13514 – Wild Wanderer

RT Length: 8.39 miles

Elevation Gain: 2744’

I’d spent the past few days dispersed camping at Red Mountain Pass, which is where I began my hike.

I was up and on the trail at 5am, hoping to beat today’s storms and make it to Independence Pass to join some friends camping that afternoon. I started our following the dirt road for .75 miles

Just before the Black Bear Pass / Porphyry Basin junction, I turned right onto a side trail. A 4WD vehicle can easily make it here. There’s room for one vehicle to park (yesterday I saw a full-sized Ford F250 parked here).

I was now on a “pack trail” that looks like it used to be a road. I followed this trail until I came to a mine.

This is where I left the “trail” and route finding became tricky in the dark. In the daylight, it’s pretty easy. There are a few game trails here, which I tried to pick up when I could find them.

Here’s the route I took after the mine

And some step-by-step pictures as I made my way northeast, hugging the mountainside

I crossed a mining area, then headed up the slope

I now had a view of how I wanted to gain the ridge. I was initially going to gain it to the left, and this would have worked as well, but I saw a small herd of deer grazing and I didn’t want to disturb them

This is how I gained the ridge, on easy, class 2 terrain

Once on the ridge, I followed it north towards the summit, as the tundra gave way to shale, which had game trails to follow

I summited PT 13509 at 7:20am

PT 13509:

I could see the town of Telluride to the west

Looking north, I could see Telluride Peak

To get there, I made my way northeast to the 13509/Telluride saddle, then northwest to the summit of Telluride. This was a chossy, class 2 ridge hike with a few game trails mixed in.

The easiest way to access the summit is from a class 2 ramp to the left of the summit boulder

I summited Telluride Peak at 8am

Telluride Peak:

Now to head back to the trailhead. I looked southeast, and could see Ptarmigan Lake. I didn’t want to descend that low, so instead I made my way back to the 13509/Telluride saddle

I then continued heading southeast to this point

Once there, I turned right and hugged the side of PT 13265 until I came to a gully

I descended the gully, and aimed for an old cabin I could see to my right

Here’s looking back at the gully I descended

At the cabin I turned left, and headed south through the basin

As I descended, I could see my route in, and decided to take the same route out of the basin. I could even see the game trail that picked up on the other side (it doesn’t last for long).

Back on the “trail” I followed it southeast as it hugged the mountainside

Then it was back down the drainage that led to the mine

Back at the mine, I picked up the trail that led me back to the 4WD road

Then I followed the road back down to Red Mountain Pass

I made it back to the trailhead at 9:30am, making this an 8.39 mile hike with 2744’ of elevation gain in 4.5 hours.

On to the next trailhead!

RT Length: 11.85 miles

Elevation Gain 4033’

Driving to the trailhead had me crossing Mineral Creek. The water was low, and it was easily crossable, although I saw several capable vehicles turn back.

I parked the night before near Imogene Mine, a great view of the Million Dollar Highway below. I was worried I’d hear traffic all night long, but very few vehicles went by.

When I woke up, there were several other vehicles parked near me, so I did my best to be quiet as I got my gear together. I was on the trail at 4am. I followed the 4WD road south for a quarter of a mile to the actual trailhead.

I headed up Columbine Lake Trail 509. This is a class 1 trail that goes all the way to Columbine Lake. There are several ways to get to the summit of Bridal Peak, but if you don’t want to lose excessive elevation, heading to the lake first is a great option.

This trail steeply switchbacked up the hillside to treeline.

I entered a small basin, and continued following the trail to the upper basin. I could hear dozens of ptarmigans and their chicks chirping all around me. That’s one of my favorite parts about hiking this early in the morning: hearing everyone waking up.

I crossed over into the Mill Creek Basin, and continued following the trail west. This is still a class 1 trail.

From here you can see Bridal Peak, but to avoid losing and re-gaining elevation, I headed to Columbine Lake first. Here’s my overall route.

Right about now the sun was beginning to rise…

Here are a few more pictures on the class 1 trail to Columbine Lake

I made it to the lake, crossed the small dam, and followed the shoreline west

I wanted to ascend to the ridge. It can be done at just about any point before the small waterfall. I took a slightly different route up than I did down, but they all lead to the correct area. This is the route I took

Now to cross the upper basin and head north to the ridge. Here’s my overall route

And some step by step pictures

Once on the ridge, it was an easy class 2 trek to the summit. There’s an obvious trail, but if you don’t see one, stick to the ridge. This area is covered I shale.

I summited Bridal Peak at 7:10am

Bridal Peak:

From Bridal Peak I could see PT 13159 to the southeast.

To get there, I made my way back to Columbine Lake

Here are some pictures of the route back to the lake

Once at the lake the sun started to come out, so I took a few pictures. This is an extremely popular hike, and I started seeing people like ants along the trail. The lake was beautiful. Pro-tip: You get better pictures of the lake, and the mountains mirrored in the lake, from up high.

I made my way back to the trail

And then followed it east to 12550’

At about 12550’ there will be a post. At this post, I turned right, and headed south up a gully

Before going up the gully, get a good look at the route before you. This can be kept class 2 (maybe easy class 3) if you know what you’re doing ahead of time. I made this class 4 in sections, not knowing where exactly to ascend at the end. I kept wanting to ascend too early, and then I’d cliff out. This is the route you want to take

It might have been due to the recent rain, but this gully was easy to ascend.

At the top of the gully I turned right, and followed the ridge

Once I got here, I dipped down a bit. No longer try to stick to the ridge, as there are large gaps in the boulders too big to jump across. Also, don’t try to ascend yet: it’ll be class 4, and the final ‘summit’ is also too far to jump to get to.