14ers.com

I don't always climb 14ers, so this is what I did to get a little exercise on Monday. Rode the bike 4.3 miles into the canyon to the Rattlesnake picnic shelter and Mill Gulch, climbed the long north ridge to the summit, the scrub was thick and nasty, leaving me bloody and battered. You don't wear your best gear, blue jeans and a t-shirt worked well. Make lots of noise to scare off any critters that might be nearby, I usually break the low hanging branches off trees or bang sticks together with my favorite baseball beat ending with "Tulo" It was a 2 hour climb along the sometimes rugged ridge, but mostly it was just the scrub. The summit has no views of any kind and choked with scrub too, you can barely see Strontia Springs Res to the west. Lacking time, I just went straight down slope to the Waterton Canyon road, dropping down a steep bank from a hanging gulch. I didn't choose too wisely on the correct gulch to drop into, I was hoping it wouldn't lead me to a cliff, but it was all good in the end. That downclimb took 48 minutes! Your always glad to be back on the road, almost to the point of kissing it!

Pt 6965


The summit


Rugged terrain


Blood and tears


some new blood in the canyon

Thanks for posting!

I've heard a few horror stories of evil scrub oak trying to climb 6965. (As well as the peak to the north...7100 I believe?) I wanted to head there a while back, but it was when access to the canyon was still closed.

I seem to recall you are a Goat Mt fan, I bet the closure was annoying for you!

--D

for a really good time, make the traverse from 6965 to 7100.

dsunwall wrote:for a really good time, make the traverse from 6965 to 7100

Well that looks just awful. Terrifyingly awful.

Yep, going for the grid on Goat, probably the only grid I ever do!

Is it easier do a traverse over to 7100 from 6965 along that ridge or just go back down into Mill Gulch and climb up the northside to 7100? Does it really matter, it's gonna be hell anyway! I did 7100 a couple months back from the river at the overhead conduit, getting over the canal wall was hard. If I remember, I'll put a register on each, they're lonely little summits!

Never seen so much bear sign in my life in the canyon, they gorged on the cherries this year!