I parked at a turnoff near Boren Creek and124/794 with room for about 5 vehicles if everyone parked nicely. The drive in is dirt 2WD. I was on the trail at 4:30am.
I followed 4WD road 794 for over 3 miles as it switchbacked it’s way northeast, following Boren Creek.
After hiking for around 3 miles I made it to treeline.
Here I turned right, and could see Babcock Peak to the north.
Route finding here was pretty easy. I headed north towards the gully, aiming for the gully to the right. I gained about 1500’ here to the summit in about a mile. This gully is very loose, and full of all different sized rocks. I didn’t stick to one side, but chose whatever route looked best. Here are some pictures of the gully. It’s pretty straightforward.
Just before reaching the saddle, I turned left, and ascended this much smaller gully
From here, it’s choose your own adventure to the ridge. Everything is class 3 climbing, and I’m pretty sure there is no wrong way to get to the ridge, as long as you’re heading north/northwest. I can’t say the same for heading down, so it’s a good idea to keep looking behind you for reference points for the way back. Also, pictures were very difficult to put everything into perspective. Right now you should be at the junction of the left and right gullies. Take note of where you are, because this is where you’ll want to descend to on your way down, and as you can see by looking ahead of you, the initial climb to the ridge is steep and it can be difficult to know exactly where you are. Here are some pictures as I made my way up to the ridge.
Once on the ridge, I turned left, and headed northwest towards the summit. There was only one ‘tricky’ move, and the rest was class 2.
Here’s the tricky move. Go right here to ascend the ridge. It feels like difficult class 3 or easy class 4, with some exposure.
Then it was a quick ridge hike to the summit, staying on the ridge proper.
I summited Babcock Peak at 8am
Babcock Peak:
Now to head back down. Here’s a picture of the ridge
And the one tricky section
Now it was time to head back towards the gully. Visuals are good here. When heading down, keep moving to your left as you do so, making your way down to where the left and right gully meet up.
Where the two gullies meet, I turned left and headed down the same gully I’d ascended.
And now, to descend the gully back to the 4WD road
Back on the road, I turned left and followed it southeast back to the trailhead.
I made it back to the trailhead at 10:30am, making this a 9.23 mile hike with 3868’ of elevation gain in 6 hours.
Once again, this wasn’t the peak I’d planned for today. In fact, due to my carelessness with my new truck and forgetting to wrap the wires with rat tape, I had a 2am encounter with varmints and had to abandon a days worth of hiking (where I’d hoped to get in 5 ranked 13ers). Not to bore you, but if you want to hear the story and see video footage, click here to find out what creature got stuck inside my truck, and the damage they did. Also, rat tape your wires people.
So, after an 8 hour detour, I found myself at around 9800’, at the base of the Tomahawk Mine, parked off road 124 and 798 near Mancos. I was up and on the trail at 6am
I followed road 798 for about 1.5 miles northwest.
After about 1.5 miles I came to a junction, and turned left. You can continue on the road here, as it will eventually get you to the same place, but I wanted to see the Tomahawk Mine. If you’d like to see the mine, turn left here, and follow the road.
The road will quickly end, but a trail will pick up to the right. It will take you to Tomahawk Mine.
If you look closely, to the left of the mine is a trail that will lead you north, back to the 4WD road.
I turned left, and followed this road northeast until Little Kate Mine.
At the base of the mine, just as the road switchbacks to the right, I ascended a scree game trail northeast to treeline. The trail is obvious, and splits and comes together a few times, but I generally headed towards treeline.
At treeline I headed west, towards Tomahawk Basin. There’s kind of a trail here, but it’s really faint.
Now I needed to ascend into the upper basin. There are several ways to do this (I went up a different way than I descended), but you basically want to get above the waterfall. If you take the route I’ve outlined, there will be a faint game trail to the top, but you may need to search a bit to find it.
I followed the creek as it headed west. There is a faint game trail, but eventually it goes away. Just keep heading west.
