Slow down summer...

Here we are on the verge of winter and I'm writing and posting a report on summertime fun...and with that of course will be summertime conditions! Since I typically lose motivation to hike peaks later in fall and now almost winter, and recognizing that I'm a fair weather hiker anyway, it's fun for me to go down memory lane to relive summer moments! Memories, all jumbled up together, but each here within, forming a collage of moments with friends that I had the pleasure to hike with. I'm sooo lucky!!

So here you have it, a report, about my summer vacation....

"TL;DR" Section

For the folks that just want the facts and stats:

• Fancy Peak can be done as a loop using Fancy Lake Trail and then descending from the summit, to the N, and into Mulhall Lakes and it can loop back to Fancy trail. (see map in report)
  • ~8.6 miles, ~3,000' gain, ~7hrs

• In Vestal Basin, if going for Peaks Three and Two, and/or Trinities, there's a great camping spot "two tiers" up from the campers meadow (often used to approach Vestal and Arrow). This camp is at about 11,700' and works great for these peaks. Vestal's Wham Ridge route could be accessed from here as well. (see map in report)
  • Approached V.B. from Molas Pass; backpack in took ~7hrs to get to our camp
    • ~9.8 miles, ~1700' LOSS of elevation, followed by ~2800' gain (backpack in stats)
  • De-proach took me ~5hrs20min. (A little less weight in pack and feeling a little more fit and strong after a few days of good hiking!)

• Looping in Kendall Pk with the Rhoda group makes for a great mostly tundra stroll with fantastic views! Started with Kendall Pk first. (see map in report)
  • Car-camped at Deer Park; I don't recall using 4wd getting there but clearance in a few spots was nice. I did use 4wd (low gear) on my way down the road so I didn't have to use my brakes.
  • ~8.3 miles, ~2800' gain, ~8hrs

• For Jacque Pk, we hiked up the ski slopes and this worked out well. Parked at the Union Creek lot at Copper Mtn.
  • There was an 'attendant' at some ski shack on the mountain that asked us NOT to hike down the slopes/grass and asked us to get on the road! (Because the ski litter and grass shouldn't be trampled on?? I guess!)
  • ~11 miles, ~3250' gain, ~7hrs

• For the Gudy group (Lake City 13ers), we followed the sage advice of Ben 'Supra' Feinstein (supercalifragilisticexpialidocious) as he had mentioned in his report that backtracking from the summit of 13,540A and descending from the saddle is better than what other reports have shown to use, which is a steep and loose descent down some gullies off the E ridge. (see map in report)
  • Unlike Ben, we didn't walk the road up to Cinnamon Pass from our endpoint, which was Cooper Creek. We set up a car-shuttle, which did eat up time in the morning and late afternoon.
  • ~9.8 miles, ~2950' gain w/~4790' loss, ~10hrs (ie., we started high, not that kind of high, but started at just below Cinnamon Pass and last peak put us at much lower El.)

• Uncompahgre 13ers (13,106 and 13,091) is a good loop with great views of the (formerly) "Big Blue Wilderness" (see map in report)
  • Interesting rock stacks on the summit ridge-line of 13,106'
  • ~7.25 miles, ~2460' gain, ~6hrs

• The Jones Group, there's a lot of info out there for this group already!
  • From Burns Gulch w/high camp in the gulch
    • American -> Jones -> Niagara
    • ~5.5 miles, ~2880' gain, 7hrs 20 min
    • American summit @ 8:55am (w/25min break) -- Jones summit @ 10:35am (w/25min break) -- Niagara summit @ 11:50am (w/15min break)

• "T5" apparently stands for, "Tebow 5." This "according to" USAKeller. ;)
• When in the Ouray vicinity for a long weekend and hiking peaks, stopping by the via ferrata in the Uncompahgre Gorge (ie., Ice Park area) is a fun way to top off the weekend!

July 2, 2022

"Fancy Peak" (13,192')

w/Valerie (Ihikelikeagirl)

Car-camped previous night at the Fancy Lakes TH; Mike Silvestro met us too, but his day was going to start with Savage Pk and then run the ridge to "Fancy" and possibly to Holy Cross Ridge.

