Tag: rock creek trailhead

Keller Mountain – 13,080

RT Length:  11.89 miles

Elevation Gain:  4086’

I parked at the Rock Creek Trailhead at 5am, and the parking lot, which holds about 20 vehicles total if everyone parks nice, was already full.  I’m guessing all the vehicles were from weekend backpackers (I arrived on a Sunday morning).  The drive in is mostly 2WD on a dirt road, but you’ll want high clearance for the last quarter mile or so.  I saw someone trying to head down in a Honda Odyssey who was having major issues (although it was probably just the driver, not the vehicle).

I was on the trail at 5:30am.  The trail starts at the east end of the parking area.

I followed this trail for 2.3 miles, headed west, and staying straight at the first junction to stay on North Rock Creek Trail No. 46.

After hiking for over 2 miles on this class 1 trail, I turned right, and started bushwhacking northeast to the ridge.  There were a lot of downed trees in this area, so navigation was an adventure.  I just kept heading northeast, gaining 760’ of elevation in .7 miles as I made my way to 10900’

At 10900’ I came across a well-established game trail, and followed it west towards treeline.

At 11400’ the trail fizzled out, but the route was obvious.  I was headed southwest, following the ridge to treeline.

At treeline my next goal was to ascend the tundra and then rocky slope, still headed southwest.  The rocks here were solid, and easy to navigate.  I just kept following the rocky, class 2 ridge.

 

If you get here and think “Wow!  That was almost too easy!” it’s time to strap on your helmet, because you’re only at PT 12847, and the rest of the route is about to get class 3.  Here is the real summit of Keller Mountain, a mile off in the distance and a fun ridge to get there.

First, I had to get around this point.  Going up is straightforward, and I stuck to the ridge.  Going down, however, was a bit more challenging in the route-finding department. You can go directly up and over this class 3 ridge, or descend to 12750’ and keep this section class 2 by skirting the ridge.

I took the ridge on my ascent, and skirted it on my decent.  Here are some pictures of this ridge. At times I dipped down to the left (never to the right) to ascend on rocky tundra.

The descent off this ridge was a little more challenging, as there were gullies to navigate that had recent rockfall, and were unstable.  I stuck to the left side of the ridge all but in one obvious spot, where I dipped to the right and re-ascended to this small saddle.

Now the real fun begins.  There are several more gullies to navigate, but luckily here, I found a few cairns.  Once again, I stayed to the left of the ridge.  I kept wanting to head back to the ridge, but found the gullies and large rock outcroppings kept keeping me about 50 feet below the ridge proper, so every time I’d make it to the ridge, another gully or rock outcropping would pop up and I’d have to descend again.  Here are some pictures of my route along the ridge (red circles are cairns).

Here’s a picture of the final gully, the only one filled with scree.  You’ll see a cairn off in the distance here on the tundra ahead of you on the hillside, but don’t aim for it (circled in red).  Go around the rock outcropping and ascend the gully instead.  It keeps you from some sketchy stuff below. 

At the top of this last gully I turned left, and followed the ridge west, and then southwest to the summit of Keller Mountain.  This part was all class 2.  There was no summit cairn, but there was a summit register here

I summited Keller Mountain at 9:15am

Keller Mountain:

Here’s a look back at that ridge, and the route I took to get to the summit.  Notice how you don’t want to dip too low on the ridge, due to the chasm below.

This was an out and back hike for me, so I headed back to the false summit, and descended the ridge back to the gullies

By now I’d had enough of this fun ridge route finding and decided to stay at 12750’ and skirt this part of the ridge, keeping the rest of the hike class 2.

Back on the ridge, I followed it to the top of PT 12847

And then back down to treeline

Once at treeline, I followed the ridge northeast until I came back to the game trail, then followed the game trail to 10900’

At 10900’ I turned and headed southeast down the hillside, aiming for the North Rock Trail No 46 I knew would be below, bushwhacking through grass taller than I was and tons of downed trees. 

Back on the trail, I turned left and followed it just over 2 miles east/northeast back to the trailhead.