Now in Tomahawk Basin, my next goal was to gain the ridge. This was extremely steep. I gained 665’ of elevation in .3 miles. Luckily, the terrain was easy to navigate. Here’s the route I took.
And some pictures of the hike to gain the ridge, staying mostly on tundra.
Once on the ridge I took a little break and put on my helmet. There was a short class 3 section and some scrambling to do from here on out. I headed north, following the ridge and then dipping down to the left. It should be noted the ridge goes at class 3 most of the way, after the initial drop off to the left and re-gaining the ridge, but to make it easier there are game trails to the left of the ridge that I followed most of the time. It should also be noted the rocks here are loose, so watch your footing.
I summited Mount Moss at 9:30am
Mount Moss:
From Mount Moss I could see Lavender Peak to the northeast
It’s a really good idea to take a good look at the route you’d like to take now, as when you’re below the summit it can be difficult to figure out where you’re at. The summit of Lavender is the point furthest west. This is the route I took to the summit, which was mostly class 3, but included a class 4 chimney.
First, I descended to the Moss/Lavender saddle. Once again, lots of large, loose rocks.
From the saddle, I ascend the ridge to Lavender to just below the gullies, at around 13125’
Next, I traversed west, looking for the gully I wanted to ascend.
This is the route I took to ascend the gully. There’s a difficult 3/easy 4 chimney to ascend, just below a cool looking cave. Ascend straight up to the cave, to right around the cave, and the summit will be to the left.
And some pictures up the gully.
Once you get past the cave, the summit is to your left
It all started at 2am that morning. I got out of the back of my truck to get ready to hike, and shined my flashlight all around. This is something I do if it’s dark out, because you never know what’s lurking at 12,000’. I’ve been startled by deer, racoons, and even a mountain lion before. I flashed the light under my truck, and saw a porcupine, pine marten, and marmot underneath.
It was like something out of a Disney movie, or the beginning of a really bad joke: “So, a porcupine, a pine marten, and a marmot were sitting under a truck…”
Great, this spelled trouble, and I knew what was going to happen. Usually, I hear them rustling around under my truck, but for some reason, I hadn’t this time. I shooed them away, got in my truck, and turned it on.
All the lights were flashing.
I knew what had happened: one or all of those varmints had chewed through the wires underneath my truck. Well, I was 15 miles off a 4WD dirt road, and if my 4WD wasn’t working, 2am was the best time to drive down this road, as I shouldn’t encounter any other vehicles.
I resigned my hiking plans for the day, and drove to the nearest dealership that could fix my truck. Durango was 4 hours away, and I made it there just as they were opening. I told them what had happened, they took a look under the hood and under the vehicle, and said “soonest we can fix it is 3 weeks. Maybe 4.”
I was shocked: I’d never had a dealership not be able to get me in that day, but they were adamant. I knew what needed to be done, as this has happened before. The wires needed to be spliced and put back together, then bound with rat tape. My bad for not doing the rat tape thing already, but I’ve done it on so many of my vehicles I’d honestly forgotten I hadn’t done it on this truck.
They also told me not to drive my truck, as it wasn’t safe. Great. So, I was stuck here for 4 weeks? I don’t think so.
I called around to every shop within a 5 hour drive, and they all told me the same thing: 3-4 weeks until they could fix my truck. Since this has happened to me before, I already knew what was going on, and wasn’t too worried. Yes, the lights were annoying, but my truck still worked. I just needed to drive carefully and not try to break too fast.
I decided to head instead to a 2WD trailhead for the weekend, seeing as how I was already in Durango and it was a 7 hour drive home (where I was sure my local dealership would do whatever it took to get me in that day: Putting over 50K miles on my truck a year means I’m one of their most valuable customers). Adding 45 minutes on to my drive wasn’t going to change much.
