hot springs trailhead – Wild Wanderer

PT 13,128 and Thirsty Peak – 13,224

RT Length: 14.15 miles

Elevation Gain: 5370’

For those of you who’ve been following my truck situation, the topper for Miles finally arrived!!! More than 4 months later, but let me tell you, it was worth it! I’m so glad I did a trial run with my last truck (‘Truck Kirk’… if you get it, you’re awesome, and we should be friends), and got everything I wanted this time around. This weekend was my first time trying out the new set-up, and I’m thrilled. Plexiglass instead of glass gives me blackout windows, which are great for irregular sleep patterns that are sometimes necessary to wake up at 2am and hike. Added bonus: plexiglass doesn’t shatter! I put up Reflextrix around the windows to keep in the heat, and set up my Buddy heater in the corner. I re-used the foam bedding from the Tundra (after cutting it a little to fit), built the cabinets myself (not bad considering the only ‘shop’ experience I have was in a 7^th grade Industrial Arts class), and commissioned my daughter to paint them. She used pictures I’d taken while hiking, and all I have to say is I love them!!! We left a few of the lids to the cabinets blank, so if we meet at a trailhead, I expect you to add your signature to one of them so I can remember you.

Ok, moving on to the trip report.

I arrived at the trailhead the night before to get plenty of rest before the hike. I talked with some local hunters, pre-signed the register because I’ve learned pens don’t work in the early morning when they’re cold, and got to bed just as the sun went down. At 5am I was up and on the trail, heading south through the scrub oak.

I was at the wrong trailhead. After .25 miles of hiking, I knew I was on the wrong trail. I pulled out my cell phone and started the compass app (which works moderately well): I didn’t want to deal with a flashlight and a ‘real’ compass in the dark. While I was following the cell phone compass-directions, I tripped. No worries though, because my cellphone broke my fall. All I can say is: good thing I had a screen protector on my phone. Also, my knee still hurts.

To save time I brought up a gpx file (which I only use when absolutely necessary) and realized it looked like I was going in the right direction, but about half a mile too far south. Ugh. I hoofed it back to the trailhead, signed out of the register by scratching on the paper with a pen, got in my truck, and drove to the Hot Springs Trailhead, about half a mile north. I got there, jumped out of my truck, ready to go, signed the register, and was off. It was now 6am.

The correct trail starts at the Hot Springs Trailhead. There are two different trails that originate from this trailhead. I went right, following Garner Creek Trail 752.

This is a wide, class 1 trail

I quickly came to a gate, and then another gate. I passed through both, closed them as instructed, and continued on my way.

I followed this (mostly) class 1 trail for 6.3 miles to the 13123/Thirsty Peak saddle.

Even though I wrote it on the topo map, I forgot them: My stream crossing shoes. Creek crossings. Have I mentioned them? I stopped counting at 10 on this trail. Good news; they’re all easily crossed. Here’s a visual…

I passed some camping spots with hunters still sleeping in their tents, came to a bit of a clearing, and had a visual of where I was aiming; the saddle between PT 13123 and Thirsty Peak.

I continued following the trail as it headed northeast, crossing several more streams.

After hiking for about 5 miles, I was just below treeline. Here the trail stopped, but the cairns picked up.

At the top of pile of rocks I was now just at treeline, and on a ridge. I followed the ridge east, and then north, staying directly on the ridge. Here’s an overall view of the route. There were cairns here.

Here are some more pictures of the ridge. The cairns are circled. Most of the cairns were shorter than the grass, but they were accompanied by large branches sticking up from their centers, so they were easy to make out.

Once above treeline the trail faintly resumed. I headed north to the 13123/Thirsty Peak saddle

Once at the saddle I turned left and followed the ridge northwest to the summit of PT 13123, gaining 425’ in elevation. This started out as tundra, but quickly became rocky.

I summited PT 13123 at 9:55am

13123:

I could see Cottonwood Peak to the northeast (not on my agenda for today)

I turned and headed back to the PT 13123/Thirsty Peak saddle.

From the saddle, it was a class 2, rocky ridge hike to the summit of Thirsty Peak. I gained just over 500’ from the saddle to reach Thirsty Peak (unranked).

I summited Thirsty Peak at 11am. At the summit I heard a coyote yipping. I got it briefly in the video, but just at the very beginning.

Thirsty Peak:

Here you can see the reason Thirsty Peak is unranked: Lakes Peak

I turned and headed back to the 13123/Thirsty Peak saddle

And then re-traced my steps back down to the ridge

Here’s an overview of the route out

Here are some pictures of the way back to the trailhead

I made it back to the trailhead at 2pm, making this a 14.15 mile hike with 5370’ of elevation gain in 8 hours.

On to the next trailhead!