The previous week of our hike of "Fancy," a member on 14ers (Heather Ryan, hrs-something-something -- I don't remember her username!) posted a conditions report on "Fancy Peak." She mentioned some snow below the saddle of Fancy Pass, but she was ok without crampons or micro-spikes. So I left my traction at home and it worked out.

At Fancy Pass, we met JosephG coming up behind us, and he would pull ahead a little and summit ahead of Valerie and I, but the three of us would descend together to Mulhall Lakes and loop back to the Fancy Lakes trail.

The route, according to gaia:

Hiking "Fancy" was a good summer warm-up to a week long trip I had planned during the 4th of July week, all in the San Juan Mountains, where Valerie would meet up with me for the latter part of that week for car-camping day trips of 13ers in the Silverton area. Is that run-on sentence good enough?!

I returned to the Fancy Lakes TH two more times during the summer, the second time just a few weeks after our "Fancy Peak" day. In mid-July -- Kimo, Valerie, Caroline, and I did a car-camp and hiked Whitney Peak on the 23rd of July. On that outing, we planned to hike 13,768 first and then loop over to Whitney, but I was dragging ass so collectively as a group we decided just to do Whitney. We descended off the summit, using the S slopes. Don't do that! It sucked. Go back to the W and get back on the French Creek trail.

Later in August for my birthday, Caroline and I returned to finish what we started on 13,768!

July 4th - July 7th

Vestal Basin backpack, from Molas Pass

w/Randy (RWinters)

Summits of Peak Three & Peak Two w/Randy; and W Trinity by myself (I suck when solo, so I didn't do the traverse)

Randy and I had met in the summer of 2020 on the Carson Pk group, as he was reascending to "Tundra Top" coming up from the saddle of Cataract. We talked for a bit there, and later that day, when Valerie and I got back to Carson Town site pass, we met up with Randy again and talked some more. We kept in touch since then, and finally started to get out on hikes together in 2022.

We did a few hikes in the Front Range prior to this trip to Vestal Basin. Randy still has a few centennials to go for his list, but he also knows he wants to finish the bicentennials too, just like I do. Therefore we put this on the calendar for the week of July 4th, although originally I think we had hoped to go in on July 1st or 2nd, but the weather forecast wasn't looking great so we delayed a few days, thankfully due to Randy juggling some work responsibilities to accommodate.

The weather was "ok" but had we been able to push the trip back one more day at the start, I think we would have gotten the Trinities together! It turned out we got Peaks Three and then Two, as a consolation prize to our aborted attempt on the Trinities. However, it had been since 2005 when I was in Vestal Basin and it was a great return to this area! I'll go back next summer, hopefully with Randy again, and finish the Trinities! And, re-finish the centennial list....damn LiDAR! (I need Trinity Pk as it's now a centennial.)

From our camp at ~11,700, this was our view! The route to the saddle of Vestal and W Trinity goes up at the base of the slope in the foreground, and ascends up a trail, faint at times, that is in the trees. It all goes pretty well. One is likely to get wet feet crossing the creek and along the flats in the foreground of the below photo, as it is a little marshy/soft tundra with plenty of water in there! Note: it rained a fair amount the afternoon we got to camp, and rained heavily for a couple of hours the next day too. The water rise in the creek below our camp was very noticeable.

The day we got into camp, I did have time to scout out the approach for Peak Three. From our camp, I hiked to the N above our camp and found the approach that Mark Silas had told me he used when he did those peaks. It was straight forward from our camp, and I could see the "grassy" slope to ascend to get to the W/NW ridge of Peak Three.

July 5th

"attempt" at Trinities

Summits of: Peak Three (13,478') and Peak Two (13,475')

Randy and I planned on the Trinity Traverse for July 5th, and I think we set out from our camp a little after 5am. It had rained during the night, and it was cloudy starting off.

I saw a group of climbers go by our camp earlier that morning, and I knew they had headed up toward the saddle of W. Trinity and Vestal. It turned out to be Chicago Transplant (Mike) and some friends. Mike split from them to go climb Peak Eight, an unintended orphan for him, now that it's ranked (again, LiDAR). His two friends went on and did the Trinity Traverse. The day we got to camp, I saw them on the summit of Arrow Peak but didn't know it was them at that time either! The forum on this site is good for piecing together information as I saw a post by Mike about their time in the basin.