I drove to the next trailhead, a little upset my hiking day was shot. As I was sitting in the front seat of my truck, researching routes, I heard a scratching coming from inside my truck. Well, not inside exactly, but underneath… and inside.
Then I heard the noise again. Something was scratching the walls. It sounded bigger than a mouse or rat, and a bit frantic. I went outside to see what was going on, and the noises stopped. It was starting to rain, but I decided to sit there and wait to see what was going on.
Then the noises began again
I saw a Forest Service truck drive by. I flagged him down, and asked him if he knew any tricks for getting a marmot out from underneath your vehicle. I could tell by the look he gave me he didn’t believe me. He sat there for 5 minutes and whatever it was inside was silent. He smiled at me, said to give it time, and drove away.
As soon as he drove away, the noises started again.
Something was obviously stuck and trying to get out, so I tried to pull back the flaps and bang on the tires. The animal went silent again, but it was watching me from just above my back tire. I saw a nose peeking out, staring at me, and it kind of looked like a porcupine. It would have made sense, since I’d seen a porcupine under my truck that morning as well.
Well, if it was a porcupine, I wasn’t going to put my hands anywhere near that wheel well. Eventually, it started trying other options. I saw it near my spare tire, and figured it was only a matter of time before it found it’s way out.
Well, eventually it did. And when it did, it just sat under my truck, confused. It obviously had no idea where it was, and was taking time to think.
It took a little too much time, and when it looked like it was going to climb back inside my truck I shooed him away. He ran off into the trees, and I went back to doing what I was doing. Then I noticed him, sitting and staring at my truck. I went over to him and he didn’t seem scared, he just stared back at me.
Then he started walking towards my truck again, and I got worried he’d try to slip back in later in the night, so I drove down the road for about a mile, giving him space from my vehicle, which he seemed to desperately desire.
15 minutes later, I looked in my side mirror, and that little bugger was running up the road towards my truck! It was as if he thought my truck was a portal and he’d escaped the wrong side. Maybe if he went back in and out another way, it would take him back to the original trailhead. I kind of laughed to myself, realizing he’d been inside my truck at the repair shop and hadn’t been noticed. I drove another 5 miles away, he didn’t follow, and my truck was safe for the rest of the weekend.
Here is a picture of the damage
And what it looks like now that it’s fixed. Rodent Tape is manufactured by Honda, and costs about $60 a roll. Much better than a $4400 fix later.
I didn’t summit the way I’d intended. The place I’d wanted to park and hike had a bunch of “No Parking” signs, and there wasn’t another good place to park for miles, so I turned around and headed to the Copper Mountain Ski Area. I found a parking spot just under the lifts, and before entering Lewis Ranch, but there was a sign that said “Tow Away Zone from 10pm-6am”, so I waited around until 6am, and hit the trail from Copper Mountain Ski Area.
I’d planned on hiking up the road for as far as I could get, but as I started heading up the road, I noticed several pieces of large equipment being driven up the road ahead of me (think cranes, bulldozers, etc.). It’s been my experience that when these vehicles are in operation, the operators tend to ‘kindly’ ask you to leave the area (or escort you down). Being a solo female hiker who’s encountered this type of thing before, I don’t like to get into these types of situations. Instead, I went with Plan C: I’d hike the Colorado Trail for as long as I could, then start ascending ski runs. So, if this isn’t the conventional way to summit Jacque Peak in the summer, please forgive me, as it was my third option.
I left the parking area at 6am, and headed west toward the ski lifts.
I walked through this gate, and started following the dirt road as it wound west and then southeast.
I quickly came to the junction for The Colorado Trail. It’s on the right side of the road, and clearly marked. I turned right.
I followed The Colorado Trail for just under 2 miles, staying on The Colorado Trail at junctions.
