13253 – Wild Wanderer

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!

Holy Cross Ridge – 13,850 & Point 13,253

RT Length: 13.5 miles

Elevation Gain: 4863’

After 2 hours of sleep I woke up at 9:30pm to drive to the Halfmoon/Tigiwon/Fall Creek Trailhead. My kids think I’m nuts, but starting early when hiking above treeline really has its advantages. I was afraid of encountering afternoon thunderstorms, as there was a 50% chance after noon, and while I didn’t know if I’d be encountering any snow it was likely and would soften up during the day so I wanted an early start. The 2WD dirt road in was a little rough but easy to navigate. I arrived at the trailhead at 2:15am and took one of the last available parking spots.

There’s a ton of signage at this trailhead and multiple routes up to the same peak(s). I chose to take the Fall Creek Trail, heading south.

This trail is well established and well maintained. The first half mile or so was dry

And then the trail was completely covered in several inches of water. I took off my boots to cross the waterfall area (about 1.5 miles into the trail)

At 2.4 miles I came to a trail junction for Lake Constantine and Notch Mountain Trail, taking Notch Mountain Trail west.

This trail switchbacked up the side of the mountain for another mile or so, and where there wasn’t water there was snow

At 11,750’ I came to the base of the slope up to the ridge, and needed snowshoes

In the dark I could only see a few feet in front of me and there was a lot of snow, so here I lost the defined trail and just hiked straight up the ridge. Snowshoes were very helpful here! It’s also steeper than it looks

About 150’ from the ridge the snow stopped and I was able to follow a snow free trail to the ridge

The sun was beginning to rise, and I love sitting and watching sunrises, so as soon as I reached the ridge I ascended a small (and unranked) slope to sit and enjoy the view

The sunrise didn’t disappoint!

The best view was behind me though, of 14er Mt of the Holy Cross. Wow! It’s beautiful in the morning light.

After enjoying the sunrise I walked over to the ridge shelter and was excited to find it unlocked (well, it had a lock but the lock wasn’t securing the door).

The shelter’s actually quite roomy, with a fireplace (not that there’s any firewood above treeline) and a great view of Mt of the Holy Cross. This would be a nice place to shelter if a storm hit the ridge.

From the cabin I could see much of the rest of the route: Up Point 13,248, over to Point 13,373, and across to Holy Cross Ridge

The hike over to Point 13,248 was full of large rocks and hollow snow: the kind where you step on it and sink in a hole between the rocks up to your waist. After the first few postholes I stuck to the rocks

I summited Point 13,248 at 6:20am

Point 13,248

Here’s looking back at the shelter

And here’s the route before me. It didn’t look like the sun wanted to peak out above the clouds this morning

Here’s where I got a little nervous. The ridge looked like it was covered in more snow than I’d anticipated.

But when I made my way down there (losing about 600 feet in elevation along the way) the ridge was snow free enough to walk across. Well, not really walk, but more like scramble up and down on the rocks. Sticking to the ridge worked well.

I was a bit worried about the large patches of snow I saw, hoping they weren’t hollow like the snow I’d encountered higher up on the ridge. Luckily, the snow here was solid

This is also where the crux of the route began. The solid line is the route I took up, and the dotted one is the route I took on the way down.

On my way up I went straight across the slope and then up the ridge

If I were to do this again I’d take the route I took down up as well. I didn’t initially because the rocks looked loose and unstable, but on my way down I found them to be stable and easy to climb through. I needed my ice axe and crampons for this part (on the way up and down) because the snow was steep. The traverse across the slope on my way in was sketchy, as every few feet or so I’d hit an air pocket and sink to my waist. I went slowly, seriously worried at some point I was going to slip and fall. Once I’d traversed the slope I needed to gain the ridge. This was steep as well. I couldn’t have done this without my ice axe and crampons

I breathed a sigh of relief when I finally gained Point 13,373. That had been more difficult than anticipated. I took a look back at Point 13,248

And at the rest of the route before me

I descended a bit, and then traversed a flat area before ascending once again. The last few hundred feet go up and down in elevation quite a bit, creating a few small false summits. My advice is not to go straight up the ridge, but circle the mountain to the left (west), gaining in elevation as you go

There were several large patches of snow to traverse here as well, and just my luck, the sun started to peek out from behind the clouds, making these crossings tricky as well

I summited at 8:30am

Holy Cross Ridge:

Here’s looking back on the route I took along the ridge

Ok, the sun was really warming things up and I was debating how safe the route back down Point 13,373 was going to be with soft snow. The ridge to Mt of the Holy Cross looked quite easy, and I considered just making this a loop, but I really wanted pictures of the route I took in, meaning I was going back the same way. Time to head back.

This time instead of going directly over the top of Point 13,373 I skirted the mountain to the right (east)

This put me at a great place to descend, so I once again put on my crampons and got out my ice axe and garden tool

The snow had indeed softened up, but was now perfect for kicking in steps. I felt much more comfortable traversing down than I had up, and the best part was the rocks I thought had been loose were really much larger and stable than they’d looked from across the ridge. Here’s the route I took down

And now the fun part: re-ascending point 13,248

I skirted the summit of this one as well, sticking to the left and then heading back to the shelter

Once at the shelter I met a couple eating lunch and taking a break. They’d intended on hiking the ridge today as well but were turning back due to weather/conditions. I thought this was a great idea, and noted it did look like we were indeed going to get some thunderstorms today after all.

I made it back to the switchbacks and when I came to snow put back on my snowshoes. This section looks short, but it’s actually a long and steep descent (which is made ‘easier’ with the switchbacks I couldn’t see under the snow, so I just headed straight down).

The sun had warmed up the snow, and what had been solid on my way in was now the consistency of a slushie. Each step I took I sank in the snow past my knees, and my trekking pole and ice axe were useless. I was sliding everywhere, and finally gave up and glissaded down. The couple behind me kept getting their feet stuck in the snow between rocks. The conditions were terrible, and I mentally high-fived myself for an early start: I wouldn’t have been able to descend Point 13,373 at this time of day.

Oh, and I saw a ptarmigan. I love those guys!

Snow stopped at about 11,700’ and everything was wet again, including my feet. The slushy snow had gotten inside my boots and my feet were soaked through. Changing socks wouldn’t have helped because my boots were wet as well. I didn’t even bother taking off my boots for the creek/waterfall crossings because they were already soaking wet

I made it back to my truck at 1:30pm, making this a 13.5 mile hike with 4863’ in elevation gain in 11 hours.