Cottonwood Peak A – 13,597

RT Length: 11.5 miles
Elevation Gain: 5110’

I got a bit of a later start on this one that I’d intended, as when my alarm went off at 12:30am I hit snooze and slept another hour or so (I’d already summited 7 peaks in the past 2 days and was a little tired). I made it to the Hot Springs Trailhead after first being led by GPS to the Hot Springs (which the sign indicated clothing optional: it was also closed due to Covid-19 fears).

The drive to the trailhead is easy 2WD on a dirt road.

There was 1 other vehicle parked there when I got there, which I thought was odd. It was a newer VW and didn’t look like it had been there overnight. I tried to be quiet in case someone was sleeping in their car but thought to myself “Great! Someone else is trenching the trail for me!”

The trail is a loop, and I was surprised to find out it was actually an established trail. The morning was getting better and better!

Just as an FYI, you cannot see the peak from the parking lot, but it was dark so that didn’t matter anyway. I signed the trail register (which was difficult due to the cold temperatures and ballpoint pen available). I wanted to summit Cottonwood Peak first, so I took the trail clockwise, starting to the left

The trail starts off wandering through chaparral

Here the trail was clearly marked and easy to follow.

I rustled a sleeping ptarmigan as the trail switched to scrub oak

Once I entered the aspens the trail started to deteriorate. What I’d been pleased to discover was a good trail became a trail in much need of maintenance. I was navigating over fallen trees for the rest of the hike, and it became increasingly obvious no one had used this trail since the Fall and no one would be trenching for me today.

Around 2.4 miles there was a great spot for a campsite (10130’)

What I found disturbing were the number of dead animals I encountered on this hike. There were deer remains everywhere (I’m pretty sure it was more than one deer, spread out over a few miles) and a lot of bird feathers. It let me know there was a predator in the area, I just wasn’t sure which kind?

I encountered the first real snow after about 2.6 miles. It was still early in the morning so I didn’t need traction, but I did posthole from time to time. Here the trail was difficult to see, as it was both covered in fallen trees/branches and snow.

Here things got interesting: I came across bear tracks! They looked like they were from the day before, and since there was only one set of prints I knew it wasn’t a mama, and that it was just passing through. I followed prints along the trail for about a mile

Since the trail was difficult to follow and the snow was getting softer I found myself straddling the ravine and following the small stream around the mountain

It became increasingly apparent I was the only one to use this trail in a long time. I circled around to a gully, which would have been challenging if there’d been more snow. Instead it was a steady climb up, and when I had the option, I took the gully to the right, also easy to navigate

The second gully ended near treeline, and I became excited as I thought I could see the peak.

Of course in my mind I knew I was too close to treeline for that to be the peak, but surely it had to be just behind it? As I continued on I saw another peak behind the first one and figured that was the summit

Up, up, and up I continued, doing my best to avoid the snowy areas.

Imagine my surprise (and dismay) when I finally reached the top of the second peak and noticed I wasn’t anywhere near the summit: it was still quite far away

Not only was I still a good distance from the summit, but I would need my ice axe and snowshoes. Luckily, I had both. I sighed, broke down, and put them on. There was no way I was turning back now. The weather was great (the best day I’ve had all year) and while I’d already done 30 miles this weekend with 15K of elevation gain and was physically exhausted, I wasn’t quitting this close to the summit. I left my trekking pole here and continued on, ice axe in hand. The only way across the ridge was to walk directly on top of the cornices. Luckily the snow here seemed firm

The last bit to the summit was easier than expected

I summited at 9:30am

Summit Views:

There was even a summit tag on top

This hike is traditionally done as a loop along with Unnamed 13123B, so I went over to get a good look at the route

Hmmmm…. The route didn’t look that difficult. Actually, the ridge looked better than the one I’d just traversed, but it was a really nice day and the snow was warming up fast. I knew I could summit 13123, but I was unsure of the snow conditions on the route back below treeline if I were to make this a loop. I didn’t want to re-summit Cottonwood because a) I’d already done 5000+ feet of elevation today and b) the snow was getting softer by the minute on this side as well.

In the end I decided to go with the safer route and descend the way I’d summited, figuring that while the conditions wouldn’t be ideal, at least I knew what to expect.
I turned and headed back the way I’d come, first over a pretty cool cornice

And then back down the ridge

My favorite part was toe-heeling it across the cornices

Here’s the route back

I decided to keep my snowshoes on, and this time stuck to the areas with snow.

The snow was a terrible mush and I was glad I’d decided to return the way I knew, even if it meant postholing and navigating felled trees

I kept my snowshoes on for longer than needed, but they came in helpful when I hit the boggy areas where there was no discernable trail but a lot of willows/snow/downed trees

They were cumbersome in areas such as this:

On the way back I scared the same ptarmigan as this morning and saw a cactus in bloom

I made it back to my truck at 12:30pm, making this an 11.5 mile hike with 5110’ of elevation gain in 7 hours, 15 minutes. The VW was gone.

I was really happy with my decision not to make this a loop today, and look forward to trying the trail counter-clockwise next time, when there’s less snow…