Both Randy and I were a little fatigued from the backpack to the basin, and I don't think we were moving all that fast as we got to the saddle of W.T. and Vestal. It took us about 1hr 30min from our camp to the saddle. We were disappointed to see the amount of clouds hovering over Needle Mountains/Chi-Basin area. Knowing our pace, and what looked like imminent rain at some point, our confidence was not high to be safe and successful. Plus, one of us forgot his food bag and I'm too stingy with my snacks! lol

Randy and I talked it over and decided that we're not fast enough, or man enough, to continue on for the traverse! I suggested we go back to camp, grab his food bag, and go for Peak Three and Two. We'd probably get rained on at some point, but knowing the terrain is friendlier than the commitment of the traverse of the Trinities without real bail options. We did get rained on as we got back to the top of S slopes used from our camp, on Peak Three. But that was after getting two new summits!

While on the summit of Peak Three, we watched the clouds totally envelope E Trinity, Storm King, and the remainder of the Grenadiers on their eastern edge. It was a cool sight to see, and we were thankful we didn't do the traverse! Mike's friends were successful on their traverse of all three though! So was Mike on Peak Eight.

We reached the summit of Peak Three at about 10:20am, roughly 2.5hrs after we left our camp.

Next up, Peak Two to our N, and ~1 mile away...

We were on the summit of Peak Two around 11:45am.

We retraced our steps to the saddle of Three and Two, and traversed lower back to our ascent line of the S slopes. It was when we got closer to the S slopes that it started to rain. Thankfully, we got back to camp before it really unleashed for several tent-bound hours!

July 6th

West Trinity Pk (13,765')

w/d_baker

Randy had to pack up and hike out on the 6th, and I was undecided about what I would do. I know myself well enough that I wouldn't be as comfortable to solo the Trinity Traverse. I'm just not that guy and prefer to have a partner on terrain like that. The moves don't get harder, but it does impact my psyche when alone. However, I was there and I thought I should at least go up to the saddle and see what I think, and feel, and decide from there. I slept in a little and didn't leave camp until 7:10am. I reached the saddle at 8:20am.

I made slightly better time getting to the saddle, since I was familiar with the approach, but more so because I generally get a little stronger with each day. e.g, day 1 = slowww, day 2 = sloww, day 3 = slow. See how that works for me?

There's at least two ways to go up to the saddle for W Trinity and Vestal. Mike and his friends had gone up a gully that exits closest to the SW ridge of W Trinity. Randy and I went up more-so in the middle of the connecting ridge, up an obvious scree/small talus slope to the saddle. Although I'm not sure it's the true saddle/low point but it worked out well for us, so that is what I used again when I went back.

From where I went up, there's a decent trail on the S side of ridge proper that leads to the E, which I assume is the Kodiak High Route that I've heard about and is apparently on some mapping apps. However, I don't believe it's a continuous "trail" and more of part game trail, part climber trail.

Anyhow, I used that trail for a brief stretch before cutting over toward the SW ridge of W. Trinity. The actual start to the route up the ridge is mostly grungy dirt and rock but it's not horrible. I was anticipating more scrambling from the start, but it isn't. There's enough scrambling beyond though, and some route finding but not overly questionable or mysterious as to where one could/should go. There were a couple of places I looked around a little for a different way as some moves that I saw were not what I wanted to commit to, but I was able to find easier lines. I don't think I did anything beyond class 3, and one place had some exposure to bad consequences but the rock is good.

The ridge did go on a little more than I anticipated as well, but overall it's a good route. During my ridge scramble, I already knew that I wouldn't go on for the traverse. I was content and ok with that thought, and I don't mind going back again in a year or two, or however long, to do it with a partner or two. I enjoyed the summit and took some photos. Weather was far better than the day before!

I hiked out of Vestal Basin on July 7th, and met up with Valerie (Ihikelikeagirl) at Molas Pass. She drove down from Co Springs so she could join me for the next 3 days of hiking 13ers in the Silverton area!

The next day, the goal was Kendall Peak and then looping in the Rhoda group. Which, I heard LiDAR de-ranked Rhoda! But it's still a great loop and the eye candy of the Grenadiers was awesome! For me, it's fun to do a group of peaks in the same vicinity on consecutive days, to gain different perspectives on the peaks I was on the day or two previous. This outing was no different because the loop, done clockwise by us, provided all day long views of Arrow, Vestal, Trinities, etc....constant "wow" moments!