When I came to the Fairway Ski Run, I left the trail, and headed southwest up the run. For those of you skiers out there, or anyone with a map of the runs, I took Fairway to Roundabout to Soliloquy to the ridge. There were nice game trails to the hikers left of the runs that I was able to follow to stay out of the willows. I just kept following the runs up and southeast. Here are some pictures of the route:
When I came to 11600’ there was a big dirt pile and a bulldozer moving the dirt. Not wanting to get in their way, I turned right and headed up the ridge, following the road south to the ridge.
Then continued following the ridge south towards Union Mountain, which is just to the west of the last ski lift.
I summited Union Mountain at 7:30am
Union Mountain:
From Union, you can clearly see Jacque Peak looking to the southwest.
As you can imagine, this was a straightforward ridge hike to the summit. From Union, I gained about 900’ to the summit of Jacque. There were a few rocky areas in the beginning, then tundra, then more rocks. All the rocks were loose, so watch your footing, especially as you near the summit. This was all class 2, with no trails.
Oh, and there’s a false summit
I summited Jacque Peak at 8:40am
Jacque Peak:
I turned and headed back down the ridge.
But I didn’t descend entirely the same way I ascended. Instead, about halfway along the ridge between Jacque and Union, I turned left and headed north down the West Ridge Traverse Route. I took West Ridge Traverse to Soliloquy to Roundabout, then Fairway to The Colorado Trail. It sounds daunting, and at times the runs get narrow, but I just followed the wooden posts initially, then the Ski Area Boundary signs and little pieces of pink surveyor’s tape heading down and south (there are signs every 30 feet or so), staying on game trails to the right of the runs. And you don’t need to take the same route I did. As long as you’re headed down on a ski run, it’ll take you back to the lifts.
I made it back to The Colorado Trail, turned right, and followed the well marked trail back to the dirt road, then back to my parking spot. The lifts were running on my way down, carrying visitors/hikers to the top.
I made it back to the trailhead at 10:45am, making this a 12.45 mile hike with 3551’ of elevation gain in 4 hours, 45 minutes.
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.
RT Length from Endlich Mesa Trailhead: 21.45 miles
Elevation Gain from Endlich Mesa Trailhead: 5078’
The approach to City Reservoir is a total of 7.35 miles and 1220’ of elevation gain (but also over 1500’ of elevation loss) from Endlich Mesa Trailhead and City Reservoir. You can view the approach to the saddle here.
I awoke from my campsite at City Reservoir and was on the trail at 7am. I followed the Endlich Mesa Trail towards Lake Marie.
When I reached the south end of the lake, where a stream flows out, I crossed the stream
After crossing the stream I headed northeast towards the ridge and the rocky outcropping. The ridge actually has a lot of route finding, so I’ll do my best to explain how to navigate it. This is all class 2, with route finding below treeline.
At the first rock outcropping, head for the tree that’s cut in half at the top of the rocks
Next, ascend this small gully
And continue heading northeast
You will eventually come to this wall. If you navigate around to the left, you’ll find a grassy ramp to ascend. Ascend, then walk back towards the wall to navigate around the rocks.
After going east around the large rock face, again head northeast along the ridge. You’ll encounter another large rock face. This time, go right, and ascend a grassy gully.
Now you should be looking at the rocky ridge, but at least you’re above treeline. I pretty much stayed to the center of the ridge, and kept heading northeast, following the ridge. If you have an option to go left on grassy slopes, do that.
From here on out, this is a straightforward hike. I climbed northeast up this class 2 ridge to a rather large cairn.
From there I headed east towards this large cairn, but I could have just kept heading northeast along the ridge.
From this second large cairn I followed the ridge towards Mount Valois. It may look daunting, but it’s all class 2. The ridge goes, but if it feels sketchy there’s a way to drop down to the left and use game trails.
Here are some pictures of the ridge.
Then it’s an easy rocky tundra walk to the summit
I summited Mount Valois at 7:45am
Mount Valois:
Now to head back to City Reservoir. I retraced my steps back down to the ridge
Then across the ridge
Here are some pictures of the route back down to Lake Marie
Back down the gully
And across the rocky ledge
Then southwest towards Lake Marie
I crossed the stream, and headed south on the Endlich Mesa Trail back to City Reservoir.
