13272 – Wild Wanderer

RT Length: 10.96 miles

Elevation Gain: 3927’

I started from Gold Creek Campground outside of Ohio City. The road in was an easy 2WD dirt road, that led me to a dispersed campground maintained by volunteers. There are about 5 sites, with vaulted toilets. I didn’t feel right using the empty campsites, as I wasn’t really camping, but sleeping in the back of my truck, so I parked at a dispersed site directly across the road, near the trailhead, at about 10,050’. Also, it was quieter, as a family with two small children and rather loud dog were staying in the campground. There was a makeshift corral for horses there as well.

I was on the trail at 5am the next morning. The trail starts at the north end of the camping area.

I followed Trail 532 northwest for 2.5 miles to Mill Lake. This is an easy to follow, class 1 trail the entire way to the lake.

There is one junction early on that isn’t on a topo map, but it’s well marked. Just keep going towards Mill Lake.

At Mill Lake you can clearly see Fossil Mountain. The easiest way to get there is to turn right, and head northeast through the trees until you see the ridge. It’s a short (100 yards at most) hike to get there, and the bushwhacking is easy.

The route will be easily visible. There are rock ledges if you go to far left or right. You want to take the tundra northeast until you make it to the ridge, and then turn left and follow the ridge west. Here I gained 850’ of elevation in .75 miles

Here’s looking at the last bit of the route to the ridge. There’s no need to hike all the way to the top of this little bump in the ridge, as it isn’t ranked. I skirted it and headed towards Fossil Mountain.

Now the hike became fun. The ridge goes at a class 2 scramble until the base of Fossil Mountain, then becomes an easy class 3 scramble to the summit.

Here’s the overall route I took

And some step-by-step pictures

I went straight up and over this large rock formation. It was easy class 3. You can go to the right to get around it, but you’ll be met with loose talus and a gully.

I summited unranked Fossil Mountain at 7am

Fossil Mountain:

From the summit of Fossil Mountain, looking to the northeast you can see the other two peaks I was headed for today, Square Top Mountain (unranked), and Henry Mountain

It was a straightforward ridge hike to get to Square Top Mountain, where I pretty much stayed on the ridge. There were some easy class 3 moves, and at times I needed to dip to the left or right. The rock is very loose in areas, and very stable in others, so basically it keeps you on your toes. I lost about 180’ of elevation going to the Fossil/Square Top saddle. Here are some pictures of the ridge to Square Top Mountain.

From the saddle, here’s looking up at the path towards Square Top. The first half was on tundra, and then the rocks began

It was here I noticed a small herd of elk. I stayed where I was until they noticed me, then watched them watch me as they ran away.

Check out the herd of elk:

Ok, continuing with the ridge. This part looked difficult, but I found it was easy class 3 if I just kept to the ridge.

Now to summit Square Top Mountain. This was relatively simple, as there were several options. I went up the gully nearest me (and down the one on the other side). The rocks here were loose, but the angle was light.

After ascending the gully, I turned left and easily walked to the summit

I summited Square Top Mountain at 8am

Square Top Mountain:

Looking to the northwest I could see Henry Mountain

I descended Square Top Mountain to the northwest, and hiked on tundra to the summit of Henry. There were some very faint fame trails here I utilized.

As I came to the top of the ridge, I was greeted by 4 mountain moats. Usually, mountain goats are pretty tame and just watch me. These ones did for a while, but as soon as I got out my camera and they could hear the shutter snap, they took off. Well, three of them did, the other one stood and looked like he was ready to fight, but then turned and followed the others

The summit of Henry Mountain is to the northwest, so I headed northwest towards the obvious highpoint on more tundra

I summited Henry Mountain at 8:40am

Henry Mountain:

This was an out and back hike for me, so I turned around and retraced my steps back to Fossil Mountain

Here’s the overall route I took, skirting Square Top this time

And some pictures of that rocky ridge between Square Top and Fossil

Then down to the Fossil/Square Top saddle

And up the ridge, back to the summit of Fossil. This part was class 2

At the summit of Fossil Mountain I was greeted to 4 ptarmigans on the summit cairn. They actually led me for a bit down the trail.

