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8.2 miles
3700 feet
8 hours round trip
Centennial 13er
Started at the Upper Huerfano trailhead. I was able to drive my 4wd to the upper trailhead. 2-4 inches of snow with some icy patches above second meadow. A stretch of 100 yards or so of thick ice with ruts and water down by the Aspen River Ranch (second ranch) really not suitable for cars.
Driving in.
Lower Huerfano Trailhead
Upper Huerfano Trailhead
The trail essentially follows the Mount Lindsey trail up to the saddle at 13,140. The weather was perfect, hardly a breeze, with snow on the trail. Much better than the 60-70 mph winds on the North Slope route from several weeks ago that was knocking us over. There was only enough snow higher up to barely cover the rocks. Some of the snow was powder and some as hard as rock that you could not kick a step.
Near start of trail in the nice meadow.
I kind of lost the trail due to the snow on the sidehill traversing up along the east side of the creek.
Rocks going up.
Looking back down.
First look at Blanca and Ellingwood.
Looking down the creek drainage.
Looking up the grassy ramp to the saddle at 13,000.
Hike north to the saddle between Lindsey and the Iron Nipple to 13,140. The Huerfano trail continues north, Mount Lindsey is east.
Mount Lindsey.
There is a notch that you go through to get to the next saddle at 13,300.
First look at Huerfano.
Once through and up the notch you will downclimb several hundred feet and traverse below the base of the cliff east of the Iron Nipple. This was the crux of the route on this day. It seemed to take forever to cross the side slope which was only 3-4 tenths of a mile across. The snow was just covering the rocks. You had to watch each step so as not to put your foot down into a hole or on the side of a slanted rock. This took a lot of energy.
Looking back at the traverse. Iron Nipple to the right, notch center left.
Summit pictures. The last one is the ridge for Huerfano looking south to Blanca Massif.
Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):
Hey, it was nice meeting you and hiking back down together. Thanks so much for the ride back to Singing Ranch, that was one heckuva hike up and I was not looking forward to slogging down that road again with headlamps! This is Mark, btw. Nice pics & report, take care!
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