Taylor Mountain

Route: Boss Lake Trailhead
Posted On: 6/14/2025, By: SimplePole
Info: Full summer conditions. From Hwy 50 to Boss Lake Trailhead, where I parked, is about 1.5 mile of rough 4WD road. From there to the top of Taylor Mountain there is 3200 ft of vertical gain in 3.2 miles, which makes for a quick and relatively easy hike. It starts on a jeep road, then continues on a trail to the SW ridge and finishes as a moderate tundra stroll to the summit. I continued to Mt. Aetna, but perhaps it would have been wiser to turn around and go back. 

Route: South Ridge
Posted On: 1/15/2025, By: bigfoot1
Info: Started from Monarch Snowmobile Trailhead (38.55259, -106.29705), which has enough space for only 3-4 cars. Road (CR230?) is completely packed down by snowmobiles, I broke out some of cemetery road and a bit up the south ridge. Lots of snow, definitely past my knees. Very fun. Turned around 1 mile from trailhead due to feeling terrible. I am back to normal now. 

Route: East Ridge via CR228
Posted On: 10/17/2023, By: mjlucarelli
Info: While there is snow on the route, most of it is avoidable and not very deep. Continuing over to Aetna we ran into consistent snow where the route starts to get steep and wore spikes all the way to the summit. 

Route: South Ridge from CR228 (10,580’)
Posted On: 6/4/2023, By: cloudkicker
Info: Im gonna call it summer conditions even though we used spikes for a short 100ft section at treeline and a short 100ft section near the top. Snowshoes not needed. We parked on CR228 at the switchback at ~10,580. The 10,580 switchback is super wide and lots of space for multiple cars. The road to this point is in great shape, totally Corollable up to here. The tree tunnel mentioned in previous reports is still below here, so a lifted truck might not pass under it but my Xterra and my friends stock Rubicon were fine. With 4WD and clearance you can probably drive up even higher on CR228 to 11,600 before gaining the south ridge but I wanted a 3,000ft gain day after leaving this peak behind last year when I did Aetnas Grand Couloir. Above 11,600 the road appears to have some lingering snow so I doubt it goes to 12,000 just yet. As far as the south ridge goes, we hiked through the trees with very little deadfall obstructions and easy route finding, finally breaking out onto ridge proper meeting a mixture of tundra and talus. The entire route felt like a cakewalk, so much bang for your buck on this bicentennial. Lots of the snow near the top and at treeline was avoidable simply by bypassing to climbers left. At a lazy Sunday pace, we clocked: 2:45 from car to summit 0:35 on the summit 1:50 from summit to car 

Route: via 228/Taylor Mtn Road
Posted On: 9/10/2022, By: LetsGoMets
Info: Great drive up to 12,000 feet (or wherever you want to stop). Clear/dry conditions to the summit, fun peak and great area to approach from. ~ 2miles RT from the open flat area at 12k. 

Route: SE and NE ridge
Posted On: 7/4/2022, By: Trotter
Info: Took FS228 up, to below the marble quarry. Took the SE ridge up to summit, and the NE ridge back down to the saddle with Missouri hill, and then down to vehicle from there. Fantastic easy route. Summer conditions 

Route: via FS228
Posted On: 6/25/2022, By: zootloopz
Info: Summer conditions! Lots of wildflowers. Made it to 11,700' in a stock 4x4 Tacoma. Probably could've gone farther. Not a fun road though. Wouldn't recommend anything less than a larger subbie with a confident driver. Car camping with excellent views of Salida around 11,950'. Road turns to 4wd around 10,400'. car camping for 2WD vehicles around 10,150'. 

Route: West Saddle / Ridge from Aetna
Posted On: 5/1/2022, By: CheapCigarMan
Info: Bluebird day. No postholing. Did not use snowshoes. A couple of steeper sketchy snowy places on the descent off Aetna. Virtually dry from the bottom of the saddle to Taylor. The descent off of Taylor was bone dry until tree line. Snow again through trees but did not use or need snowshoes. Thank you Greenhouseguy for your GPX, was useful for route finding through the trees. 

