Peak with kids near Vail?

[wallywest]

I am going to be in the Vail area in late June with the whole fam (me, my wife, son 6, daughter 5). I would love to tackle a peak in that area, but I don't know much about what is available. Here are the prerequisites that I have been considering:

< 1 hour drive from Vail
< 2,500 of elevation gain
Nothing more than basic Class 2
At least some water along the trail (my kids love creeks, lakes, puddles, etc)


We are definitely flatlanders, and while my kids are usually up for any new adventure, I don't want to over do it. Any ideas? I was looking at some of the Gore Range peaks, but they seem pretty strenuous. There are a ton though. It seems at least one of them would work. I would love some first hand advice on Powell or Silverthorne or Jacque. I was also thinking about Sherman, but I didn't know if we would be able to drive all the way to the gate by June 25. Plus, Sherman is a bit longer of a drive than I was hoping. Thanks in advance for the help.

[traderaaron]

Check out Shrine Mountain as a hike, it's not so much a peak but a summit with great views, wildflowers and is easy, kids and non-climbers like it.

[Kiefer]

I'll second Shrine Mountain as well!
You can also keep hiking further to the south along the very gentle, flat ridge to the 'summit' of Wingel Ridge, a ranked quad point.

[Scott P]

Wingle Ridge or the hills around Shrine Montain might work (I always though that Shrine Mountain itself was the technical summit?).

Uneva Peak in the Gores might work as well, though perhaps somewhat stenuous if they are new to hiking. Royal Mountain is a short one near Frisco. Mount Thomas near Eagle might be good, but to get to the true summit is fairly long for a five year old new to hiking. There are several sub-summits and great views from the ridge even if you don't reach the true summit (though reaching the true summit still isn't out of reach).

Besides summits, there are plenty of hikes to lakes, waterfalls and passes as well. Something like hiking to Halfmoon Pass, the lakes in the Gores or some of the lakes in the Holy Cross Wilderness.

[traderaaron]

You are right Scott, Shrine Ridge, not Shrine Mountain.

I also really like the hike to the old Boston Mine site up Mayflower Gulch just south of Copper Mountain for an easy family friendly hike.

[wallywest]

Thanks, guys. These are some great suggestions. I will spend some time looking at these. My kids are not really new to hiking at all. But, this will be the first real high country hiking that they will be tackling. The river bluffs here in MO don't really give more than a few hundred feet of gain...at the best :D . We hiked in the Eagle's Nest Wilderness last fall. They loved it. We will almost certainly go back this year, but I wanted to try something a bit higher too.

[Chicago Transplant]

Good suggestions so far, Shrine has a trail all the way to the summit. The technical blocks Scott refers to are actually not the high point and are off the ridge crest a bit. Uneva from Vail Pass would fit your 2500' rule, I did that peak via the "long route" so I am not sure how much off trail hiking you would have. Unfortunately most of the peaks around here will exceed the 2500' of gain, many of them are over 5000, and the ridges are often 3rd class on the Gore Range summits.

A nice peak to check out near Eagle would be New York Mountain, its 12550 and can be accessed from a high trailhead near Eagle, then a trail to treeline and a short class 2 ridge walk. Great views of the valley below from up there.

Eagles Nest and Holy Cross Wilderness have some good stream/lake/waterfall hikes as well. Booth Falls is the more popular one, but you can hike to the first waterfall on Pitkin Creek as well. Missouri Lakes trail in Holy Cross wilderness is really nice and above the lakes that time of year will still have some snow on Missouri Pass which may be fun for the kids to play in. Kind of a novelty to have a snowball fight in June :D

[kaiman]

Good suggestions so far, Shrine has a trail all the way to the summit. The technical blocks Scott refers to are actually not the high point and are off the ridge crest a bit. Uneva from Vail Pass would fit your 2500' rule, I did that peak via the "long route" so I am not sure how much off trail hiking you would have. Unfortunately most of the peaks around here will exceed the 2500' of gain, many of them are over 5000, and the ridges are often 3rd class on the Gore Range summits.

A nice peak to check out near Eagle would be New York Mountain, its 12550 and can be accessed from a high trailhead near Eagle, then a trail to treeline and a short class 2 ridge walk. Great views of the valley below from up there.

Eagles Nest and Holy Cross Wilderness have some good stream/lake/waterfall hikes as well. Booth Falls is the more popular one, but you can hike to the first waterfall on Pitkin Creek as well. Missouri Lakes trail in Holy Cross wilderness is really nice and above the lakes that time of year will still have some snow on Missouri Pass which may be fun for the kids to play in. Kind of a novelty to have a snowball fight in June :D

All excellent suggestions. Since you are looking specifically for "peaks", one other Class 2 climb that I would mention which has a slightly higher elevation gain then (3000 feet) and 6 miles then you may be looking for, but is a great nonetheless, is Jacque Peak (13,205 feet) which can be climbed via the Copper Mountain ski area: http://www.summitpost.org/mountain/rock ... -peak.html. The summit has incredible views of both the Gore Range and 10 Mile/Mosquitoes. I first climbed this with my parents at age 6 or 7 and have gone back many times since then...

Cheers!

kaiman

[KevinK]

I have been thinking of hitting Jacque peak for a while but had a question about parking. All the reports and route desciptions I see say to start at the closure gate for the road up to the tailings pond. I know where that is but I'm almost positive that I've seen "no parking" signs there for at least the last couple years. Were those signs there when some of you did this hike? Is it maybe OK to park in the same general area but as far from the sign as possible? Any first hand info would be helpful.

[Rich H]

I agree with Jacque's peak above copper...you can even take the ski lift up to around about 11,000' if you so desire...just we wary of storms coming up over vail pass.

almost got zapped a few years back cause I couldn't see the storm that came up on me.


cheers,
rich

[Chicago Transplant]

I have been thinking of hitting Jacque peak for a while but had a question about parking. All the reports and route desciptions I see say to start at the closure gate for the road up to the tailings pond. I know where that is but I'm almost positive that I've seen "no parking" signs there for at least the last couple years. Were those signs there when some of you did this hike? Is it maybe OK to park in the same general area but as far from the sign as possible? Any first hand info would be helpful.

We parked on the other side of CO 91, the east side has a small dirt pullout along the creek there.

[kaiman]

I have been thinking of hitting Jacque peak for a while but had a question about parking. All the reports and route desciptions I see say to start at the closure gate for the road up to the tailings pond. I know where that is but I'm almost positive that I've seen "no parking" signs there for at least the last couple years. Were those signs there when some of you did this hike? Is it maybe OK to park in the same general area but as far from the sign as possible? Any first hand info would be helpful.

We parked on the other side of CO 91, the east side has a small dirt pullout along the creek there.

I've used this pullout too and it seems to work fine for the first few vehicles that get there early...