American/Jones/Niagara from Burns Gulch

[denvermikey]

Planning on attempting this trio tomorrow and have a logistics question for those who have done this from Burns Gulch. Which saddle is best (easiest?) for either (or both) ascent and or descent? American - Jones or Jones - Niagara. Any thoughts on speediest route as well? We will be up against a time limit as we need to try to be back on 550 out of Silverton during the 12-1 time slot where the road is open. If we miss that, we a screwed for the remainder of the day until after 5.

Thanks!

[supranihilest]

What's your typical pace? Unless you start ridiculously early, like 4am, you're unlikely to make the 12 o'clock open road timeslot. When I did these peaks I ascended the saddle between Niagara and Jones and descended the saddle between Jones and American. I also did the Crowns, which added approximately an hour and 20 minutes and a re-ascent of Niagara. I had intended to descend Grouse Gulch but accidentally descended into the northern basin in Burns Gulch which may or may not have added a bit of time as well. Round trip time was 6:13:24 for all five peaks. You can find my GPX here: https://www.14ers.com/php14ers/download ... 093118.gpx.

[funsizetiff]

I did the route the same way as supranihilest described (ascended Niagara-Jones saddle, descended American-Jones saddle), though I did not do the Crowns and drove higher up the road than he did. It took me 4.5 hours (YMMV). It is a rough 4WD road and took me about an hour to drive from my parking spot in Burns Gulch back to Silverton, so factor that in as well. Have a great hike!
https://www.strava.com/activities/niaga ... 5840989586

[supranihilest]

It is a rough 4WD road and took me about an hour to drive from my parking spot in Burns Gulch back to Silverton, so factor that in as well.

Yup, forgot to mention that. I started at the bottom of Burns Gulch on CR 2, so the hike was longer and the drive shorter, but you can't forget to factor in the drive time. It's at least 30 minutes from Burns Gulch to Silverton (and that's at a pace that you risk damage to your vehicle or popping a tire), then the 45ish minute drive over the Million Dollar Highway to Ouray, another 40 minutes to Montrose, and then something like 30 minutes to Little Blue Canyon. You've got to line up a lot of factors to hit the 12 o'clock opening. If I were you, OP, I'd just plan on a more casual pace and hitting the 5:30 opening instead.

Edit: I misunderstood and thought OP was talking about the US 50 closure between Montrose and Gunnison. The point stands: don't underestimate drive times.

[Kiefer]

Burns Gulch is a fantastic place to camp. I spent one of my best nights camping there (years ago) before I did Jones & Niagra. It'd be a tragedy to rush it.
Having said that, I also ascended via the Jones-Niagra saddle. It's straightforward.

As far as getting back to RMP by that time slot, that's probably not going to happen unless like what Ben said, you start stupid early.
Work backwards on your time. Add 40-45 minutes from RMP to Silverton. Add another 30-50 minutes to get from Silverton up into Burns Gulch and add that to your start time. It's going to be crazy early if you can do it.

Or, if you have a decent 4wd vehicle (truck/Jeep), go back over California Pass/Mineral Road. It's super rough, but then you won't be committed on getting down at any particular time.

[denvermikey]

Thanks for the replies. We only have to be at the Silverton side of 550 to make the 12-1 time window so I will estimate at least an hour drive from upper Burns Gulch to get there. I think we will ascend the Jones - Niagara saddle and hit those two first, then make a judgment call on whether we have time for American.