I descended Fossil Mountain to the northeast, staying directly on the ridge. Here’s the overall route. Note where I entered/exited the trees, as it kept me on tundra and avoided the rocky sections and brought me back to Mill Lake.

Here’s looking at that easy class 3 section down the ridge. Once again, I stayed directly on the ridge and kept it easy class 3

Then back towards the tundra

As soon as I came to the first group of trees on the tundra I turned right, and headed down towards the lake

After a quick bushwhack in the trees, I could see the lake and a trail below

I followed the trail around the east side of the lake, back to Trail 532, and then followed that trail back to the trailhead

I made it back to my truck at noon, making this a 10.96 mile hike with 3927’ of elevation gain in 5 hours. Please, note, I spent a lot of time admiring the wildlife and looking for cool rocks.

On to the next trailhead!

RT Length: 7.84 miles

Elevation Gain: 2974’

I needed a win. The past 7 (yes, 7) trailheads I’ve tried to access have been closed due to snow, Sage Grouse mating / nesting season, and/or calving season. Note: these were trailheads to obscure 13ers, so there wasn’t a lot of information on them in the first place, especially for this time of year. One trailhead was open, but not passable due to snow. I tried it again the next week, thinking the snow would have melted out by then. It had, but now the gate was closed. Ugh.

So, even though there was a $5 parking fee, like I said, I needed a win. I arrived at the St Mary’s Glacier/James Peak trailhead at 3:30am, the first vehicle in the lot. I paid the $5 at the self-pay station (located near the porta potties) and was on the trail before 4am.

The trail starts at the north end of the parking area, and follows the road shortly before turning left and heading into the trees. There’s good signage here.

The trail started out a mixture of rocks, ice and snow, and eventually became mostly ice-snow. I quickly put on my microspikes and wore them for the rest of the day.

After hiking for .75 miles I came to St Mary’s Lake. It’s covered in snow right now, and to the left of this picture. St Mary’s Glacier is directly in front. Here’s the route I took, crossing the bridge, skirting the lake, and then heading up the slope.

Here are some step by step photos to the top of the slope.

Once at the top I came to a plateau, and could see James Peak in front of me. Well, I couldn’t really in the morning, as it was still dark, but I could tell it was a clear morning by the shooting starts I kept seeing (that was about to change). At the top of the slope, just head northeast.

This is where the wind started. The wind never stopped, and in fact just got more intense as the morning went on. I put on my balaclava and headed northeast. Here are some step by step pictures

The very last part of this hike included turning north and heading up this slope. I did not need crampons/ice axe on my way up (microspikes were fine) but I did use my ice axe on the way down. This could have been prevented by zig-zagging the slope (dotted line), but I felt it was better to get in some glissading practice.

I summited James Peak at 6:25am

James Peak:

I was surprised at how fast the clouds were coming in: The wind was stronger here on the summit, and soon I lost most visibility.

I headed back the way I’d come, careful to follow my footprints as it was getting increasingly difficult to see. I faced the mountain and used my ice axe for the initial descent, then turned and glissaded for a bit. Here’s an overall view of the route back down to the lake

And step by step, once I got out of the clouds

The wind never stopped, but the clouds stayed up by the summit, making it for a clear morning down below (by afternoon it was snowing).

It was still morning, but the snow was already turning to slush, and the steps I’d put in earlier were now ice. I kept slipping and couldn’t figure out why? I had on my microspikes, but they weren’t catching me like they usually do (it wasn’t until I made it back to the truck and took the spikes off I realized in the dark I’d put one on inside out, and the spikes were facing the sole of my boot. Whoops!). Here are some photos of the way down the slope and back to St Mary’s Lake

And over the bridge, back on the trail that led to the street.

There was a sign near the bridge. I’m guessing it said “St Marys Glacier” or “James Peak Trail”, or something like that, but it was covered in stickers and useless. I thought to myself I should have brought some 14er Fireside Stickers. Oh well, I’ll be back to make this a ridge hike, or at a minimum get some 12ers in the area: I’ll bring stickers then.

It was less than a mile on the trail back to the parking area. Note: Some parts of the trail were slick, as skiers and snowboarders have smoothed down the trail.