I made it back to City Reservoir at 9:30am, making this a 6.5 mile hike with 2310’ of elevation gain from City Reservoir in 3.5 hours.
The approach to the saddle between Emerson and Peak Twenty Two is a total of 11 miles and 3250’ of elevation gain from Endlich Mesa Trailhead and City Reservoir. You can view the approach to the saddle here.
From the saddle of Emerson and Peak Twenty Two, I continued following a scree-filled game trail northeast skirting the east side of Emerson, losing 450’ of elevation as I wound my way towards an upper basin.
Here you can see Amherst and Organ
I continued following this trail until I kind of lost the trail, then stayed at about 12400’ of elevation as I made my way towards this gully
I aimed for this gully, and ascended it.
At the top of the gully I could see the saddle between Amherst and Organ. You can aim for the saddle, or just turn left and ascend Amherst. I aimed left, and ascended 800’ on very steep tundra terrain, which eventually gave way to rocky class 2 terrain.
At the top of this rocky area I looked right, and it looked like the area to the right was higher than I was, so I continued following the ridge north.
But when I got to the other side, it looked like where I had been was the highpoint, so I headed south back to the other side.
My altimeter gave both points equal height, and there wasn’t a summit register, so I’m not entirely sure which is the true summit. There was what you could call a cairn on the first summit. In any event, they are both easy to tag.
I summited Amherst Mountain at 9am
Amherst Mountain:
From the summit I could see Organ Mountain to the northeast
It looked like it would be a simple ridge hike, so I headed down to the Amherst/Organ saddle.
From the saddle, this is the route I took to the summit, aiming for the ramp to the right. This initial part was all class 2 on either scree or tundra.
Once reaching the top of the ramp however, it became choose your own adventure, with some short class 3 climbing included at the very end. I hopped over a few rocks, and could see the summit boulder to the north. Climbing this was class 3, and a little airy, but easy access was found to the right of the summit block.
The summit block
I summited Organ Mountain at 10am
Organ Mountain:
I turned around and headed back down to the Amherst/Organ saddle.
From the saddle of Amherst/Organ I made my way back over this gully, then descended to around 12400’ as I wound my way back around the basin and up to the saddle of Emerson/Peak Twenty Two.
Now to head over towards Peak Twenty Two. From the saddle, I turned left and headed southeast towards Peak Twenty Two. I bypassed most of the ridge, and instead took a grassy gully towards the summit. Here’s the overall route I took to gain the summit.
This part was easy. I just followed the tundra line up the ridge.
At the top of the tundra I thought I’d be at the peak, but I turned right and could see a rocky formation in front of my. I descended a few feet to the right, and skirted the rocky area.
I then found a ramp and climbed up.
This is where it became class 3, or maybe class 4 depending on which route you take. There are two more rocky ramps you can ascend. One to the right, and one to the left. I looked at both, and liked the one on the left better. They were both very exposed and required scrambling, but the one on the left felt “less” exposed. Here’s the ramp I took:
I summited Peak Twenty Two at 11:45am
Peak Twenty Two:
I could see sheep mountain to the south, but first I was going to need to descend the way I’d come and head back towards the grassy access ramp.
I gingerly left the summit, and headed back towards the grassy ramp.
When I’d descended to about 12800’ I turned left and headed south towards Sheep Mountain. This peak was much easier to ascend, all class 2, with a few game trails thrown in. This is the route I took to gain the ridge:
And some step by step pictures, first heading south along the tundra, then looking for a grassy ramp.
I then dropped a little in elevation, and gained the gully to the ridge.
Once on the ridge, it was very flat. I aimed east and up towards the summit.
I summited Sheep Mountain at 12:30pm
Sheep Mountain:
Now to head back to the Emerson/Peak Twenty Two saddle. I descended back down the gully, then headed north towards the saddle.