July 8th

Kendall Pk (13,451')

"Mountaineer Pk" (13,434')

Mt Rhoda (13,402') LiDAR unranked

Whitehead Pk (13,259'), unranked

UN 13,109'

w/Valerie

We drove up to Deer Park the night before and car-camped in our vehicles. The plan was to bushwack around the lower part of the E ridge of pt elevation of 13,399 (shown on the map) and find an old pack trail as shown on the map. Valerie's research had garnered some info that the trail is in fact there and easy to follow to a saddle to the S of Kendall Pk. From the saddle, it's an easy hike to Kendall Peak, and then a backtrack is in order to contour around the N side, on a trail, of pt elevation of 13,409.

See, there is a trail!

Once around pt elevation 13,409 we can see the remainder of our day and summits ahead.

This loop is comprised of a lot of tundra walking and is quite easy! It could be a good dog or kid friendly hike. Getting up Rhoda has an option for a very short ~10' scrambly section on the S side, or a grassy ramp on the E side of the summit plateau. The time it took between "Mountaineer Pk" and Rhoda was ~30 minutes? And then a walk to Whitehead. The opening photo in this report is from on or near the summit of Whitehead.

Short narrow section below summit of 13,109 and is fairly easy terrain to walk across.

Valerie and I would go on to hike Vermilion (a repeat for me), Beattie, and Fuller the next day followed by Rolling Mtn on Sunday, the final day of my week-long trip.

July 16th

Jacque Peak (13,205')

w/Caroline (USAKeller) & Valerie (they're sooo lucky!)

I've "known" Caroline (USAKeller) for a lot of years from the forum. We had only met in person once before this summer, and that was in 2013 at the funeral for Steve Gladbach. But we had exchanged random messages over the years, so it was like we knew each other. Valerie and Caroline had hiked together before but it had been many years since.

Caroline was looking for a partner on a different weekend for another peak (Mt Mamma) so I had sent her another random message on the site about her post. ;) From that message, she told me it was probably time we finally do a hike together! Ok, if you say so...

Thus, her v-card for the Gore was about to be taken. Her words, not mine! It would be Valerie's cherry popping too in the Gore. Although Jacque is very un-Gore like to me. I'm talking about the 12ers and 13er Gores that run from Buffalo/Red Mtn all the way to Eagles Nest. So you know, THAT part of the Gore, so there is no confusion. ;)

I was living in Avon at the time, so it was a short drive over Vail Pass to meet the girls in the morning. Valerie opted to car-camp the night before somewhere "closer" than the Springs, and Caroline drove up from Boulder in the morning. It was a fun day that led to many more for the rest of the summer weekends! Jacque will stand out to me, each time I drive by it and Copper Mtn, as one of those peaks that brings back fond memories. :)

And so as it turned out, a trio partnership formed from that hike and each weekend we would end on that note, of what's next?

August 6th

UN 13,427'

UN 13,540' A

"C.T. Peak" (13,312')

"Gudy Peak" (13,566')

w/Caroline & Valerie

We wanted to put together a couple of days of linking peaks together, and this group stood out as a good choice. Valerie, who does a great job on her research, mentioned the report by supranihilist where he pointed out the backtrack option on 13,540 A as well as backtracking on "Gudy" to the saddle for the descent into Cooper Creek. For the most part, we followed his route and doing so was efficient. Other than our line of choice off of "C.T. Peak" which I muffed up, it's a lot of good alpine hiking! For our descent of "C.T." we didn't stay close to the ridge and instead foolishly went down to descender's right of the E ridge, and the terrain there was loose dirt and loose rock and wasn't a favorite part of the day for the girls.

Their favorite part of the day was the new point deduction plan I came up. For every whine or complaint, points were deducted! However, I don't recall coming to a conclusion on what they were going to lose. Valerie likes to whine, Caroline likes to complain. "I hate this!"

Both of them would constantly say things like, "Darin, noo!" and, "Darin, stop!" I on the other hand, well, I'm perfect and their cries of 'no' and 'stop' were unnecessary and unwarranted. I don't know. They're soooo lucky to hike with me. ;)

August 7th

UN 13,106'

UN 13,091'

w/Caroline and Valerie

These peaks were a nice outing, and again, a hike with the likes of Uncomphagre and Friends on the skyline horizon is not a bad day! The summit ridge of 106' has interesting rocks, stacked with gaps for passage. And the girls noted all the phallusy features off the summit ridge. So, if you like that kind of thing....this summit is for you.

