The day before I had climbed Point 13,427, Point 13,540, "C.T. Peak", and "Gudy Peak", and from there made my way up to where Hinsdale County Road 30 splits to American Basin and Cinnamon Pass. I found a pull-off just beyond this junction and slept in the van. I probably could have driven it up to Cinnamon Pass (someone drove what looked like a Chevy Astro up to the pass from the Lake City side, to my amazement) but I didn't want to beat it up too bad and wasn't sure if I'd get stuck at any of the switchbacks. Besides, hiking extra road isn't much extra work. I left at around 7:40am, after sleeping in for an hour. I rarely find that sleeping in wasn't worth it. The road quickly took me to just below the pass, where I departed on dirt and grass towards my first peak of the day, Wood Mountain A.

Wood Mountain A really wasn't much of a peak and had easy Class 2 access, mostly on grass with a bit of talus and dirt near the top.

From Wood's summit I got an eyeful of what I had hoped would be my next peak, Point 13,688. The connecting ridge was less than desirable looking.

I descended the ridge west on what was not permanently junky rock. It was abundantly clear I wasn't going directly to 13,688.

I went just a bit further west to a small saddle and began dropping north into Hurricane Basin. The rock here was steep and prone to causing small rockalanches, so caution was needed, but at least it wasn't as bad as the ridge would have been.

I had little trouble getting into the basin, but it was slow going, and I hoped this would be the worst of it for the day. Spoiler alert: this was the worst of it for the day. Once I was in the basin I began heading towards Gravel Mountain A's southwest slopes, which looked far more reasonable than attempting to gain the ridge somewhere past the difficulties, if such a thing were even possible.

The entirety of Hurricane Basin all the way to gravel was a mess of loose talus, and I was glad to soon be on grass. Sort of. The grass barely lasted a few minutes and then returned to steep, loose talus and scree. There were trail segments that took me up to Gravel's summit, at least, though even they were a bit unpleasant. Still, better than nothing!

Gravel was nonetheless easy, and I quickly huffed and puffed up the Class 2 slope to the summit. From Gravel I was happy to see that the north ridge of 13,688 would be a walk. The loss of elevation and trash rock I encountered was worth it to avoid the south ridge.

The trail to 13,688 was very welcome, and better than those that had taken me up Gravel. Along the way a small outcrop blocked a direct path along the ridge, but this was easily bypassed on the left (east) on a Class 2 ledge.

After a couple minutes on 13,688 I returned to Gravel. There was no easier way than back from where I came.

Next up was Seigal Mountain, which was across Hurricane Basin. From Gravel's summit the easiest way up Seigal appeared to be to hike to Denver Pass, between Seigal and Point 13,708, then make another out-and-back to the former. I'd be making out-and-backs all day!

The scree ski down Gravel went quickly, and I was pleased to see a group of OHVers departing the mine ruins high in Hurricane Basin, leaving it all to me. The mine ruins were a bit out of my way so I didn't bother checking them out, instead continuing on to grass as quickly as I could.

The terrain here was downright pleasant after spending a few hours on total garbage, and as I approached Denver Pass I made sure to milk it, sticking to grass all the way to the pass even if it was a bit farther, since it avoided talus closer to Seigal.

From Denver Pass it was a quick Class 2 hike up Seigal.

Seigal definitely had the best views of the day, and I thought would be the highlight of the hike. Little did I know that it wasn't actually the views that would be the best thing about the day. I drank in the Cimarron before continuing on to unranked Point 13,708, which was another easy Class 2 hike.

Along the way the ridge over to "Animas Forks Mountain" kept me intrigued. Its sheer walls were impossible to ignore, and the flat top seemed deceiving. Just what was this ridge like?

I continued to 13,708's summit since sidehilling across the steep, loose slopes to the ridge would probably take longer, and was faced with one of the most jawdropping ridges I've ever seen.

The Spanish word ánimas means soul or spirit, and this ridge has tons of both. It wasn't until I was on it that I could tell it was actually an easy crossing, though exposure on both sides of the ridge was severe.