Round trip from the Emerson/Peak Twenty Two Saddle to Amherst, Organ, Peak Twenty Two, Sheep, and back to the saddle was 6.57 miles with 2550’ of elevation gain. From City Reservoir, it was 13.5 miles with 4495’ of elevation gain.
However, getting there can be kind of tricky, especially if you don’t have a 4WD vehicle. There’s a good place to park about 11 miles below the Endlich Mesa trailhead, just after the Florida Campground. The next 11 miles will be 4WD. Think a step up from South Colony Lakes trailhead. There were a lot of mudholes, even though it hadn’t rained in days, rock slabs to navigate, and rocks along the road. Here are a few pictures of the lower parking area and 11 mile long 4WD road:
As you can see, two Ford Rangers made it to the trailhead.
Endlich Mesa Trail starts at the northeast end of the parking area, is easy to identify, and has a trail register.
I started hiking north along this well established, class 1 trail. There are large cairns to guide the way. I followed Endlich Mesa Trail all the way to the reservoir. The trail started off gaining in elevation. I gained over 1100’ of elevation over 4.5 miles. First, starting in the trees, then hiking along the wide, open Endlich Mesa.
After hiking for 4.5 miles it’s time to lose 1350’ of elevation in 2.3 miles as I headed towards City Reservoir. I would head back down into treeline to get too the reservoir. (Spoiler alert: this is not fun to regain on the way back, and feels like way more than 1350’, especially with a full pack).
The west side of City Reservoir is where I made my basecamp.
The fishing here was amazing! 3 casts and 3 fish later and I was cooking dinner. I stayed here for 3 nights, and had fish every night. In an hour I’d catch and release 30-40 fish. At this time campfires are allowed, but you need to camp at least 100 feet from the water. This was also a popular place to camp, and not everyone seemed to read the rules. There were two groups set up with at least 20 people, so campsites were limited, but luckily I got there first and secured a great spot with a waterfall directly in front of and another behind my campsite.
RT Length to Saddle from City Reservoir: 3.5 miles
EG to Saddle from City Reservoir: 2000’
The next morning, I had beta on how to get to the Emerson/Peak Twenty Two saddle, and I used it, and vowed to find a better way on the descent. I’m not sure my way is better, but it is more straightforward. I hope this information is helpful.
I spent the night near the reservoir, and was on the trail at 6am to head to the Emerson/Peak Twenty Two saddle. I continued following the Endlich Mesa Trail north towards Logtown (which isn’t really a town… there’s nothing there).
After hiking for about .9 miles I came to a waterfall, and crossed the creek just above the waterfall.
I found a large rock slab, and stayed to the right of it, heading northeast into the basin.
Once in the basin, I found a game trail not listed on maps to the left of the creek, that was very easy to follow.
I followed this trail until I was parallel with a gully that ran between Emerson Mountain and PT 12843 to the east. I aimed for this gully, then climbed straight up it, eventually finding a game trail to follow east.
Here’s what that gully looks like from Mt Valois to the west
And some pictures of the upper basin and the gully
Now on a pretty established trail, I continued following it east
Past a small pond
Then left towards the Emerson/Peak Twenty Two saddle
I was now at the saddle of Emerson and Peak Twenty Two. From here I would summit Amherst Mountain, Organ Mountain, Peak Twenty Two, and Sheep Mountain.
And now for the return back to City Reservoir.
From the Emerson/Peak Twenty Two saddle, I headed west, staying to the left of the small lake.
I picked up the game trail
And followed it west back down the gully
From the base of the gully it was choose your own adventure to find the solid game trail on the other side that would lead me southwest down the gulch.
Once on the game trail, I followed it southwest to about 11600’
Once I could see the big boulder in the distance, I left the trail and headed towards it, following it to the creek and the creek crossing.
I crossed the creek, and followed the Endlich Mesa Trail back to City Reservoir.
