Tag: 13094

PT 13,094 and Sunshine Mountain – 13,329

RT Length: 8 miles

Elevation Gain: 3171’

I parked at MM 14 off CR 20 in Lake City, just before the turnoff for 22, at 10900’. 

I was up early, but it rained until about 6:15am, so I was on the trail at 6:30am.   As you can see by looking at the topo map,  I didn’t ascend the same way I ascended, mainly because it was terrible.  Down wasn’t great either, but a bit more manageable.  I’m going to describe the route to ascend how I came down.  Note:  There are tons of mining roads in this area, and they don’t all meet up. 

From my parking spot, I needed to be here. 

The best way to do this is climb to the left of the gully, navigating through the aspen trees to treeline.    This is choose your own adventure quest, but it doesn’t last long, and is manageable if you have good route finding skills and can follow game trails. 

It’s important to note I passed 2 different mining roads before I hit the one I was looking for, at about 11600’

I followed this road as it curved around the mountainside north.  The road was overgrown, and lost in places, and intersected with a lot of other roads.  I just kept turning left if there was an option, heading north.

Once in the upper basin, I could clearly see PT 13093.  This is the route I took to get to the ridge. 

I walked the mining road for a while, and then it turned into a game trail.  This is a good game trail I followed east until I came to a sketchy part.  You’ll know it because the dirt turns black.  Here I turned northeast and aimed for the ridge, using fainter game trails.  (On my way down I realized this game trail probably goes all the way to the saddle, but I felt confident in my decision to turn and head for the ridge here. 

I made my way to the ridge

At the ridge, I could see PT 13093 to the northwest

The terrain here was very rocky, and those rocks were loose.  This is how I started my climb, avoiding the rock slab and climbing it to the right

From here, it was a rocky climb northwest along the ridge to the summit.  This was all class 2

I summited PT 13094 at 7:30am

PT 13094:

My next objective was Sunshine Mountain, to the northeast

After the initial downclimb off 13093, this was a simple ridge hike on tundra.  This is the overall route I took:

First, I downclimbed the rocky section

Then headed towards the sunshine/13094 saddle

From there I picked up a solid game trail that led me to the ridge, then down to the saddle.

From the saddle I followed the tundra east 570’ towards the summit. 

There was a short rocky section towards the summit, with tons of game trails to the right to keep it class 2, but honestly, going over the rocks is probably class 2 as well. 

I summited Sunshine Mountain at 8:45am

Sunshine Mountain:

I turned and made my way back down the tundra ridge, and to the saddle

I made my way towards the left side of PT 13094.  Here’s a little hint to help you descend:  There’s a wooden post sticking out of the ground about 20 feet after you should descend.  Use this as a visual for where to start heading down the side of the mountain.

Back on the game trail, I turned right and followed it back to the mining road.

Then I took the mining road back to about 11600’

From here, I could see my truck parked below, and just made my way back to it, bushwhacking the entire way.

I made it back to my truck at 10:30am, making this an 8 mile hike with 3171’ of elevation gain in 4 hours.

On to the next trailhead!

13253, 13,258, 13,251, Sheep Rock Mountain – 13,261, West Virginia Peak – 13,152, Virginia Peak – 13,094, Winfield Peak – 13,085

RT Length: 19.34 miles

Elevation Gain: 5574’

This entire hike was class 2, made spicy with the snow.

I parked just before the Lulu Gulch trailhead at 10,300’ at a nice dispersed campsite.  My truck could have made it to the Huron Trailhead, as it has before, but the road seemed a little more intense this year and I love my truck, so I decided to park lower and get the extra mileage. 

I woke up to a thick layer of frost because it was 27 degrees outside, and was on the trail at 6am.  I followed the 4WD road as it meandered south, past the Lulu Gulch trailhead and numerous dispersed campsites. 

After hiking for about 1.75 miles I made it to the Huron Peak/Lake Ann trailhead.  From here, I followed Lake Ann Trail 1462 south.

At the Lake Ann/Hope Pass junction I went right, following the Lake Ann trail

At the Apostle Basin/Lake Ann junction I went right, towards Lake Ann

I immediately crossed a bridge, and followed this trail (1462) through the trees to about 11600’

This next part is a little difficult to explain, but at 11600’ I left the trail and headed west, towards Harrison Flat.  Here’s a picture from above at where I crossed

On the ground however, it looked like this:

I was headed here to access the upper basin:

Once in the upper basin, I headed west towards the lake at 12155’

Once at the lake, I skirted it to the right, and headed up the slope.  This is the route I took to the ridge.  This is the overall route I took to the top of 13253.  Note I stayed below the ridge for some time, to avoid the rocky areas.