Go over there, see more....

"End of Summer" (Labor Day Wknd)

Sept 3rd

American Pk (13,806')

Jones Mountain A (13,860,)

Niagara Peak (13,807')

To end the summer of fun, we planned a 4 day Labor Day weekend and capped it with a day at the Ouray Via Ferrata. We met up on Thursday evening on San Juan CR 33, on the outskirts of Silverton. We car-camped beside the road since we arrived late, and drove up for the Kendall group (BM, now LiDAR ranked, and Kendall Mtn) in the morning.

At some point during the day on the Kendall duo, the talk of pants came up. Yes, pants....and maybe, well, how one looks in those pants. It's all about how you look, right?! Kuhl pants for the win!!

Shortish day for us on the Kendall duo, yet too short for Valerie as she went to a different TH that afternoon and hiked another 13er! As she hiked Little Giant for her bonus peak, Caroline, myself, and Sam drove to the Burns Gulch TH to find another car-camp spot for all us, as we did the Jones group on Saturday.

We parked along CR 2 at the junction/Animas River crossing for Burns Gulch, and waited for Valerie to arrive before driving up the road to a high camp for the Jones Group. The road is narrow but is in good shape and not very rough. We found a good spot in a pullout at about 11,600' and sat outside for a little while as the sun started to go down.

Up and out the next morning by ~6am, we left our camp and immediately took a road that goes N/NE as we started with American Pk first to start the day. These peaks would be repeats for Sam and me, but from a new approach. All three were new summits for Caroline and Valerie.

We only saw two other groups all day, and that was on the summit of Jones. One guy came up solo from Burns Gulch, ascending the south side slopes of the W ridge, or I believe that is how he came up as it looks to be the viable route from there. The other group, of 3, had climbed the W ridge of Niagara, which I think they did the full ridge from spot elevation 13,419 and they told me getting to the ridge out of Burns was steep but overall the ridge goes pretty well and not too difficult. They didn't stay on the summit long, and were off to American next.

Caroline doing her best leap frog on the summit of Jones....

We were back to our cars by 1:30 and drove out of Silverton and headed to our next camp, in Governor Basin.

Sept 4th

"T5" (13,436')

w/Caroline, Valerie, and Sam

We set out from our car camp with intentions of Mt Emma, a bicentennial that I still have on my list to do. I didn't do much research (ie., none) and most in our group didn't really like the gully we started to go up. Steep, loose dirt and rock, about what I expected but not fun for some. I should have done this earlier in the spring with snow! We aborted this attempt, but Valerie suggested we go to "T5" so off we go!

We hiked the road to the Humbolt Mine and traversed on a high bench under the N side of Mendota Peak until we could see the saddle we wanted to hike up to get on the W ridge of "T5."

The slope up to the saddle isn't awesome, but not the worst either. Hard to believe they use it for the race though! At the saddle, the route goes on the S side of the pass and traverses around a tower until it cuts up to gain the W ridge. There's one steepish portion going around a corner, but with some care it goes by quickly. I don't have any pictures of it, but it's shortly after Kroger's Canteen (the pass).

The group on "T5" (a.k.a., Tebow 5)

For those of you that don't know USAKeller, she's kind of a Tim Tebow fan. And when I say kind of, it's more like obsessed. Probably more like a crush. #celebritycrush If it's not Tebow she gushes over, it's Bill Hemmer. Or some Deacon dude (coincidence her car is named Deacon??). Behind that smile is an odd woman...lol

Back to the cars, and a drive into Ouray to pick up our rental via ferrata lanyards at Ouray Mtn Sports for our "iron way" Labor Day outing!

If you haven't done the via ferrata in Ouray, or any of the others popping up across the state, it's a fun time and pretty safe so long as you're paying attention to what you're doing. I wore my hiking boots, and a small pack for my water. It was suggested to me by a friend that has done it a few times that approach shoes would be a good idea but I disagree. I think all four of us wore trail shoes or hiking boots without any regrets.

This trip report was brought to you by Atomic Fireballs...also called hot balls...

BYE!