lulu gulch – 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!

Huron Peak – 14,003, Browns Peak – 13,523, PT 13462, Middle Mountain – 13,060, & Cross Mountain – 12,889

RT Length: 13.83 Miles

Elevation Gain: 4811’

There was a storm predicted for this weekend, so I set out to try to get this loop in before the snow hit. I had no trouble driving the 2WD dirt road all the way to Winfield, even though it was icy in spots.

Once I made it to the 4WD road it became icy. I decided to park in the dispersed camping area and hike along the road. There are several dispersed camping areas here, and plenty of parking.

I put on my microspikes at the truck and didn’t take them off the entire hike (although they were overkill for over half of the hike). I started out following the 4WD road southwest. It quickly became icy and I was glad for the spikes. I could also hear owls on either side of the trail. They were hooting, calling to each other back and forth. We’ve recently had an owl take up residence in our backyard and the calls were similar, so I’m guessing they were great horned owls. I also heard a chirping in-between calls. I’m not sure what animal the chirping belonged to, but it happened every time an owl’s call ended, and before the next one began. In any event, the sounds kept me occupied as I hiked in the dark.

I followed the 4WD road for 2 miles to the upper trailhead (Lake Ann). Here the trail splits. I took the well marked ‘Huron Trail’ that went left up the mountainside.

The Huron Trail is a well marked and easy to follow class 1 trail that takes you all the way to Huron Peak. This is also a well documented trail, so I’ll just add a few photos.

Once at the saddle the trail became increasingly icy, and I was glad to be wearing my microspikes. Also, one of them broke (I continued to wear it anyway. The other one broke as well later on, but microspikes are easily fixable so I wasn’t too worried).

I summited Huron Peak at 7:45am

Huron Peak:

From the summit I had a great view of all the other peaks I intended to hike on this loop. Here’s the overall route, which consists of a nice ridge hike

I turned around and headed back to the Browns/Huron saddle, and then over to Browns Peak. I summited the point here on my way over to Browns, but that’s unnecessary, as it’s not ranked and just adds elevation (the elevation part was why I summited the point)

I summited Browns Peak at 9:10am. Browns Peak is unranked.

Browns Peak:

Here’s a look back on the route to Browns from Huron

From the summit of Browns I could see my next 3 summits, as well as the trail I intended to take back down

It was a simple ridge hike to the saddle and then back up to PT 13462

There was a small false summit before the actual summit

I summited PT 13462 at 9:40am

PT 13462:

Here’s looking back at Huron Peak and Browns Peak

The hike over to Middle Mountain B was also a simple ridge hike. Here’s the route

I summited Middle Mountain at 10:10am (also unranked)

Middle Mountain:

Here’s looking back on the route so far

It was still early in the day so I decided to head over to Cross Mountain. This is another unranked peak, but it’s named, so I didn’t want to leave it out on today’s hike. It was a quick and easy hike northeast over to Cross Mountain.

I summited Cross Mountain at 10:35am

Cross Mountain:

Here’s a look back at the other peaks I summited this morning

I was making this a loop, which meant I needed to re-summit Middle Mountain, turn right and head northwest down the ridge to the 4WD road. Here’s an overview of the route

First, I made my way back to Middle Mountain

Once I’d re-summited Middle Mountain I turned right and headed northwest down the ridge, aiming for the 4WD road

Then I followed the road back to my truck. Here’s an overview:

A word of caution here: the 4WD road isn’t truly a road for most of the way up the side of this mountain. It looks to be an old mining road that hasn’t been used in many years, and has experienced rockslides and avalanches, turning the road into more of a trail down the mountain and into the gulch. In other words, if you have a 4WD vehicle, or even a motorcycle, don’t plan on driving it up this road. Evidence:

Once down in Lulu Gulch the 4WD road picks up again, and is easy to follow.

Here’s a look at the hike down from the ridge

The 4WD road was indeed easy to follow, but it seemed to go on and on. And on. And on. I was very happy with my choice to summit Huron first today, as this was a very long slog back to the main 4WD road and I would have been terribly bored following this road as it switchbacked (needlessly?) down the mountainside. It kept going, and going, and going. I seriously wanted to just cut the switchbacks and make it a straight line (but didn’t)

I was thrilled when I reached the main road

Here’s looking back at the turnoff (this is what you see when hiking in, you can go straight to the Huron Trail or left to follow the mining road and summit Middle Mountain first)