Huron Trailhead – Wild Wanderer

PT 13486

RT Length: 14.11 miles

Elevation Gain: 3299’

I had no intentions of summiting a peak today. Seriously. After yesterday’s long ridge hike I decided today would be a rest day. I was simply going to hike to the upper trailhead and back to get pictures I was unable to get yesterday, due to starting and ending the hike in the dark. I also needed to put together a rather long trip report, and I wanted to get that out of the way as soon as possible.

I woke up at 9:15am and it was 27 degrees outside. There was at least half an inch of frost on the ground, and my shoes, which I’d kept inside my truck, were frozen solid. I couldn’t even get my feet inside of them. So I sat in the cab of my truck with the heater blaring for half an hour to warm them up.

Once I could stuff my feet inside my shoes I was on the trail, at around 10am. My plan was simply to hike to the upper trailhead and back to warm up and get pictures. I was 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 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 left, following the Lake Ann trail

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

This is where I made the decision to continue towards PT 13486. I was feeling pretty good, and said “to heck with a rest day”. I almost immediately regretted this decision. I continued on until I made it to 10845’, where there was a cairn and a blocked trail to the left. I took this trail.

This was an old trail that doesn’t look like it gets a lot of use. There were tons of downed trees to navigate as I made my way east to treeline. At this point I stopped and looked at my readings. I’d gone 3.5 miles and gained 600’ of elevation. I was already exhausted, and wanted to turn back. My mind kept telling me I was tired (I wasn’t), thirsty (I wasn’t) and couldn’t go on (I could). I reminded myself it’s usually your mind that gives out long before your body does, and kept telling myself to go just a little bit further before deciding to turn back. This hike was very much a mental game, but I kept going. I just took a lot of breaks.

Just before treeline, at around 11600’ there’s an abandoned cabin that was cool to look at. When you get to the cabin keep heading east, as the trail becomes difficult to follow, but you’re almost to treeline.

Once at treeline a cairned route begins that leads for about a quarter of a mile. The rocks however, never ended. I followed the cairns up.

I could now see PT 13486 to the east.

There are several routes to get there. I took a high route on my way up, the gully on the way down. There were cliffs I was trying to avoid. This is the route I took as I ascended.

And some step-by-step pictures of the route, keeping high to avoid the steeper rocky sections

I kept rounding the hillside until I could see the Huron/13486 saddle. I headed for the saddle.

This now became a ridge hike. There were a few class 3 moves, and snow to make the route spicy.

I mostly stuck to the ridge. Here are some pictures of the route to the summit.

Here’s a look at the rest of the ridge. This is where it gets spicy. I stopped here for a bit because I met another climber on the trail, Larry, who’s a recent Bicentennial finisher (Congrats!!) We chatted for a bit, and I learned he was in more of a hurry than I was to get to another trailhead before dark, so I let him go ahead while I took a bit of a break. I checked my cell phone for service (none) and decided instead to play a bit of solitaire while I waited. After Larry summited, I was on my way again.

This was the hardest move for me. It was class 3, but the snow made it interesting. I went up to the right, came back down on the left

Here’s the final push to the summit

I summited PT 13486 at 3:30pm

PT 13486:

It was here I realized my negative thoughts had stopped as soon as I’d hit treeline. I guess having a visual of the route really helped clear my mind. I was glad I’d pushed on, even though it had already been a long day. I turned and headed back down the ridge to the Huron/13486 saddle.

Back on the saddle, I turned left and decided to take the gully down. I descended to the patch of tundra below, at about 12400’

Here’s looking back up at the gully I’d descended (which you could ascend as well instead of taking the higher route)

At 12,400’ I turned right, descended about another 200’, and stayed at that elevation until I made it back to the cairned area.

I was aiming for the trees to the west

I then picked up the cairned route back down to the trees and the trail

I followed the miners trail through the trees, back to the actual trail

Then followed the trail north back to the Huron/Lake Ann Trailhead

And took the road back to the lower Huron Trailhead

I made it back down to the lower trailhead at 7pm, making this a 14.11 mile hike with 3299’ of elevation gain in 9 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