I stayed at the reservoir for a few days, hiking other peaks. Here are some pictures of the hike from City Reservoir back to Endlich Mesa Trailhead:
NOTE: you will gain 1600’ of elevation going from the City Reservoir back to the trailhead. The elevation gain begins as soon as you’ve crossed the reservoir.
Then it’s back across the mesa
And then a little bit of uphill to get back into the trees.
Once in the trees, I continued following the Endlich Mesa Trail southeast back to the trailhead.
Here are some pictures of the 4WD road back towards Florida Campground.
And topo maps of the route to the reservoir and to the saddle
Note: there’s a long approach for these peaks, so I decided to make this a backpacking trip. I found a great basecamp for the Rio Grande Pyramid 13ers (and others). The approach is about 10 miles and 3100’ of elevation gain, coming from Thirtymile Campground. The approach can be found here.
I’d hiked up to 12210’ the day before, summited some peaks, and spent the night at my camping spot, so I was able to get up early and refreshed the next morning to hit the trail at 5:30am.
This time, I was heading southwest on the Continental Divide Trail.
This trail was easy to follow, and well established. I followed it for just under 2.5 miles to the saddle of 13022 and Window Peak.
From the saddle I turned left and headed towards PT 13022. I did not follow the saddle, but instead cut across to the rocky basin.
There wasn’t a trail here to the summit, and it looks like a viable route changes from season to season due to rockslides, etc. This is the basic route I took to the summit, and back down. The solid line is the route I took up, the dotted line is the route I took down. I’d recommend taking the route I took down both ways. The climbing here was class 4. In fact, I saw a (very old) anchor set up along my route, so people at one point at least used ropes to descend.
First, I made my way up the rocky basin.
Then I headed towards and up this rocky ramp
At the top of the ramp is where it really got interesting. There were a few cairns here, but as I said earlier, it looks as if the route changes. I scrambled my way up to the ridge, had about 20 feet of ridge climbing, then had to descend to find a viable route east.
Ahead of me there was a rock perched atop a spire that looked like a cairn, and I assumed this was the summit. Here is where I was aiming.
I did my best to follow game trails and cairns where I could find them, staying below the ridge, doing my best not to fall down the loose gullies, making my way east. Yes, there were times I had to crawl around rocks with serious exposure to avoid climbing the ridge. I did not feel the ridge ‘went’.
Here’s that anchor I was talking about
I kept aiming for the cairn
I made it to the cairn, scrambling up some class 4 rock to get there, sat and took a video.
I turned and looked to the west, and it seemed as if the point just a few yards away was higher, so I scrambled my way over there as well.
When I got there, I found a summit register (which I couldn’t open) so I’m guessing it’s the true summit, although both points looked to be of equal height.
I summited PT 13022 at 7:30am
PT 13022:
Now to make my way down. On my climb up I had a better view of the mountain, and found a gully I thought looked safer to descend. I downclimbed from my perch and started out by heading back the same way I’d summited, west.
Hey look! A cairn!
Just for perspective, here’s a photo of where I left my trekking pole. I scrambled around this rock to get back there. If you look closely, you can see a cairn on the rock to the left of the trekking pole. This was the crux of the route for me, both in and out.
I continued west, found a gully that looked stable-adjacent, and headed down.
Here’s looking back up at the gully I descended
And now to head back down the rocky basin and make my way back to the saddle with Window Peak.
Window Peak isn’t ranked, but I needed an easy win, so I headed north, and followed the grassy slopes, which changed to rocky slopes, to the summit of Window Peak
There was a bit of a false summit here, so I just kept following the ridge
There were also some pretty cool rock formations along the way
I summited Window Peak at 8:50am
Window Peak:
I wanted to hike to the actual window, so I continued north along the ridge, descended a grassy gully until I was at 12900’, and then traversed north to The Window.
