I had just gotten back from summiting PT 13076, and I wasn’t feeling it today. I was tired and achy and sore, and just wanted to rest. I had some lunch, and about 2 hours later decided to do some scouting on Stony Pass Peak, to figure out how I wanted to summit it the next day. Well, suddenly I had a burst of energy, because instead of scouting it, I just summited the peak.
I could see Stony Pass Peak from my parking spot at Stony Pass.
I headed towards Stoney Pass Peak around 2pm. This is the overall route I took to get to the summit.
First, I headed southwest on the tundra towards the ridge
The terrain became rocky, but there were various social trails in the area, making navigation easy. I just kept heading southwest and up, following the social trails to the summit. There was talus, and it became rocky, but this was all class 2.
I summited Stony Pass Peak at 2:35am
Stony Pass Peak:
From the summit I could see the road and my truck parked below.
I made my way back down towards the road.
Then followed the road to my truck
I made it back to my truck at 3pm, making this a 1.5 mile hike with 618’ of elevation gain in 45 minutes.
I came back a month later and was successful in summiting P2. Details below.
Full disclosure, I did NOT summit P2. However, I came very close, and thought I’d share the information I have for those who might find it useful.
I camped at 11330’ of elevation, along the Rock Lake Trail that parallels Rock Creek in the basin just before Rock Lake.
The next morning I was on the trail at 6:30am, heading west. My goal was to gain this ridge, and I did it poorly. I spent way too much time route finding, so I’m going to try to make this easier for you. You need to ascend this ridge, but DO NOT do it here. There is a way to find a weakness and ascend here, which I did, but I was greeted with the steepest, worst scree I’ve ever encountered, where if I’d have fallen, I would have skidded all the way down, over the edge. It was dangerous, and put me at a too high position and I needed to descend anyway.
Instead, start out by crossing Rock Creek (I was able to jump across it) and head for the rocky section.
Parallel the rocky section until you come to just before the waterfall. Then turn left, and head up the scree to what looks like a solid rock wall. There is a very well-hidden access gully here, that will easily get you where you want to go.
Climb up this easy gully, and immediately turn right, and head towards a drainage.
When I made it to the drainage, I followed it west as far as it went, until I was on a small ridge parallelling a pond. There are a few game trails here that will lead you up. Stay in the drainage, which goes from rocky to grassy as it ascends.
I came to a ridge and turned left. Here I could see a rocky basin. I followed the basin southwest, left, until it ended.
From here you can see two gullies. One leads to P3, the other to P2. I went up the gully to the left, and came down the gully to the right. Both are loose and scree filled. The P2 gully had larger rocks, which would have made it better (for me) to ascend, and the P3 gully had more scree, which would have made it better (for me) to descend. Alas, I ascended the P3 gully, and descended the P2 gully.
Here are some pictures of the P3 gully. I ascended on scree, sticking close to the rock band, and headed towards the ridge.
Once on the ridge I turned left, and followed it northeast. While it looks daunting, this was all class 2 on stable rock, and not so stable rock.
Until I got to here. If you haven’t already, now is your time to put on your helmet. From here the rest of the route is exposed class 3 and class 4 climbing. I chose to stick to the ridge. Luckily, the rock here is solid and there are plenty of hand and footholds.
I stuck to the ridge here, so I won’t include direction lines, but I’ll show you a few pictures of this part of the ridge, which I considered class 3
Until I got to here. I felt this was class 4, and the crux of P3. This is the route I took, sticking a bit to the left as I felt there were more holds, but I can see how someone with a higher risk tolerance would have gone straight up the middle.
I could now see the summit of P3. This is the route I took.
I summited P3 at 9:45am
P3:
From the summit of P3, I made my way back to the ridge.
Back on the ridge, I followed it to the P3/P2 saddle
From the saddle, I headed up on talus and scree, following the ridge towards P2, but avoiding the large rock structures to the right.
I then came to a sloping section, with a false summit. I made my way towards the false summit
From the false summit, I could see the true summit of P2 in the distance.
I followed the ridge, and this is what I saw in front of me
The climbing wasn’t what bothered me here. It was that long, yellow rock slab. I’d heard it was maybe 40 feet, but being there in person, it looked double that. I downclimbed a bit to get a better view, and the view didn’t get any better. Pictures DO NOT do this slab and it’s exposure justice.
At this point I had to make a very difficult decision. I do a lot of crazy stuff while hiking solo, but it’s always within my abilities, and I try not to take unnecessary risks. This rock slab was an unnecessary risk, and that’s coming from someone who’s favorite 14er is Capitol because of the knife’s edge. I did not feel safe downclimbing this slab solo, or even with another person present, although I would have tried it going from the opposite direction if I didn’t need to downclimb it again. I had about a 75% certainty if I attempted to downclimb this slab, I would fall. And the exposure wasn’t pretty.
One of the reasons my husband encourages me to hike solo is he knows I don’t take unnecessary risks in the backcountry, and I want to come home safe to him. I also want to be a Grandma someday, and I can’t do that if I die.
I knew there was another way to summit by dropping down to the left, so I got out my cell phone and checked the weather. The 10% chance of rain after 12pm had now become 80% chance of thunderstorms. I wouldn’t have the time needed to route find my way to the summit of this peak and make it back to my tent in time before the storm came in.
So, I turned around at the final crux to the summit and headed back down. I did a lot of scouting around while I was up there and know how I want to attempt this peak next time (I’m thinking of dropping down to avoid the edge or coming in from a different angle). I’ll be back to summit this peak another way.
So, I turned around and headed back towards the P3/P2 saddle.
Just before the saddle I turned left, and took the P2 gully down into the rocky basin.
I then followed the basin back to the drainage, staying mostly to the right of the basin.
When I came to the drainage, I turned right followed it, staying to the left of the pond, back to the ledge, following game trails where I could find them.
Just before making it to the waterfall I headed right, found my access gully, and headed down.
I descended the rocks, then headed back to my campsite.
I made it back to my campsite at 1:30pm, making this a 6.61 mile hike with 2539’ of elevation gain and tons of route finding in 7 hours.
Oh, and that storm? It dumped about 4 inches of slush, rain, snow, and hail on top of my tent in about 2 hours. So now, I had another difficult decision to make: Stay there overnight and wake up at 5am to a tent frozen solid, pack it up, and hike out, or just hike back to Beartown now. For those of you who know me (and my Raynaud’s), you know what I did. I packed it up and headed back to Beartown, hiking in the dark to make it back to my truck in time for my work meeting in the morning. It was NOT a fun hike out, as the trails were now covered in slush (I slipped a few times in the granite rock sections) but I stayed (relatively) warm.
From the saddle of P3 and P2, I followed the ridgeline to 13190’, where you can see the false summit. From below the false summit, I went left (east) and found a gully. I descended this gully, but not all the way. Instead, I stayed high and traversed these rock outcroppings. This route is basically class 3 and choose your own adventure. I stayed high so as not to have to re-gain elevation, and this worked for me. Here are pictures of the route I took:
See this rock formation here? While it’s difficult to see from this angle, I’m nicknaming him “El Diablo”, because to me he looks like a lot of things, but also closely resembled my High School Mascot, the Diablo. Yes, my high school mascot is the devil. For middle school we were the Banditos (imagine Yosemite Sam as a Mexican, complete with the mustache and beard, bullet harnesses and a gun in each hand). Alas, after I went there the parents got upset and changed things and now they’re the “Leopards”. The parents keep trying to change the Diablo mascot as well, but the students won’t let them. In any event, I digress. I went to the right of El Diablo on my way in and used him as a spotting point on my way out. After passing El Diablo I could see a large gully to the right. I stayed high on class 3 terrain and climbed the gully, which brought me to the base of the rock slab.
From there, I turned left, and it’s a class 3 climb to the summit. I tried a lot of different routes that others said ‘went’, but I found climbing straight up the face was the easiest way to summit and stayed at easy class 3. Climbing straight up the face is easier than it looks, with lots of ledges. From there I was on a small ridge, and it was 10 feet or so of walking northeast to the summit. Here’s the overall route:
From my campsite at Rock Lake, I was up and on the trail at 7am, heading west towards the pond at 12000’
I skirted the pond to the left, and ascended on the tundra parallelling the small rock pile
At the top of this small pile of rocks was a much larger pile of rocks. I continued following them west to the Peters/Buffalo saddle.
At the saddle I turned left, and headed southwest up the slope to the ridge. This was 600’ of elevation through kitty-litter scree and talus in .2 miles. This was class 2+ choose your own adventure, but this is the basic route I took:
At the top of the ridge I turned left, and rock-hopped to the summit. This was all class 2 or easy class 3.
I summited Peters Peak at 8am
Peters Peak:
From Peters Peak, I could see PT 13229 to the northwest. I turned and headed back down the ridge, but not to the Buffalo Peak saddle. Instead, I followed the ridge west, all the way to the saddle of Peters Peak and PT 13229. This was rocky, but could all be kept class 2
From the Peters/13229 saddle, I looked for a yellow gully in the rock, and aimed for it. This is the basic route I took, all class 2 until the gully.
The gully itself goes at class 3, but you can find more stable (also class 3) rock about halfway up to the left. The gully itself was pretty stable, but there was scree littering the rocks. The goal is to gain the ridge.
Once on the ridge, I turned right, and followed it a short distance north. There were cairns here. It was rocky, and the rocks were loose.
At the top of the ridge there were more cairns, all going left, following the ridge west. The ridge was pretty flat, and there were several large cairns (most likely for the traverse). I wasn’t able to tell where the actual summit was, so I just hiked the entire rocky, class 2 ridge.
I summited PT 13229 around 9:15am
PT 13229:
I was not doing the traverse today. While the skies were currently clear, it would be pouring down rain in another 2 hours, and I knew I had to get back to camp. So, I turned and headed back towards the Peters/13229 saddle.
I headed south towards the yellow gully
Then took the yellow gully down to the 13229/Peters saddle
Once at the saddle, I re-ascended much of the ridge to Peters Peak, then descended to the northeast, avoiding cliffing out below the Peters/13229 saddle.
First, up the ridge
Then, down to the Buffalo/Peters saddle
Once at the saddle I turned right, and followed the drainage east back towards Rock Lake
I made it back to Rock Lake at 11am, making this a 4.1 mile hike with 1897’ of elevation gain in 4 hours.
I hiked into Rock Lake the day before, and met a few forest service workers doing trail maintenance along the trails. They were sawing up logs from trees that had fallen directly on the trail to make a clearer path. While I was very excited they were doing this, the trail in was the wettest and muddiest I’ve ever seen it. The entire trail was a river, several inches deep with water, making walking on the rock slabs slippery. Even the side social trails were full of water. In any event, when I got to Rock Lake I set up my campsite (150 feet from the water), filtered some water for the next day, and I dried out my shoes and socks.
I was up and on the trail at 6:30am. I skirted the lake to the left, and found a great trail on the small slope to the left of the lake that brought me to a trail that headed up to the pass. Once in the rocky section, this trail is very well cairned.
From the top of the pass, I would then lose 1000’ of elevation as I headed down towards Moon Lake. This is a very well marked trail that led me towards.
Just after passing by Moon Lake I crossed a creek and followed the trail left.
As soon as I came to a clearing, I left the trail to skirt the side of the mountain, doing my best to stay at around 11600’. If you pass the waterfall (you’ll notice it), you’ve gone too far. There are a few cairns here, but they are few and far between. I did my best to stay on game trails as I skirted the mountain, heading south.
I came to an unnamed pond, and skirted it to the right. There’s actually a really good game trail that will get you through the willows and into the upper basin. Just stay to the right of the creek.
Once in the upper basin, I followed it southwest. It’s marshy here, so watch your step.
I continued following the basin until I could see a ridge in front of me. I gained the ridge, and followed it left.
This brought me to another pond. From here I could see the rest of my route to the 13323/13350 saddle.
I aimed for the scree gully and then the grassy ledge. There are some game trails here, and a good one picks up once you’re on the slope that stays in-between rock formations and heads straight for the saddle. Here’s my overall route:
And some pictures of the route to the saddle:
Once at the saddle I turned right, and headed towards PT 13323. This was an easy hike on rocky tundra.
I summited PT 13323 at 10:15am
PT 13323:
To the southeast I could see PT 13350
So I headed back down to the saddle
Then followed the rocky, class 2 ridge to the summit of PT 13350
I summited PT 13350 at 10:50am
PT 13350:
This was an out and back hike for me, so I turned and headed northwest back to the saddle
Once at the saddle, I followed the game trail back to the scree, then the scree and talus back to the small pond.
Once at the pond, I followed the ridge down into the basin, following the creek
Just before the creek turns to do down to the pond, I picked up the game trail that would skirt me through the willows, down to the pond, and then back to curve around the hillside northeast.
I kept heading north, skirting the mountainside a bit to the west, towards the trail that would lead me back to Rock Lake.
Once on that trail, I followed it all the way back to Rock Lake
I made it back to Rock Lake at 2pm, making this a 11.6 mile hike with 4397’ of elevation gain in 7.5 hours from Rock Lake.
I started this hike from Beartown. I’ve made the drive into Beartown now 4 or 5 times, and from what I remember, the road and river crossings were better this time than my previous visits, but once I made it after the river crossings the road was much worse. It has rained a bunch recently, and all of the potholes were now lakes. From my parking spot at around 11250’, I headed southwest, following the 4WD road.
After hiking for about .4 miles, I came to a junction and turned left, heading towards the actual trailhead.
I was now at the trailhead for Trail 869. I followed this trail to treeline. The trail is class 1, except where there are downed trees and overgrowing vegetation covering the trail. Then some route finding is required, but the trail always picks back up again. Once above treeline, the trail is easy to follow.
At treeline, I continued following the trail south
The trail was headed towards the saddle of 13318 and 13351, but before reaching the saddle I aimed for this point in the ridge. There are game trails to get you there, but the route is pretty obvious.
Once on the ridge, I turned right and headed west. Here’s my overall route to the summit. This is all class 2, with some scree mixed in. The boulders can be avoided on class 2 terrain, but be prepared for lots of kitty litter. Look for an access route to the left and center of the boulders, and you’ll find a scree path.
When I made it to the ridge, I realized I was at a false summit, turned left, and boulder-hopped to the true summit.
I summited PT 13,318 at 7:15am
PT 13,318:
My next goal was PT 13351, to the east. The summit is hidden in this picture by a false peak, but this was my route to the summit. I curved to the right of the peak, avoiding the rocky areas by staying on tundra, then headed for a small saddle.
First, to make my way down to the 13318/13351 saddle.
Then I headed up the slope, staying on tundra, circling around until I could see a small saddle at the ridge.
Once on the ridge, I turned right, and headed east towards the rocky area.
This rocky area was class 3, and once again choose your own adventure. The rocks were loose, and there seemed to be many options to make it to the summit. This is the route I chose:
I summited PT 13,351 at 8:30am
PT 13,351:
My next goal was Ute Ridge, to the northeast
Fist, I’d have to follow the ridge southeast and gain this point before heading down to the 13351/Ute Ridge saddle.
I headed towards the unnamed point. A few thoughts on this ridge: It’s rocky, and loose. It can be kept class 2 if you stick to the right of the ridge, class 3 ridge proper. Once again, ALL of the rocks are loose.
I was able to follow scree and tundra down to the 13351/Ute Ridge saddle. Now is a good time to look at the route you want to take to gain the ridge. I stayed below the rocks, but was able to find game trails through the scree to the ridge. The ridge proper has a lot of unavoidable rock formations, so I wanted to stay below them until they were gone before gaining the ridge.
And now to gain the ridge while avoiding the rock formations
And then following the ridge proper.
I came to a rocky area, and found a game trail up to the left
Then I continued following the tundra towards Ute Ridge
This next section is a little tricky when you’re down in it, so now’s a good chance to take a look at your route. The rocks here are loose. I chose to go right of the ridge when I had the chance. Just before the summit is a large rock band. There were several chimneys there to use as access. I ended up choosing the third chimney I came to, although they all had cairns indicating they “went”. If you want to avoid the chimneys altogether, you can continue further right and use class 2 terrain (although it looks like steep scree is involved).
Here’s the route I took:
This is the chimney I took:
At the top of the chimney I headed back towards the ridge, and followed the rocks to the summit. The boulders at the top are so large you can walk around them to the summit.
I summited Ute Ridge at 10:30am
Ute Ridge:
And now to head back down towards the chimney
Down the chimney, and back towards the 13551/Ute Ridge Saddle
From the saddle of 13551/Ute Ridge, my intention was to make it back to the ridge and the trail I’d hiked in on from Beartown. The trail goes along much of the ridge, so I just needed to aim for the ridge. You can do this by aiming for the gully, or taking the slope. I took the slope to avoid the willows. Once I was down in the gulch, I gained about 950’ to the ridge.
Here are some pictures of the route:
Heading west on the tundra eventually brought me back to the easily identifiable trail that would lead me back to Beartown
Once back on the 4WD road, I followed it back to my parking spot
I made it back to my truck at 1:15pm, making this a 12.29 mile hike with 4438’ of elevation gain in 8 hours, 15 minutes
For those of you interested, this is what the second river crossing looked like in late August of 2024:
I started this hike at 5am from the Rock of Ages Trailhead. The trailhead has a porta-potty, and room for a couple dozen vehicles, but the road in is at minimum high clearance (with a creek crossing).
The trailhead starts at the south end of the parking area. I took the trail to the left, the Rock of Ages Trail, at the junction immediately following the entrance to the trailhead.
I followed the Rock of Ages trail for 1.5 miles
After following the Rock of Ages trail for 1.5 miles, I came to a junction, and started following the Elk Creek Trail east.
Here is where the trail got interesting. I kept gaining, then losing elevation, then gaining it back again. I knew this would be frustrating on the way out (it was). I continued following the class 1 trail
I then came to another junction, but the sign was broken. I followed the trail to the left.
I followed these class 1, well defined trails for 4.3 miles, until I came to the base of a gully running down from Boskoff Peak
Here I could clearly see Boskoff, and it’s ridge in front of me. I left the trail, and headed southeast up the tundra slope towards the ridge.
Once on the ridge, I turned left, and followed the tundra northeast. I pretty much stuck to the ridge to summit. Here’s the overall route:
I followed the ridge until the tundra ended.
The tundra ended at the base of a rock formation and several gullies. I took the right gully up, the left one down. Both were class 2. The right gully was more stable, but the left gully made for some fun scree-surfing on the way down.
Here are some pictures of the right gully
Both gullies end at the same place. From here, there’s a well defined game trail on the talus leading northeast along the ridge. I followed the talus trail until it ended at another pile of rocks.
I went a little to the right, hopping over loose talus doing a couple of easy class 3 moves, then aimed for the ridge.
The rest of the hike is class 2, all the way to the summit. Just be careful, the boulders and talus here are loose. I wouldn’t want to do this ridge if the rocks were wet, as I relied a lot on the traction of my shoes to keep balance. I followed the ridge to the summit.
I summited Boskoff Peak at 7:50am
Boskoff Peak:
Now to head back. This was an out and back hike for me, so I turned and headed southwest down the rocky ridge
Then back down to the talus
And back on the talus to the gully. This time I took the gully to my right down, scree surfing to the tundra.
Back on the tundra, this is the route I took back to the trail below.
When I made it back to the trail, I turned right, and followed Elk Creek Trail back to Rock of Ages Trail
I then went left, and followed the Rock of Ages trail north back to the trailhead
I made it back to the trailhead at 10:45am, making this a 10.63 mile hike with 3398’ of elevation gain in 5 hours, 45 minutes.
There were only two other vehicles in the lot when I parked at the Blue Lakes Trailhead. It was raining, so I waited for the rain to stop, and was on the trail at 5am. The trailhead starts at the south end of the parking area, and is clearly marked.
Immediately after the trailhead there’s a junction. I went right, taking the Blue Lakes Trail.
This was the only junction until I made it to Blue Lakes. I followed the trail 3.5 miles to Blue Lakes. About 2.5 miles into the hike it started raining again, and I had to take shelter for a bit under a tree. However, the trail was class 1, and easy to follow the entire way.
There was an easy creek crossing
And then I continued my way up to Blue Lakes
Once I arrived at Blue Lakes, there were several social trails to campsites. I stayed on the trail closest to the lake, skirting the west side, towards a creek flowing into Blue Lakes.
At the last campsite before the creek, I followed the drainage on the right side of the creek up to treeline.
Once at treeline, or at least very close in a wide open space, I crossed the creek and headed west up the slope, keeping the creek to my right.
At the top of the slope I continued heading west, staying on the tundra. You can go right and use the talus, but it’s going to be a LONG day of talus, and I’d rather use the tundra when available.
At about 12330’, I went right and dropped about 50 feet down to the talus. There is a game trail here on the talus that will bring you to the upper basin.
Once in the upper basin, there will be an obvious drainage to the right. I went through the drainage, rock hopped for a bit, and then ascended 600’ of the worst talus ever to a gully. I put on my helmet and started up. Here’s the overall route:
As I ascended further up the gully, the talus became looser, but there were also areas of sand mixed with scree. The rain that morning had turned the sand into a thicker substance, which gave me some much needed traction. When you enter the gully, stay to the LEFT. I tried to stay to the right because it looked more stable, but found I was unable to cross over to the left when the time came, because I was now in an hourglass, and traversing it meant rocks above and below me would give way in a rockslide towards the base of the gully, like a funnel (or an hourglass). After the first few attempts at traversing from up high and sliding several feet before stopping, I downclimbed and re-traced my steps up this part of the gully, sticking to climbers left. Also, if you’re doing this with other people (in your group or not) stay clear when someone is in the gully, and even if you don’t think anyone is below you on your descent, yell to see if anyone is there. Large rocks will fall as you ascend and descend (there’s nothing you can really do to prevent it).
Keep heading left, until the scree ends
Once the scree ends, if you haven’t already, now is the time to put on your helmet. The rest of the summit is class 3 and class 4 on the loosest terrain I’ve ever experienced. NOTHING is stable. Trust nothing above, in front of, or below you without attempting holds several times to make sure they are solid. There is large kitty litter on solid rocks, loose talus, and rock slabs that look stable but are hanging precariously, especially from above.
From the top of the gully I headed east, to follow the ridge. Here’s the route I took:
You should now have a good view of the class 4 chimney to the summit. This is a very loose chimney, and it stops halfway and starts again. Even the large boulders are loose, so be careful with hand and footholds until you’re sure it won’t move. I started out by climbing straight up the center, until I came to a “y” where both sides looked perilous. I decided the right side looked more protected. The were both loose, sometimes with just large wobbly boulders stacked on top of each other to climb, and sometimes what looked like 10 foot boulders sitting atop rocks the size of a microwave. Between the two chimneys, there’s probably 40 feet of climbing. I wouldn’t trust an anchor here: to many of the boulders are loose. (There weren’t any anchors set up).
Here’s the overall route I took:
And some closer pictures of the chimney(s)
Chimney 1:
Chimney 2
From the top of the second chimney to the east you can see the route you scramble up to the summit
But wait! There’s more! Keep heading east, and climb down and then up this rock slab covered in kitty litter. It’s not tall, maybe 7 feet, but another fun surprise!
And then it’s a quick walk to the actual summit, on… you guessed it, more talus!
I summited S4 at 9:40am
S4:
And now to head back. I re-traced my steps to the chimney(s)
Safely down the chimney(s), I made my way back to the top of the gully.
Here are some pictures of the descent down the gully
And the route down into the basin
Once in the rocky basin, I stayed to the right of the creek and descended on the talus to the tundra towards Blue Lakes.
I headed east back to treeline and crossed the creek
Then headed north back towards the Blue Lakes Trail
And followed the trail in the rain all the way back to the trailhead
I made it back to the trailhead at 12:30pm, making this an 11.57 mile hike with 4082’ of elevation gain in 7.5 hours
I know most people do Fortress and Precipice together in one day, but for personal reasons, I wanted to spend more than one day in the basin, and these were the only two peaks I had left, so I made it a two-day trip. I parked at the Wetterhorn Basin Trailhead, at about 10750’. The road to get in is mostly 2WD, until the last 2 miles, which are 4WD and requires clearance. Here’s where you park for the 2WD trailhead
And here’s a picture of the Wetterhorn Basin Trailhead parking area. The road in was worse than I remembered from two years or so ago.
From the parking area, here’s a visual of the route to the ridge
The route starts to the north of the parking area, parallel to the “Wetterhorn Basin” sign, at the drainage. I headed east up the drainage.
There’s a faint trail here, that I kept finding and losing, but as long as you stay to the left of the drainage and right of the hillside, heading east, you’re going in the right direction.
After hiking for about half a mile, there will be a large tree blocking the trail (the trail is obvious here). Climb over the tree, and head north/northeast, looking for a dirt gully. There are a few cairns in this area to help, but I wouldn’t rely on them.
I found the dirt gully and headed up, towards the ridge. This dirt is very steep and very slippery. I’d recommend wearing microspikes for traction. I gained about 300’ of elevation to 11400’.
At the top of the gully, around 11400’, a trail will pick up that heads right (east) along the ridge. There are cairns here to help get you to treeline, and a faint game trail to follow. There are also cairns in the clearings (but I didn’t find any in the treed areas).
Once at treeline, here’s a visual of the route to the saddle
First, I went around this large rock, which has a cairn on it. It’s important to remember because it’ll be your exit point on your descent.
Then I headed northeast, across the rock/scree field, aiming just to the right of the caves in the distance.
At the base of the caves, a faint trail picks up, and you should be able to spot cairns in the distance to your right. Put on your helmet, and follow cairns through the class 3 rocky terrain.
When the rocks end, so do the cairns, but from here the route is easier to figure out. You’ll want to dip down a bit into this drainage, and ascend on the tundra towards the large rock towers
Stay to the right of the towers, aiming for this small saddle
When you hit this small saddle, turn left, and head towards the window in the rock ahead of you. There will be a very good trail leading the way.
Climb up and over the center of the window. This is class 3, and there are plenty of hand and footholds. It’s probably no more than 7 feet high. Just be careful, as the holds are rocks in held together by loose dirt, and could come loose.
Once you climb through the notch, turn right, and ascend this hill. I did my best here to stay on the scree and tundra, away from the rocks.
From here I mainly stuck to the ridge, except for two times when I went left to keep this class 2. There is a visible (yet faint at times) trail from here to the summit. Here are some pictures of my route up the ridge.
Here is what I thought was the summit. It’s not. This was the second time I went left, around the block on a nice trail
And from here I could see the true summit, which was an easy hike on a well-worn trail
I summited Precipice Peak at 7:45am
Precipice Peak:
This was an out and back hike for me, so I turned around and made my way back to the false summit
And then back down the ridge to the notch
I climbed through the notch
And made my way back down to the tundra
Where the tundra stopped at the rocks I turned right, and headed back down towards the basin. Also, from here I could see the parking area (circled in red)
I made my way towards the rocky area, and followed the cairns back down into the basin
I was aiming for that large boulder in the distance
Once at the boulder, I picked up the trail through the trees, and followed it until about 11400’
At 11400’ I found that dirt gully, and headed southwest towards the drainage, losing 300’ of elevation.
Once I was close to the drainage, I turned right, and followed a slight trail west towards the parking area
I made it back to my truck at 9:30am, making this a 4 mile hike with 2364’ of elevation gain in 3 hours, 45 minutes.
I parked at the Wetterhorn Basin Trailhead, and was greeted to a herd of cows. They were all over the basin, and would be my companions for the next few days. They had a penchant for licking my truck. The drive in is 2WD on a dirt road until 2 miles before the trailhead, where it becomes 4WD and requires clearance. None of these pictures are as clear as I’d like. The fires weren’t helping in the morning, and the sun wasn’t helping with shadows in the early afternoon. I know not to head east early in the morning, but I did it anyway. Sorry!
I was on the trail at 6am, following Wetterhorn Basin Trail No 226 south for just under 1.5 miles.
After hiking for 1.4 miles, and at around 11050’, I came to a drainage, and followed it east
I came to an obvious “y” in the drainage, and went left, still following a drainage.
The drainage became narrower, so now I hiked to the left, trying to stay on tundra, but mostly staying on rocks
This next part is difficult to explain. You’re going to WANT to head straight up to the rock formation in front of you, but don’t do that. Instead, continue following the drainage, but aim to the right of the rock formation.
You’re trying to avoid the mess to the right of this picture… loose kitty litter on solid rock
Now is the time to put on your helmet. Ahead there’s a more solid gully to climb. You can climb either to the left or right, I chose right.
At the top of this gully is another gully to the northeast.
This one was more difficult then the last. Solid on the sides with large scree down the center. I went straight up the center
And then walked on tundra to the ridge.
Once on the ridge, I turned right and followed it east, staying below the ridge. I noticed a cairn that marked an ok game trail, and followed that trail as it skirted below the ridge. The cairns especially helped in this area.
At 12700’, just before the rock formations directly in front of the trail, I left the trail and headed northeast for the ridge once again, this time on scree.
Back on the ridge, I followed it east towards the summit. The terrain here became slippery. Rocks the size of softballs and footballs were held together by dirt, and that’s what I was walking on. There were steep runnels on either side of the trail, which at times was less than 2 feet wide. A slip would have been dangerous here, on either side. This was all class 2, but I’d advise wearing microspikes for traction.
I summited Fortress Peak at 8:15am. There was a summit register in one of those pipe tubes, but the paper inside was so wet I didn’t want to disturb it, so I left it alone.
Fortress Peak:
Here’s what some of that exposure looks like
Now to head back down. This was an out and back hike for me, so I just retraced my steps, back down the sketchy section with no traction just below the summit.
Then I hiked down the ridge until I was parallel with the rock formations on my left (circled). Here I turned and headed southwest towards the game trail.
I then followed the game trail south, back to the gullies. I descended near this big rock (circled).
Now for the second gully.
At the base of the second gully, I headed west towards the tundra ridge that would bring me to the drainage.
And now to follow the drainage back to Wetterhorn Basin Trail No 226
Back on Wetterhorn Basin Trail No 226, I followed it 1.4 miles north back to the trailhead.
Where the cows were still licking my truck
I made it back down to the trailhead at 10:30am, making this a 5.76 mile hike with 2482’ of elevation gain in 4.5 hours.
Here are pictures of the start of the 4WD road, and where to park if you have a 2WD vehicle
I arrived at the Herman Gulch Trailhead and was on the trail at 4:30am. The trailhead has spots for dozens of vehicles (if not more), and the trail is clearly marked.
I followed the Herman Gulch trail for less than a quarter of a mile, until I came to the junction with Waterous Gulch Trail, turned left, and continuing following the class 1, well-defined Herman Gulch Trail all the way to Herman Lake.
It was at about here I encountered a porcupine, which immediately turned and ran away from me.
I continued following the trail, skirting the south side of Herman Lake
I followed this trail as it headed southwest towards the saddle of The Citadel and PT 12671. Here’s where I was heading:
There’s a pretty good trail that goes MOST of the way, crossing the creek that flows out of Herman Lake and through the willows. I lost a little bit of elevation during this part, but it was negligible.
At about 11970’ I came to another large creek, and here I left the trail to cross the creek
From here the trail is difficult to follow, but there are plenty of cairns to follow to get you to the saddle.
Now on the saddle, I turned right and headed west up the ridge, on a good game trail that was easy to follow.
Now to make my way towards the saddle. The route will be obvious.
If you haven’t already, now is a good time to put on your helmet. From the saddle, head northeast and look for a solid band of rock. This rock band is important, because the gullies are miserable. Once on the rock band, ascend towards the tundra, then follow the line of tundra northeast. Once you’re on the tundra, you can stay on tundra until the top. This is class 3, and a slip would have you falling quite a ways, like hundreds of feet before you stop, so take care in this area. Here’s a visual representation of how I climbed from two different angles. It’s probably a good idea to start memorizing the route as you’re hiking up the ridge from the saddle of The Citadel and PT 12671.
And some pictures of my route:
From here, to the north, I saw what I thought was the summit. It wasn’t, but I headed towards it anyways.
I made my way to the false summit, and could see the true summit to the west.
So, I downclimbed a bit, and headed towards the saddle ahead of me.
At this saddle, there was what I would consider a class 4 chimney to downclimb. I sat there for about 10 minutes, waiting for the wind to die down before downclimbing. The wind was insane, and I had to hide behind rocks to get away from it. The downclimb was much more difficult than the upclimb, as it was committing, and I wasn’t sure there would be adequate footholds down below where I couldn’t see (there were). Here’s what the wide chimney looked like to downclimb. It was probably 10-15 feet of downclimbing.
Now to head to the saddle, and summit the peak.
The summit was a short class 3 scramble to the summit block, which is a bit exposed. It was EXTREMELY windy today, and I had to hold on tight to keep from being blown over, but I was able to summit.
I summited The Citadel at 7:45am. Sorry for the terrible picture and less than stellar video… I only took 1 photo, because I was afraid of losing my phone to the wind, and there wasn’t much room to move around on that summit block without falling (once again, wind).
The Citadel:
Here you can see the false summit to the east
I made my way back to the saddle between The Citadel and the false summit
Here’s a look at your options to upclimb. There are two, I took the one to the left do downclimb and upclimb.
And now to make my way back to the grassy ledge. There’s a cairn indicating where to descend.
And now to downclimb the grassy ledge. Once again, I stayed on the tundra until I reached the rock rib, then headed for the saddle to the right.
I was now back on a trail, and followed it to the saddle of The Citadel and PT 12671.
Here’s an overview of my hike to Herman Lake from the saddle. This was on a mostly class 1 trail, with cairns to help when needed.
Back at Herman Lake, I followed the Herman Gulch trail east back to the trailhead. You’ll know you’re getting close when you can hear the illustrious sounds of I70 in the distance.
I made it back to my truck at 10:30am, making this an 11.45 mile hike with 3255’ of elevation gain in 6 hours.
Wild Wanderer 