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Electric Peak and Lakes Peak
16.4 miles RT, 6500' gain, 8 hours
From Major Creek TH (8,620 ft)
Partner: Brian Kalet
I left my house at 4am and picked up Brian at 6 in Johnson Village, he was staying in the area. From the 285/17 junction, county roads GG and 65 are well graded all the way to the Major Creek trailhead, I drove my 2wd car which was fine. We hit the trail about 7:30 am.
The trail heads south for almost a mile and descends to Major creek, then heads east. The creek was not flowing very high and was easily crossed when the trail crossed it. There was only one location with evidence of recent beaver activity, a few aspens cut and laying across the trail. The re-routing of the trail north and high above the beaver ponds made for easy travelling.
The excellent trail continues all the way to the 12,500 ft Electric/Lakes saddle and we made great time. There was very little snow left, just a few patches in the trees above 10.5k. Good decision to leave axe, gaiters, and spikes behind.
Pt 13220 with Electric peak just beyond: Pt 13220 with Electric Peak beyond
From the saddle we decided to do Electric first, since it was higher and furthest away. The 60% chance of storms was concerning and clouds were already building. It's an easy hike staying close to the ridge crest, mostly grass mixed with some talus. There's a small drop on the south side of Pt 13,220, then a quick and final 500' of gain to Electric's summit at about 11:30am. No register, but great views south into the heart of the Sangres.
Clouds on the Sangre crest: Clouds on the Crest
Lakes Peak with Cottonwood rearing up behind it: Lakes Peak. Cottonwood rising up beyond
The weather was looking rough so we hustled back down the saddle and up to Lakes peak as fast as we could go, arriving about 12:45pm. This one had a register, and nice views north to the Cottonwood group which we'll be hiking soon. The clouds were forming at the crest and building east, with a couple lightning strikes perhaps ten miles NE. As we descended Lakes the weather actually improved so we took a lengthy break at the saddle. The hike out was long but went well, we were back at the car by 4pm. On the drive out we checked out Valley View Hot Springs, but they had reached their quota of guests for the day and weren't letting anyone else in. The $15 fee seemed a bit steep so I'm not sure we would have done it anyway.
Awesome early season hike to the top of the Sangres!
My GPS Tracks on Google Maps (made from a .GPX file upload):
Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):
Comments or Questions
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