The Raggeds Wilderness is probably a little known and seldom visited wilderness area. With the Raggeds located in the Elk it's not hard to be overshadowed by the six Elk fourteeners and Maroon Bells-Snowmass Wilderness, and being situated in a remote corner by Crested Butte doesn't help. It's a long drive for most people, and most folks probably think of Crested Butte as a ski town first, and a hiking destination almost never. That said, there's spectacular hiking and climbing in Crested Butte and the western/southern Elk, including treasures like the Raggeds' two highest peaks, Treasure Mountain and Treasury Mountain. To reach the Treasure group from Crested Butte the easiest way is to take Forest Service Road 317 past Gothic Mountain to Schofield Pass, then FS 519 to Paradise Basin. The road is a narrow 2WD, high clearance dirt road and the drive into the Elk is jaw-dropping. Paradise Basin is surrounded by brightly colored, prominent peaks and deep, rugged valleys. For Whiley and I this was our first visit to the Raggeds, and we were blown away. I haven't gone back but it's high on my list.

We car camped at Paradise Basin, which was crawling with people, and woke up to a beautiful bluebird day.

The trail from Yule Pass trailhead to Yule Pass itself is incredibly obvious - it snakes a couple miles across the west face of Cinnamon Mountain B and south slopes of Treasury Mountain, and it's so consistent in maintaining elevation across steep terrain that it's impossible to miss. It's kind of a trail on steroids and instantly became a favorite for both Whiley and I. It's just so cool that someone built something across such wild peaks!

The trail took us to just below the Treasury/Cinnamon saddle, and we made the short ascent up grass and willows to the saddle. From our new vantage another blatant trail went up Treasury's southeast ridge. We followed the trail for what seemed like forever across grass-dotted scree, which eventually turned over to pure crushed talus.

Each new bump of elevation revealed a new dimension to the mountain. The upper reaches morphed once again, becoming narrow, with slabs and ledges atop steep dropoffs.

Treasury was super cool and a great introduction to the Raggeds. There wasn't anything difficult about it but it did give us an appreciation for the wilderness it's a part of. Next up was Treasure, which couldn't be connected directly via the ridge - too ragged, becoming technical at one point - but we knew from a trip report by Bryan Ludwig (RIP) and another by Acorn22 that we could drop down Treasury's southwest face, which would save us some backtracking. A single look down the face stopped us from doing that, not that we couldn't, just that it would have sucked immensely.

We decided to backtrack along our ascent path and descend grass slopes towards Yule Pass instead. A bit longer, a lot easier. About nine tenths of the way back we found our grass and dropped down.

The terrain mellowed as we approached the pass, and we traversed northwest around a small knob above the trail. Eventually we dropped back to the trail, meeting it at about 11,300 feet.

Narrowing into just a foot or so wide, the trail led through explosively green grass and aquatic plants, small waterfalls, and plentiful slabs. We met a few others along the trail, including a guided group of backpacking youngsters who seemed to really be enjoying themselves. We shared in their joy of the area, making our way towards a large bowl southeast of Treasure, which was reminiscent of a volcanic caldera. It seems likely that this area, being directly adjacent to the West Elk Wilderness, which has volcanic origins, would also be of similar nature. Route finding through the rock and alpine plants was a bit complicated, but of no technical difficulty. We simply aimed for the curvaceous bowl.

Once the taller plants disappeared the route became more obvious. We couldn't really take a direct line up the peak since it was just steep choss, nor go directly to the saddle, since it was blocked by cliffs, so we went up a bulbous formation along the ridge, staying on grass as much as we could. The talus was short lived and we were quickly on the ridge. From there it was a basic hike to the stunning summit.

We spent a few minutes on the summit enjoying the ragged views of the Elk. This peak had truly been a treasure, and we were excited to do more climbing in the wilderness, the geology was just too cool. All good things must come to an end, and we wanted to do another peak or two before the afternoon storms arrived, so down we went. This time we didn't return all the way to our route up the bowl, opting to drop down steeper slopes right where the cliffs ended.

We meandered back down the slabs, largely ignoring the upper trail. Along the way we made friends with a lone buck. What a home he has!

Once back where the main trail is we hiked back to Yule Pass, then followed the extremely level path along the steeps towards Paradise Basin.

We'd missed the "crazier" parts of this trail with our roundabout way up and down Treasury, and passed by a family of four, most of whom looked like they weren't quite ready for the trail. The dad though? His entire head was a smile.

We traipsed along until we got back to the parking area, constantly exclaiming about the cool everything, and then made our way up nearby twelver Cinnamon Mountain B. You can guess by the name what color Cinnamon is, right?

Cinnamon proved to be quite easy, though the terrain was steep and loose chiprock. It wasn't the most fun peak to ascend, but we had another old road to follow to its east slopes. Like its larger neighbors it had jaw-dropping views.

The steep junk we had climbed up wasn't an appealing descent option so we went down the north ridge then made a sharp cut back south to Paradise Basin. From here I went back to Crested Butte while Whiley did one more 12er, Mount Baldy.

Spectacular mountains, the Raggeds. The sights here are just something else, and though thirteeners have been my priority since, I plan to make the Raggeds one of my first stops when I've finished the thirteeners and begin working on the twelvers in earnest. Even a walk along the Yule Pass trail is worthy of being called out as spectacular. Add a few peaks and you've got yourself an experience to treasure for years to come.

Statistics

Climbers: Ben Feinstein (myself), Whiley H.
Trailhead: Yule Pass

Total distance: 14.61 miles
Total elevation gain: 6,261 feet
Total time: 7:20:11
Peaks: Two ranked thirteeners, one ranked twelver

• Treasury Mountain, 13,462'
• Treasure Mountain A, 13,528'
• Cinnamon Mountain B, 12,293

Splits:

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