Mount Yale and Mascot Peak

via Silver Creek Loop

Hiking Statistics (Based on Garmin):

• Length - 13.32 mi
• Elevation Gain - 6,047' (I think this should be more because I forgot to calibrate my GPS on top and it was off by 100')
• Overall Time - 8 hours 12 min (I spent at least 20-25 min talking to people on the way down the East Ridge)
• Start Time - 4:53 AM from Silver Creek TH
• Mount Yale Summit - 8:27 AM (3 hours 34 min) 5.97 mi 4,925' gain
  • 15 min on Mount Yale Summit
• Mascot Peak Summit - 9:35 AM (53 min) 1.20 mi 351' gain
  • 5 min on Mascot Peak Summit
• Mount Yale East Ridge - 10:36 AM (56 min) 1.10 mi 672' gain
• Silver Creek Trailhead - 1:05 PM (2 hours 29 min) 5.02 mi 92' gain

Cliff Notes:

• Started and Finished at Silver Creek TH off CR 365 (same road as North Cottonwood Creek TH)
• Took the ridge line between North Cottonwood Creek and Silver Creek to Southwest Slopes and back down East Ridge
• Steep off the CO trail to the ridge
• Great ridge views of Harvard and Columbia
• Don't lift leg day 35 hours beforehand (rookie mistake)

Trip Description:

3 years ago I hiked Mount Yale from Denny Creek as my 4th 14er. This season I’m trying to finish the list but I’m also going back to try some repeats from different trailheads or add in 13ers. On Saturday I was able to do both. I saw a trip report from a couple years back that that described this route which combined ridge lines and making a loop which I really like doing so it lined up pretty good. After loading the proposed route on my Garmin I headed out from my buddy’s apartment in Golden.

Early morning hikes never disappoint when the sun starts to rise. Maverick (my Heeler mix) and I started and the grade got steep pretty quick. We stayed on the Colorado Trail for around 1.5 miles and then picked a spot to start heading toward the ridge line. I would recommend starting up the hill sooner than I did. There aren’t really any trails through there so you just gotta your route.

Once you get through the trees and gain the ridge, Yale comes into view. Following the ridge line is obvious over the few hills. The whole time your on the ridge you get great views of the Hork Fork Basin with Harvard and Columbia. After following the ridge the last push meets up with the standard route on Yale’s north side.

With the standard route from Denny Creek being closed and the East Ridge not the best trail, we had the summit to ourselves (couple people made it up and left before we got there). After a few snacks and dog treats we started towards the East Ridge.

I didn’t want to orphan Mascot Peak so I read plenty about how loose it was and the spot or two to avoid. I started my descent when I was about in line with Mascot’s north ridge. The initial descent is loose but about halfway down it firms up. Stay to the left of the first boulder pile because it soon cliffs out. The rest of the way is pretty obvious. I saw one person on top of Mascot but they were gone before we got to the top.

By this time I was really regretting lifting legs on Thursday evening and I knew the slog back up to the Yale was not going to be pleasant. I made it up about halfway up and then decided to cut across the talus to meet the East Ridge a little further down staying at about 13,500’. The talus was pretty good the whole way across aside from some small loose spots.

I didn’t do any research on the East Ridge “trail” so i was surprised to find out how loose it was. Closer to treeline and the Colorado Trail it got a lot better. I passed by at least 5 or 6 people who had turned around because the route was so steep and loose.

All in all it was a another great day Sawatch, Maverick conquered his 10th 14er, and I check off another Tricentennial. Below is the GPX file of the route