came back to the game trail, then followed the game trail to 10900’

At 10900’ I turned and headed southeast down the hillside, aiming for the North Rock Trail No 46 I knew would be below, bushwhacking through grass taller than I was and tons of downed trees.

Back on the trail, I turned left and followed it just over 2 miles east/northeast back to the trailhead.

I made it back to the trailhead at 12:30pm, making this an 11.89 mile hike with 4086’ of elevation gain in 7 hours.

On to the next trailhead!

Wildhorse Peak – 13,271 and Blackwall Mountain – 13,077

RT Length: 12.45 miles

Elevation Gain: 3722’

I took CR 20 out of Lake City, turned right at the North Henson road near Capitol City, and parked off 870 at 11200’ at an unnamed trailhead with parking spots for 4 or 5 vehicles. This is also where the porcupine and marmot and pine marten chewed my wires last week, so make sure your vehicle is rat taped. Click here if you want to see pictures of the damage done to my vehicle last week.

I was up and on the trail at 4:30am.

This trail starts out easy to find and easy to follow. I followed this trail for half a mile, until I made it to a gulch just below treeline

Once here, I turned right and ascended this small ridge. It doesn’t matter where you ascend, this whole area will get you to the right area. There are several drainages you can use to ascend.

Once on top of this little ridge I was headed west, through treeline.

This is a big meadow. Just keep heading west, towards these two small trees. The trail here looks like a drainage ditch. If you see a ditch heading west, follow it.

At the top of this ridge I turned left, and found a game trail that would take me west, towards American Flats.

Here the trail got ‘iffy’, as it turned into a kind of mining road that hasn’t been used in several decades. I followed it as I passed American Lake to my left. After hiking for a total of just over 3 miles, and at around 12290’ of elevation, I left the trail to head northwest towards the saddle of Wildhorse Peak.

There was no trail, but the route was obvious on rolling tundra. I kept heading for the base of Wildhorse Peak.

Here are a couple of views of my route up to the summit of Wildhorse Peak. This is a choose your own adventure kind of hike. I chose to stick to the ridge as much as possible.

I started out by heading northwest up the tundra. Most of this hike is on tundra, and it’s all class 2. If you find yourself in class 3 territory, you’re making it too difficult.

As you near the top, you’ll come to a couple of gullies. DO NOT take the rocky one (the first one your come to). Well, you can, but you’re making the hike more difficult than you need to.

Instead, head a little further northwest along the ridge and ascend on the tundra.

This will lead you to almost the summit, which is rocky. The true summit is to the left, on an airy but class 2 catwalk to the summit. Also, there was a skull on the summit

I summited Wildhorse Peak at 6:45am

Wildhorse Peak:

The early morning light and a dirty camera don’t do this picture justice, but I could see Blackwall Mountain to the northeast. From above, this was my overall route to get there.

First, to descend back the way I’d come, making my way back towards the saddle.

When I was almost to the saddle I noticed a gully to my left that still had snow in it, but was easy to downclimb. I downclimbed this gully (no, not the upper gully, but the lower one), and headed north towards a saddle.

Looking back, you can see the gully I downclimbed. There is an upper one you can downclimb as well, but when I looked down it, it looked like slick rocks covered in kitty litter, and I didn’t think it was worth the effort.

Next, I was headed here, to this small dip in the ridge

I turned left, and headed north, to the saddle

This is choose your own adventure, but I tried to stay level at 12630’ to re-gain the ridge. I went to the right of the large rock outcropping

I could see Blackwall ahead of me and walked to the saddle.

Now I turned right, and descended 400’ into the basin

Instead of ascending via the rock rubble, I decided to take a grassy gully instead. I had to descend a little more than I would have liked, but the easier terrain made up for the loss in elevation. From the bottom of the gully to the summit of Blackwall I gained 791’ of elevation in half a mile.

Just as I was nearing the top of the gully, I saw a bear running around. Of course, it was running away from me… It was a blonde black bear with dark socks. Curious coloring for a black bear.

Bear Video:

The true summit isn’t the large rock formations you’re seeing to your left, but rather just northeast of the grassy gully. I ascended out of the gully to the right, and saw where I’m sure that bear had been sleeping overnight. No scat or footprints in the area, but fur on the rocks.

It was a short tundra walk to the true summit

I summited Blackwall Mountain at 8:45am

Blackwall Mountain:

Those were the only two peaks I planned on summiting today, so I made my way back much the same way I hiked in. First down the gully

Then over to re-gain 400’ of elevation I’d lost to this saddle.

From the saddle, I headed southwest towards Wildhorse

Then crossed the upper basin, aiming for a game trail I could clearly see in the distance.

I turned right at the ridge, and aimed for the base of Wildhorse

Once there, I aimed southeast and headed towards American Lake, where I knew there was a trail I could pick up that would lead me back to the trailhead.