Route: From Aetna
Posted On: 4/16/2022, By: bangerth
Info: Walked up the road in the early morning on frozen snow nicely compacted by a few skiers and snowmobilers. The first third of the Grand Couloir is already snow free, and after that it was a bit of tough going because the rest is not only steep, but was also quite frozen (with the occasional stretch of dritfed loose snow). Maybe surprisingly, there weren't steps from previous parties, so no easy walk up. As the route description already says, the couloir is long: 2,900' of elevation gain; it takes a long time to top out. We ended up heading over to Taylor Mountain. I wished I had put on microspikes for the descent as one has to skip through rocks that are partly ice covered and partly filled in by loose snow. The wind was ferocious on that stretch but eased up once on the slopes of Taylor Mountain. The going was slightly easier there, alternating between dry stretches and short snow fields along the ridge. We descended from Taylor by first taking the SW ridge for a bit, and then dropping into the first (more easterly) of the two south-side couloirs leading up to Taylor. It had enough snow for a grandiose glissade that lasted for a long time, but was occasionally interrupted because the snow was getting too warm and sticky. At the bottom of the couloir, continue south down the gully through some trees before ending up on one of the old mining "roads" (covered in 1-3' of snow) that runs parallel to the road one walks in in the morning. We carried snowshoes up and down these two mountains without ever using them. Crampons are obviously essential for the couloir ascent. 

Route: Southeast Ridge
Posted On: 3/19/2022, By: yaktoleft13
Info: Road is tracked by snowmobiles to the mine around 10.8, but tracks stop there. Followed the road till the next switchback, then went up the ridge. For the descent, I stayed on the ridge and veered off lower to hit the road at the switchback at 10.6. Wore snowshoes from the car to 12k, then stayed slightly on the west side of the ridge and rock-hopped. Minimal to no avy danger if you try. Highly recommend having two dogs help break trail 

Route: SE Ridge
Posted On: 10/18/2021, By: Marcos
Info: FS228 from Garfield (4WD or high clearance) is snow-free up to the Taylor shoulder at 12,000'. We kept our feet mainly dry -- just a couple of minor snowfield crossings. No extra traction needed. Stunning day with spectacular views of the Crestones and San Juans. 

Route: Aetna
Posted On: 5/16/2021, By: angry
Info: Minor snow crossings on traverse from Aetna. Ridge is mostly dry. Descended gully to kangaroo gulch with a short ~100ft bushwhack to rejoin road. 

Route: From Mount Aetna
Posted On: 4/11/2021, By: supranihilest
Info: The traverse from Aetna to Taylor is straightforward. There's nearly continuous snow from Aetna's summit to the saddle, then it's dry to Taylor. Class 2 all the way. Taylor's southern ridges were dry to treeline and the southeast ridge would be your best bet for getting down via FS 228. I added the two twelvers to the east, Missouri Hill and Lost Mountain, and while they're simple Class 2 affairs I can't recommend them in current conditions, mostly because the descent from Lost back to Boss Lake Trailhead was simply awful by mid-day, especially without flotation (I deliberately left my snowshoes in the car). The network of roads in the area is confusing, they're covered in terrible, wet, postholey snow, the quickest path takes you through an active mine, and you're miles and miles away from the trailhead. Better to save them for another time. Gear: if frozen and moving quickly, you won't find flotation, an axe, or crampons useful. Flotation becomes useful by mid-day on the nasty, unconsolidated snow below treeline. Axe and traction probably not useful for anything on Taylor. 

Route: 228 Road (West Spur) to South Ridge
Posted On: 10/29/2020, By: TakeMeToYourSummit
Info: I started from the Monarch Mountain Lodge area & headed up the 228 Road. Enough snow was encountered early that any further driving would have been futile. I stuck to the road (I briefly considered the bushwhack to ridge option at the 10,560 switchback) & dropped the 100ish feet to go around the active mine. At the 11,560 switchback I took the "administrative" (I read this sign as a way of keeping motor vehicles away) option & headed for the ridge. The ridge was mainly class 2 with some optional 3 (best option for me to avoid potential snowy trapdoors) all the way to the summit. The snow I encountered over the whole route was typically 2 to 4 inches deep (sometimes ankle deep, not often though) & surprisingly much had melted on my return; the least in the lower(ish) trees (my guess would be due to less wind & thicker shadows). The road had melted a bit more on my return and driving it could shave some distance off in the coming days. Bear in mind that the mud that was revealed was slicker than snot & going off that road would result in a less than ideal remainder of your day. Come prepared for the 4,200 vert & be happy if you can reduce that some! P.S. - A shout out to CaptCo for posting yesterday. I had originally been planning on some 13ers from near the Winfield area & that would have sucked to add in all those extra miles! 

Route: Via Hoffman Park
Posted On: 6/6/2020, By: Mtnman200
Info: Both Taylor and Aetna are in summer conditions. From Hoffman Park, these peaks can be climbed without taking more than a half dozen steps on snow (at the saddle).