For most of the ridge it was just a walk, and near the middle the ridge twisted just enough that I had to drop down to the left onto a ledge at Class 2+. This was miraculously the only scrambling along the entire ridge. It continued shooting in a straight line towards the main bulk of the mountain.

Once the ridge ended it was a rough Class 2+ scramble up shattered rock to a pitch of gray dirt, and finally to a dinner plate summit.

The ridge looked even wilder from the summit, as it was narrowest on the side closer to "Animas Forks Mountain". I knew there was another way off by descending the south ridge to the road, but I had enjoyed the ridge so much I wanted to cross it again, even if it took longer.

I wasted no time in returning to the glory. It went quickly. I thought about making a third trip across. Yeah, it's that cool.

I re-ascended 13,708 as it would once again be easier descending the ridge proper towards Wood instead of sidehilling on the terrible rock of the area.

The ridge was simple Class 2, though of course the rock was loose. I can and probably should stop saying that by now. I continued almost to the saddle where I descended into Hurricane Basin, this time going south on soft yellow dirt.

Once on tundra I turned south and crossed Cinnamon Pass as fast as I could. It was a zoo. I can't stand the noise and dust. I headed towards a trail that cut up the steep talus slope northeast of Cinnamon Mountain.

From the top of the face I had to pick which peak to climb first, 13,535 or Cinnamon Mountain A. I chose the former since it was higher and farther away.

13,535 proved to be quite easy, though I went a little out of my way heading to what seemed like the summit. Only when I reached the false summit did I realize I should have gone farther to my right. Instead I had to contour around a long summit ridge.

Views from 13,535 were spectacular, as expected. It is in the San Juan, after all.

With just one peak left I contoured back along the ridge then followed my route back to the top of the trail above Cinnamon Pass. A more direct line to Cinnamon Mountain would have entailed additional loss and gain. From the trail it was another easy talus climb up Cinnamon with some trail segments thrown in.

With that it was all downhill. I started down and saw a couple people and their dog coming up. As we met I was greeted with "hey, you're Ben, aren't you?" "Yep, that's me. You must be Allie." (Of course, I had called Allie by the wrong name in reality - sorry, Allie! - but for purposes of the story let's just pretend I hadn't been a dummy.) It was Allie (14ers.com user 13erRetriever), her boyfriend Kyle, and the ever-adorable Harper! They had come up from Cinnamon Pass on a quick hike. We talked for a few minutes about my day and theirs, and they mentioned they had just moved to Ridgway. I was looking at real estate in Ridgway, and have since bought a house northwest of town, so it was great to meet some fellow locals and Harper.

They continued up while I continued down. Once back at the pass I ran the road back down to the van, then headed back to Lake City. Whiley was going to be running the High Five 100 ultramarathon over the weekend, so I stuck around and climbed a few smaller peaks in the area over the next few days. Aside from the section between Wood and Gravel this was a thoroughly enjoyable loop, and the north ridge of "Animas Forks Mountain" is amazing, a classic as far as I'm concerned. It's not hard in any way, but it is quite the strip of rock just hanging in the sky the way it does. If you're a wandering soul like I, make sure to visit and take a trip across this skywalk. It's full of spirit, and sure to rejuvenate your own.

Statistics

Climbers: Ben Feinstein (myself)
Trailhead: American Basin/Cinnamon Pass Junction

Total distance: 17.76 miles
Total elevation gain: 7,592 feet
Total time: 10:21:58
Peaks: Five ranked thirteeners, three unranked thirteeners (two were demoted by LiDAR post-climb)

• Wood Mountain A, 13,660' (demoted by LiDAR)
• Gravel Mountain A, 13,577' (unranked)
• Point 13,688
• Seigal Mountain, 13,274'
• Point 13,708 (unranked)
• "Animas Forks Mountain", 13,733
• Point 13,535
• Cinnamon Mountain A, 13,328' (demoted by LiDAR)

Splits: