Huron - Favorite Route

[DenneyR]

Hey there fellow climbers.

I'm heading up Huron this summer. I see 2 routes posted, North Ridge and Southwest Slopes.
I'm trying to decide which route to take and I'm soliciting opinions.

North ridge is shorter, probably more well defined but appears a bit steeper(more switchbacks) and is probably more crowded.
Southwest Slopes is longer (about 2 miles round trip) but seems to be a gentler climb but it seems not as well traveled and trail finding may be a bit of a challenge.
It looks like the final pitch is pretty much the same challenge on both routes.
I'll be hiking the end of July, if that makes a difference

Which would you recommend?
Is one more scenic than the other?
Should I ascend one route and descend another?
I'm pretty much a novice and will be hiking solo,
should I not try to be so adventurous and just stick to the standard route (North Ridge)?

Thanks for the input

[madeinus]

I ascended the northwest route , and followed the north ridge over Browns Peak and Middle Mtn. Great views of the 3 apostles. There's a good, distinct old 4x4 road that comes off of Middle Mtn that meets back up with the northwest route shortly before the trailhead. I also was solo; great loop hike. Also, once you leave Huron towards the others you'll most likely have solitude.

[Jim Davies]

You should stick to the standard (north ridge) route unless you can confidently make this decision based on your experience. The other route listed on this site is rougher and longer, and not appropriate for a novice soloer. Note that this southwest route is not the same as the north ridge madeinus is referring to - that route follows the north ridge all the way back to the road, rather than taking the nice well-constructed standard route trail.

Roach's book calls the standard route "Northwest Slopes", whereas 14ers.com calls the same route "North Ridge". Some potential for confusion here...

[peter303]

I'd recommend the classic northwest route(corrected direction) from Winfield for a first ascent of Huron
based on your 14er experience level. It is well-marked and well-traveled, so hard to get into trouble on it.
The chief difficulty is whether your vehicle can cross the 4WD road part to the close-in trailhead.
The sedan trailhead at Winfield adds an easy 4 miles and 90 minutes to the hike.

Almost any 14er hike is very scenic, including these two, once you get above the treeline.

[Jim Davies]

Just to clarify the "southwest" route is NOT the standard well-developed CFI trail route, but is a longer route that follows the valley up to Hamilton and then up talus slopes to the ridge south of the summit.

[jrbren_vt]

FWIW, I was (and still am) relatively inexperienced with Colorado terrain (but have 20+ years of hiking experience elsewhere), so I opted for the standard route up & down. If I had it to do over again I would do the Brown's peak route (madeinus's route in reverse, I think in Roaches book he refers to it as "tour de Huron") . The standard route is fantastic, but I like loops and the ridge looked fantastic as well and I would still do the standard route on descent.

However if you have little back country experience I would stick to the standard route. Great mountain by any route. The road in makes a nice warm up. I would recommend parking at the 2W drive trail head, make the experience longer.

I later did La Plata which offers great views of the upper portion of the standard route, which you can see in this photo, which also shows Brown's peak and the adjoining ridge to Huron. (Click on it to blow it up to see the trail). This was in mid July, 2009.

[DenneyR]

ok, I'm seeing a bit of confusion here.......

I will begin at the Winfield trailhead (the car trailhead at 10,250' not the 4WD trailhead at 10,600')

Roach labels the standard route as the Northwest Slope leaving the 4WD road just past the Service Closure Gate at 10,600 feet.
14er's.com labels this standard route as North Ridge. ( Roach labels North Ridge as a route beginning .7 miles from the Winfield trailhead at 10,250' and eventually heading over Browns Peak. This is NOT one of the routes I was considering)

This seems to be the source of some confusion.

Both sources seem to agree that the Southwest route is an alternative non-standard, route that begins past the Service Closure Gate and continues on the Lake Ann Trail for approx 1.4 mile then the Three Apostle Trail, etc en rout to the summit

[northcountry]

The trail is not really confusing at all. To start with, I was worried about the road, but tried it anyway. Turned out to be a piece of cake, not necessary to have 4WD at all. All sorts of low-clearance sedans at the high trailhead.

The photos and description of the Standard trail on this site are pretty self-explanatory. The route was very easy to find, one of the most obvious trails.

You'll do some switchbacks, but it's a very clear trail up to treeline. You'll be traversing south-southeastward as you break out of treeline and you'll see the Three Apostles in front of you--great views there. You'll switchback to the left and enter the big open basin and you'll see the whole route up from there. Cross the basin and gain the long rise going from north to south (left to right) from the end of the basin. The rise is before the ridge traverse from Brown (see Photo 4 on the route description), so you don't need to go over Brown to get there. I took my 8-year old daughter last September and we were on track to make the summit in about 2 1/2 hours, but the wind got pretty fierce, so we turned around maybe 45 minutes from the top. I didn't want my girl to get blown off the trail.

One of my favorites in terms of scenery for the views of the Apostles. Kid-friendly, so it's not all that difficult w. no really spooky exposure, at least as far as we got. And it seemed to be one of the less strenuous of the climbs we've done together. Neither of us was worn out at all, when we turned around. Just too much wind.

[gonzalj]

Just like everyone said, the standard route is pretty straight forward and I hiked it myself last summer. It is definitely georgeous and we're not kidding when we tell you that the views of the 3 Apostles are spectacular (from treeline all the way to the summit). Great hike and in July you'll probably be greeted by a bunch of wildflowers too.