Trailhead: San Isabel Creek

Day 1 - approach via San Isabel creek, ~6 miles and 3k vertical

After clearing out the remaining Cielo Vista ranch 13ers earlier in the month, it was time to finish the Sangres range. I decided on San Isabel creek trail as the approach, since it was possible to get both Mas Alto 13ers and the lonely 13,054 from the same camp. The unknown issue were the ridges. Furthermore documented the ridge between 13,060A and 13,062A with a brief section of class 4, but as we discovered, the fun scrambly east ridge of 13,028 flew under the radar. Shawn also found a documented route up 13,054 from San Isabel lake (which we took on the descent), but we decided to take the north ridge on our ascent. Overall, we were pleasantly surprised with the amount of scrambling and overall rock quality.

On day 1, Shawn scooped me up from 2wd TH in his truck, and we were on the trail by 7.30am or so. Approximately twelve creek crossings ensued. I just ended up switching between Crocs and trailrunners, while Shawn was able to stem most obstacles. The rose bushes along the trail were ubiquitous and distracting from the long 3k and 6 mile approach. The trail became less obvious in the last mile as the wildflowers looked like a carpet. We probably spent close to an hour looking for an acceptable campsite as we tried to find a wildflower-free spot. Eventually we made camp next to the San Isabel lake turn-off near 11,500 ft.

Day 2 - Mas Alto 13ers

3,700 ft, 6 miles, 7+ hours

Next morning we rolled out of camp early at 6am since there was a chance of afternoon storms and found a faint trail leading to the saddle between UN13,028 and Hermit. The ridge quickly got interesting. We were surprised by the amount of scrambling if you stay on ridge proper. Ridge took slightly longer than expected, but we got to the 1st summit just after 8am. Skies were a bit smoky from the wildfires.

The rest of the hike was mostly class 2, except for the short section on the descent from 13,060A. Weather was starting to improve as the day went on.

From there, our plan was to drop down to Rito Alto lake and then take the trail up and over the pass. Thankfully, the east slopes of 13,062A are pretty gentle, so the descent was fairly straightforward. We had to engage in some bushwhacking once we dropped below the treeline, but it wasn't terrible. All in, it took us less than an hour to reach the lake. Once at the lake and going up back to the pass, wildflowers were out of control.

Day 3 - UN 13,054 and pack out

My final ranked 13er in the Sangres! I was excited. There were a few reports on the peak, some involving serious bushwhack, but none we could find from the north side. N/NW ridge looked interesting and we scouted the approach the day prior on the descent. To avoid the initial bushwhack, we took the trail to San Isabel lake, but cut left as soon as we saw a good entrance. The start looked intimidating, but we hoped we can find some quality scrambling. There were some steeper lines to the left of ours, so a rope may be advisable (not sure if it's worth carrying the rope and gear that far though).

From here we trended up and right, as contour lines look steeper straight and left. Might be a good area to explore with the rope, as the rock quality was good.

After a brief lull, we started to get into the meat of the ridge.

Then we ran into this. Bypassing this gendarme on the right side still ranks among the biggest regrets of Shawn's life, along with skipping East Windom due to time constraints and wrecking his truck. But down and up we went and found ourselves at the base of another headwall.

After turning north again, the ridge relented for the most part, but we still had some surprises ahead.

Although the ridge took a bit longer than expected, we still got to the summit just after 9 am (with 6am start). Shawn brought a register. After about 45 min on the summit, sadly, it was time to head down, as the cloud cover was building.

Our goal was to drop down to San Isabel lake, and I was considering following the grassy ledges, but in the end we ended up dropping in a more or less straight line, which turned out to be surprisingly steep. We didn't pick the best (easiest) line, but thankfully, neither did we pick the worst.

We got back to camp by noon, for a round trip of 6 hours, just as the light drizzle was starting and the fog was moving in. We quickly packed up our stuff and were on the trail before 1pm. My phone died from taking too many photos, so we were moving quicker :) I also ended up hiking in Crocs last few miles to avoid constant shoe changes during creek crossings. We got to the car 3 hours later. What a beautiful trip at the height of the wildflower season!