Looking to bag a few more 13ers in the Taylor Park area, but having limited time on the day, this little trio seemed like the perfect option. Jenkins Mountain is one of the more commanding peaks between the Three Apostles and Independence Pass, with an impressive north face and some solid granite unusual for the Sawatch Range. It is often combined with its lower neighbors to the south, which lack most of Jenkins' desirable qualities. UN 13,145 is a pyramid of decaying rock, and while its north ridge is a reasonably fun scamble over somewhat loose rock, its southeast ridge is unpleasant and somewhat dangerous. Grizzly Peak E (the 5th highest of its name in Colorado), is a generic Sawatch dome with gradual though unstable talus on every aspect.
The Pieplant TH is easily accessed by Pieplant Creek Road off of Taylor River Road. It is easy dirt most of the way, but the final half mile to the mill had some ruts that may test the clearance of some sedans.
We started from the Pieplant Mill, hiking a half mile up the Timberline Trail to a junction at the wilderness boundary. Here, the motobike trail turns south, and we continued up the old road into the wilderness, heading towards the Pieplant Mine. Unfortunately, some sad little motorheads had removed the gate at the wilderness boundary and thrown it down the hill. Many illegal tracks continued past the "No Motorized vehicles" sign and up the road well past the mine. Fuckers.
We dragged the gate back up the hill and onto the road, then continued 1.5 miles up the steep road to 11,700 feet. Here, we left the road and began climbing through steep forest until cresting treeline at 12,200 feet. There was virtually no deadfall and the walking was easy. The rounded ridge allowed for fast travel up to 12,800, where it turned into huge blocks of white granite. The remaining ridge to the summit is narrow, beautiful, and stable, with fun class 2 /optional 3 scampering. I found myself playing on some 4th and 5th class to top out some of the largest boulders. Jenkins' tundra-covered southeast ridge would make for a faster climb, but its southwest ridge was my favorite part of the day, and well worth the extra time.
Jenkins' summit affords wonderful views of the northern Collegiates, with the area around Lincoln Creek especially impressive. Capitol, Pyramid, and Castle dominated the view to the west, while the beautiful forests and meadows of Taylor Park sprawl out to the south. Uncompahgre and Wetterhorn hovered on the horizon, 80 miles to the southwest.
The traverse to UN 13,145 starts out with easy travel to Jenkins' southeast shoulder. The descent to the saddle is over stable blocks and slabs, and is enjoyable class 2/3. We skirted a major subpeak on a good use trail 100 feet below its summit, then started the climb up to UN 13,145. It is mostly easy class 2, until a series of rotten towers. I climbed over a couple but soon decided it would be faster and safer to go around. We then skirted them on the west side, about 50-80 feet below the ridge. The final pitch to the summit is easy class 3, though a touch loose.
The southeast ridge of UN 13,145 is surprisingly rugged, with towers of jumbled blocks and steep gullies dropping from both sides. While the climbing never exceeds class 3, there are a couple of places to beware of rockfall. At times it is best to be on the ridge, and occasionaly it is easiest to skirt a tower on the south side. It's never hard, but I think it warrants a helmet, which I did not bring.
Tiring of the ridge, we left the ridge at its low point and dropped into the tiny basin northeast of Grizzly, passing above a tarn at 12,550. The ascent up Grizzly was more pleasant, with a lingering cornice and many false summits. We descended the west ridge down to the Timberline Trail. While not strenuous, it was loose enough to be fairly slow.
We then took the timberline trail 1.8 miles back to Pietown. At a casual pace up Jenkins then moderate pace on the traverse it took us just over 7 hours round trip, but at a cute 9 miles and 4,500 feet it would go much faster if you wanted.