Now to head back to my campsite. This was actually fairly easy. There was a solid trail that descended from The Window, which eventually went away. I followed the trail as far as I could, then just aimed east for the Continental Divide Trail, which I could see located by the pond in the distance.
Here’s a view of Window Peak
And my route back to the trail
Back on the Continental Divide Trail, I followed it northeast back to my campsite.
I made it back to my campsite at 9:45am. This was a 6.88 mile hike with 1471’ of elevation gain from my campsite at 12210’.
Note: there’s a long approach for these peaks, so I decided to make this a backpacking trip. I found a great basecamp for the Rio Grande Pyramid 13ers (and others). The approach is about 10 miles and 3100’ of elevation gain, coming from Thirtymile Campground. The approach can be found here. I started from Thirtymile campground at 2:30am and made it to 12210’ at 7:30am.
I took some time to set up my campsite, and was on the trail again at 8:30am. From my campsite near the Continental Divide Trail I headed northwest. Maps show a trail here (Skyline Opal Lake Trail), but it was difficult to find. Much of the trail was overgrown with willows and grass, so when I couldn’t find a trail, I kept heading northwest, and eventually found it again.
This is the overall route I took to gain the saddle between Rio Grande Pyramid and Fools Pyramid:
There is a point where you have the option to go east through the willows, or north on the gravel. It’s a difficult junction to see, but if you see it, go north (it’s the way you’ll want to go anyways, because it’s a more defined trail. Here are some pictures of the route to the saddle
Once at the saddle, I had a clear view of Fools Pyramid
As you can imagine, it was an easy class 2 tundra walk to the top, with some rocks thrown in. Here’s the overall route I took, heading straight for the ridge and then climbing the ridge to the summit:
I summited Fools Pyramid at 9:30am
Fools Pyramid:
To the northeast I could see PT 13274
This looks daunting, but the route can be kept class 2 if you skirt the ridge. Here’s the overall route I took:
First, I headed north towards the Fools Pyramid/PT 13274 saddle
At the saddle I skirted the crumbly rock formations to the right, dropping down to about 12990’
Then I found a gully and re-gained the ridge.
I then followed the ridge to the summit. Even though it’s rocky, this can be kept class 2. If you’re in class 3 territory, you’re trying too hard. Here are some pictures of my route to the summit. I stayed to the right of the ridge the entire time.
I summited PT 13274 at 10:30am. Funny story, I didn’t realize I’d lost one of my lenses until about 20 minutes after taking this picture. I later found and replaced the lens (which had popped out in my pocket).
PT 13274:
From the summit, here’s looking back on Fools Pyramid and Rio Grande Pyramid
I was making this a bit of a loop. From the summit of 13274, this was my overall route to the saddle to the south. This was choose your own adventure, but the route was obvious.
I found a lot of game trails here to get me down into the basin. I lost 770’ of elevation heading down into the basin, then re-gained 340’ of elevation up the saddle.
From the saddle, here’s a look back at my route down from PT 13274
The saddle was wide, so I headed a bit to the right, staying on the tundra.
From the here, I could see my campsite to the southwest.
There are several ways to make it back down into the basin. I considered just staying parallel with the ridge at about 12600’ and picking back up the trail I came in on at the saddle of Rio Grande Pyramid and Fools Pyramid. There are no established trails here, but I knew the Skyline Opal Lake Trail was directly below me, so I decided to do my best to make it back down to the trail. If you look closely, you’ll see the trail below you.
I headed east and south down the slope to find the Skyline Opal Lake Trail
Now on an established trail, I followed it as it hugged the side of the basin, losing it every once in a while and finding it again through the willows.
This brought me back to the trail I came in on, near the rocky area
I followed the trail south as best I could back to my campsite at 12210’
From my campsite, here’s a view of my descent from the saddle back to the Skyline Opal Lake Trail.
I made it back to basecamp at 12pm, making this a 5.12 mile hike with 1858’ of elevation gain from 12210’
Wild Wanderer 