And some step-by-step pictures.  This is choose your own adventure, but I took the ramp to the right to ascend the ridge.

Then stayed low to avoid the rocky areas.  It became obvious when to ascend on a scree/tundra ramp

There was a summit register here, which I thought was odd because the true summit was to the south.  I’m not sure if it’s LiDAR or what, but LoJ does not show this as the true highpoint anymore, as PT 13258 to the south is higher. I took a video anyway, as I was there.

PT 13253:

I then headed southeast towards PT 13258

This is the overall route I took

And some pictures of the route.  I descended about 115’ to the saddle, nd then ascended to the summit

I summited Pt 13258 (also known as 13253 south) at 10:15am

PT 13258:

And now to head back to PT 13253

Back at PT 13253, my next objective was PT 13251, to the northwest

First, I had to get to PT 13024.  It was a simple, rocky, class 2 ridge hike to get there

Then it was down and up to PT 13251.  Here’s my overall route to get there, staying to the left when I encountered obstacles, keeping this class 2. 

I summited PT 13,251 at 12pm

PT 13251:

There was a summit marker at the summit

My next goal was Sheep Rock Mountain, which was much further away than it seemed.  First I needed to summit these two points (13115 and 13100, unranked, but they feel like they’re ranked) before following the ridge.  While downclimbing each of these points, there was sugary snow covering the rocks, making the traverse a bit spicey.  Otherwise, it was all class 2.

I began by following the ridge north, towards PT 13115.  Don’t be fooled, there are actually two summits here

Here’s a view of the first downclimb

Here’s looking back at 13251

Then up the ridge 165’ to this point.  This was all class 2, but rocky

This point was unranked, as is the next point I could see to the northwest, PT 13115

I initially stayed to the left of the rocky ridge to descend towards the saddle, then switched to the right side, and back to the left.  There was snow involved, so I’m not sure what it looks like in dry conditions.  This was all class 2 scrambling.

Here’s the ridge up to PT 13115.  It stayed class 2, staying left before taking the ridge

I stopped here for a little break before continuing on. 

I could see Sheep Rock Mountain to the northeast.  I decided to skirt PT 13100 and stay low on the ridge.  This was my overall route.

Here are some pictures of the route to Sheep Rock (all class 2)

I summited Sheep Rock Mountain at 2:15pm

Sheep Rock Mountain:

I could see all 3 remaining peaks I had for the day, West Virginia, Virginia, and Winfield.  West Virginia Peak was to the north.

I descended 460 feet down to the Sheep Rock/West Virginia Saddle, staying either on the ridge direct or dipping down to the right in the beginning, the left towards the end. This can all be kept class 2

Here’s looking back up at Sheep Rock Mountain

Then I ascended 350’ to the summit of West Virginia, still keeping this class 2

The summit was an easy scramble to the top

I summited West Virginia Peak at 3:10pm

West Virginia Peak:

To the east was Virginia Peak

I stayed mostly on the ridge for this part, dipping to the right as necessary

There was a rather interesting rock formation along the way.  So much is going on here

Now up the rocky ridge

I summited Virginia Peak at 4:10pm

Virginia Peak:

My final peak for the day was unranked Winfield Peak to the north

This would be yet another ridge hike.  Here are some pictures of the ridge to Winfield

Still more ridge to go…

I summited Winfield Peak at 5pm

Winfield Peak:

Now to head back down.  I was (obviously) making this a loop, and  had to get back down to the 4WD road.  This included some bushwhacking.  Initially, I continued following the ridge northeast

Then it became obvious I needed to follow the ridge east.  This was very steep and included a lot of scree. 

I descended 860’ down the ridge, to about 12260’ of elevation, then took an old road down into the basin.  The road quickly dissolved, and I bushwhacked east through the trees, looking for a hiking trail I knew would be below.  Here’s my route out of the basin

And some pictures

And now into the trees

As I got closer to the trail, I could see the 4WD road I needed in the distance.  I kept aiming for the road

And eventually made it to the trail.  I took this trail south, until it hooked up with another trail that would take me across clear creek and back to the 4WD road

Back on the 4WD road, I followed it northeast back to the lower Huron Trailhead

I made it back to my campsite at 7pm, making this a 19.34 mile hike with 5574’ of elevation gain in 13 hours.

On to the next trailhead!