"Magdalene Mountain"

Route: NE Ridge via Magdalene Trail
Posted On: 8/4/2024, By: eskermo
Info: From Cottonwood Pass. South Texas Creek Trail > Texas Creek Trail > Magdalene Trail > NE Ridge. 2WD parking at the top of the pass. Hopped on S Texas Creek Trail on north side of the pass. Took this down to Texas Ck trail. Had to ford Texas Creek, which was no deeper than shin deep and had nice rock steps. Turned left up Magdalene Trail. All junctions are well signed and clearly marked. Magdalene trail is easy to follow almost all the way to the Magdalene Mine. The last couple hundred vertical to the mine features easy tundra walking on intermitent trail segments. From the mine, I aimed for a break in the NE Ridge at 13,220'. Took slightly different lines up the ESE facing rubble slope - both kind of sucked. Once on the ridge you could stay climbers right at Class 2 or right on the ridge at Class 3. The SE Ridge looked way more direct and enjoyable, but I wussed out being solo so stuck to the known route. There were a lot of opportunities to filter water along the way, and good camp spots off each trail. I had not been back here previously and was pleasantly surprised how beautiful and quiet it was back here compared to the Missouri/Chlohesy side. I encountered two pairs of bull moose just off the trail within the first 2 miles of my hike and maybe only 10 people all day. 20.0 miles, 5,750'. Took me 10.5 hours. If you have high clearance 4WD, driving to the upper Texas Creek Trailhead would probably be the easiest way to knock this out with only ~4,000'. 

Route: Rockdale TH
Posted On: 9/1/2023, By: TheHikingTexan
Info: Drove up 390 past the Missouri Gulch TH and parked at the turnaround on 381 just before the water crossings at Rockdale. The long crossing was maybe shin deep, easy to get across on foot. Several downed trees on the trail past Clohesy lake, easy to navigate around or over. Trail is less obvious as you get above treeline but easy to find if you just stop for a few seconds and look around. From the ridge overlooking Pear Lake I did the approach from WildWanderer's trip report. Was able to filter water from Silver King Lake before the summit ridge. Decided to go to the sub summit and go straight down the slope to link up with Pear Lake. It was loose, mix of semi-solid lager rock steps and scree skiing. Regained a trail and the far end of the lake to access the ridge and dropped back down to Rockdale. Touch of fall up there but summer is hanging on. Saw my first Ptarmigans of the year around 11,700' just off the trail. This area of the Sawatch is special! 

Route: Clohesy Pear Silver King
Posted On: 8/4/2023, By: blazintoes
Info: After Sayers BM I rode my bike to Clohesy Lake then hiked the surprisingly good trail to Pear Lake. On the way in I hiked down to Pear and up the Emerald Saddle. From the Emerald saddle I hiked down to Silver King Lake and hiked up Magdalenes cairned north chunky ridge. This was the path of most resistance. On the way down I hiked down the west saddle and straight down the north face then stayed high on the Emerald ridge. I only recommend this route if youre solo and dont mind loose choss. From the upper saddle I stayed as high and right as possible and never saw Pear Lake. This was a fast way back. Took me 3 hours up and 2 down.