Atlantic Peak Trip Report 09/02/2012

Peak(s):	Atlantic Peak - 13,856 feet Pacific Peak - 13,965 feet
Date Posted:	09/02/2012
Date Climbed:	09/01/2012
Author:	winmag4582001

Coast to Coast in 50 minutes!
Trail Head: Mayflower Gulch Start: 6:50am Finish: 1:00pm Atlantic Summit: 9:10am Pacific Summit: 10:20am Traverse Time: 50 minutes My usual hiking partner (my 16yrold son) decided he wanted to hang out with his girlfriend on Saturday rather than going hiking with good ol' dad. I can't seem to convince him that women are evil! I was kind of nervous heading out Saturday morning because of the holliday weekend and the fact that I was running a little behind. I fully expected the parking lot to be full and there to be no parking up at the Boston Mine gate. Luckily when I arrived there was only a couple cars in the parking lot, one suv parked halfway up the road and absolutely nobody at the mine gate. Starting out I had to cross the bottoms and bushwack for a few minutes before getting to the base of the ridge. The climb and ridge to the top of Atlantic was easy and fun. No big exposure and the rock was very stable. On the way up I was passed by a couple of younger guys that were hiking from Mayflower Gulch to Frisco. After about 20 minutes on top we hiked over to Pacific Peak which took only about 50 minutes. Once on top of Pacific I was surprised by the shear drop off on the northeast side. I'm not deathly afraid of hieghts anymore thanks to following my son in the mountains but I'm still no big fan. There were a couple of other guys on top who had done the ridge on Pacific and through the notch and then two more gentlemen arrived and lady who was hiking Pacific's ridge alone. After taking in the views for about 45 minutes we all headed down. On the return trip I had decided that I would get to the bottom of the saddle between Atlantic and Pacific and cut down to the gulch and then back around to Mayflower Gulch. Unfortunately that probably wasn't the best idea. The trail that I thought I saw couldn't be found. The whole 800' down to the bottom was much steeper that I anticipated and the rock was very loose. I wouldn't recommend that as a return route. It would have been quicker and easier to hike back to the top of Atlantic and take the same ridge back down. Boston Mine Looking back over Atlantic's ridge About 300' from the top I'm too shy to ask others to take my photo so here's a summit shot of my trusty waterbottle The hike up Pacific The drop off of the north east side Climber coming up the notch of Pacific My summit shot Great views of Quandry A look back at Atlantic Coming down from the saddle My GPS Tracks on Google Maps (made from a .GPX file upload): Login required to view this map... Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

Coast to Coast in 50 minutes!

Trail Head: Mayflower Gulch
Start: 6:50am
Finish: 1:00pm
Atlantic Summit: 9:10am
Pacific Summit: 10:20am
Traverse Time: 50 minutes

My usual hiking partner (my 16yrold son) decided he wanted to hang out with his girlfriend on Saturday rather than going hiking with good ol' dad. I can't seem to convince him that women are evil!

I was kind of nervous heading out Saturday morning because of the holliday weekend and the fact that I was running a little behind. I fully expected the parking lot to be full and there to be no parking up at the Boston Mine gate. Luckily when I arrived there was only a couple cars in the parking lot, one suv parked halfway up the road and absolutely nobody at the mine gate.

Starting out I had to cross the bottoms and bushwack for a few minutes before getting to the base of the ridge. The climb and ridge to the top of Atlantic was easy and fun. No big exposure and the rock was very stable. On the way up I was passed by a couple of younger guys that were hiking from Mayflower Gulch to Frisco. After about 20 minutes on top we hiked over to Pacific Peak which took only about 50 minutes. Once on top of Pacific I was surprised by the shear drop off on the northeast side. I'm not deathly afraid of hieghts anymore thanks to following my son in the mountains but I'm still no big fan. There were a couple of other guys on top who had done the ridge on Pacific and through the notch and then two more gentlemen arrived and lady who was hiking Pacific's ridge alone. After taking in the views for about 45 minutes we all headed down.

On the return trip I had decided that I would get to the bottom of the saddle between Atlantic and Pacific and cut down to the gulch and then back around to Mayflower Gulch. Unfortunately that probably wasn't the best idea. The trail that I thought I saw couldn't be found. The whole 800' down to the bottom was much steeper that I anticipated and the rock was very loose. I wouldn't recommend that as a return route. It would have been quicker and easier to hike back to the top of Atlantic and take the same ridge back down.

I'm too shy to ask others to take my photo so here's a summit shot of my trusty waterbottle

My GPS Tracks on Google Maps (made from a .GPX file upload):

Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

Comments or Questions

zephyr_pelicante	The first 2 sentences... 9/2/2012 7:32pm More true words have never been spoken. Good job grabbing those centennials!
winmag4582001	Thanks 9/4/2012 2:52pm Sandy: Bryson and I tried Drift Peak(the peak just south of Fletcher and Atlantic Peaks) about three times during the winter and each time the weather and avalanche risk was too high. I still want to do it in the winter though. So far my snow ascent success rate is about 10%. zephyr: I've tried telling him about girls, he wont listen.

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