I made it back to the trailhead at 12:30pm, making this an 11.89 mile hike with 4086’ of elevation gain in 7 hours.

On to the next trailhead!

Hunts Peak – 13,071

RT Length:  6.79 miles

Elevation Gain: 3528’

I’d attempted this peak last week (along with 2 others), but the gate had been closed just off the highway, just as the gates for the other two peaks had been.  I was super bummed, and since all 3 of my potential peaks for the day had been shut down, I went home.  (I leave my plan a, b, and c on the counter and if they all fail I go home because I solo and want to make sure someone knows where I’m at when I’m adventuring). 

The gate to Hunts Peak said it was subject to seasonal closures, but didn’t have a reopen date.  All the other gates said they were closed due to Sage Grouse mating/nesting/hatching season, and opening on May 15th, so I crossed my fingers the gate would be open today (May 16th). 

I didn’t have a plan b today (mainly because I had a short window:  my youngest has prom tonight), so I was thrilled to find the gate open. 

From 285 it’s a 3.65 mile drive east on 980 to the good campsite. There are a few potential turn offs, but stay on 980.

At the junction of 980 and 982 you can either camp, or drive the .6 miles southeast and park just before the trailhead.  Here’s the sign where the camping area is, and a view of the camping area (on the right).

Notes about this section if you choose to drive further:  it’s narrow, there isn’t a spot to turn around/let someone pass, it can be muddy, and only 2 vehicles will fit at the parking area at the hill above the trailhead, so choose wisely depending on the day of the week you’re there and the time of day you’re entering.  I have a 4WD vehicle, but didn’t need to put it into 4WD (good thing too, because my 4WD is currently out and I have a new truck on order that unfortunately won’t be here until the middle of summer:  this seriously messes with my mountaineering plans!). Here are some pictures of the road

I parked my truck just before the second stream crossing at the top of a small hill.  I’d advise doing this, especially if you don’t have 4WD (when I arrived it was dark and I didn’t want to chance it in my truck’s current condition).  I parked and was on the trail around 4:40am.  This was by far the warmest start to a hike I’ve had so far this year:  45 degrees at the trailhead!  I opted not to put on my snow pants and was on my way (something I’d regret later).  It was a short distance to the trailhead, and the creek was easy to cross.

I walked around the closed gate and followed the old road.

The road was easy to follow northeast

It was obvious this road hasn’t been used by vehicles since the fire, because there were downed trees all over the road.  There was a little bit of snow as well, but totally manageable without traction.

Eventually the ‘road’ fizzled out.  I followed the contour of South Rock Creek and then the mountainside as it headed east.   In the daylight the route to the ridge is easy to see

I followed the drainage as far as I could, then headed east to gain the ridge.  This was steep, but the bushwhacking was minimal due to the fire

I gained the ridge, and followed it southeast over this hump

I had a good view of Hunts Peak at this point

The rest of the route was straightforward:  I went southeast over the hump, and then followed the ridge east to the summit

It was easy to avoid most of the snow, and what was unavoidable was consolidated

There was a short trek southeast to the actual summit

I summited Hunts Peak at 7:10am

Hunts Peak:

It was very cold and very windy.  I regretted not wearing my snow pants now.  Pulsing my fingers, I descended the way I’d hiked in.  Advice here:  the ridges look similar, especially if you’re summiting in the early morning/dark.  Be sure of your route down!  Here’s the route back

Back over the bump

Here was where I encountered the most snow of the day.  It was mostly consolidated, with the odd postholing up to my thigh

Now it was back down the ridge and down the gully, back to the old 4WD road.

Once back on the 4WD road it was easy to follow it back to the gate, keeping South Rock Creek to my right

At the gate I turned right and followed the road back to my truck.

I made it back to my truck at 9am, making this a 6.79 mile hike with 3582’ of elevation gain in 4 hours, 20 minutes.

Here’s the easy part of the dirt road on the way out.  I didn’t see another person/vehicle/grouse all day.  I did see a few antelope though.