Unnamed 13,114 and 13,223

These are peaks 50 & 51 on our Crested Butte peak list we are working on.
If you want to see some TRs for a bunch of random CB area 12ers, check out our blog.

We tried hiking these two 13ers near the end of June. But we turned back on the ridge due to snow.

This second try was great, mostly because of the flowers in Rustlers Gulch. They were amazing! Photos just don’t do the views and experience justice. Acres and acres of flowers from the creek all the way up to 12,600 feet and beyond. Extraordinary!

We started early because we knew it was going to a long day, mostly because we are slow. We parked about .3 mile from the gate on the Rustlers Gulch Road. We were walking by 4:15 a.m.

The first creek had rocks, the second creek had a log, if you followed a side trail. But we got wet on the third creek. But rumor has it, if we would have gone farther on the side trail, we could have crossed dry. We stowed our sandals under a tree so we didn’t have to carry them.

Once the light started showing we could see the abundance of flowers. We had to stop and just ‘be’ for a few moments. The walk in was fabulous.

We followed the trail from the gate for just under 3 miles (near 11,100) and turned left, uphill. We hiked up the grassy slope into wildflowers. They just didn’t stop. We maneuvered around a rock cliff and went up again. The flowers faded. But once we hit 12,500, a different variety of flowers filled the slope. Wow.

We were heading up the ridge toward a small saddle that had a gully on each side. That’s the spot we were we turned around last time. We reached that mark about 8:30 a.m. The top of the ridge in this area is near 12,900.

From there it is a Class 2 rocky and loose ridge hike to reach Un 13,114 That took about 50 minutes. There is a “high point” on the ridge that connects to Un 13,223, you can skip that.

As we were approaching 13,114, we heard and saw a helicopter circling the Maroon Bells. Our first thought was SAR mission. We watched it for a bit. Then hit the summit. And the helicopter went away, then came back, then went away. Next thing we knew it was going by both Belleviews… then, right underneath us. It came up Rustlers Gulch. We are guessing a wealthy person wanted a mountain and wildflower tour.

We didn’t stay long on 13,114 because we knew there was a chance of weather.

We went to the high point that connected the ridges. I’m guessing it was a Class 4 downclimb, high exposure. Staci went right down.

A member of our party, he shall remain nameless, decided he just didn’t fit on that small ledge and found the easy walk around.

From there the ridge to 13,223 was a loose rocky Elk traverse. A few slabby areas. Several ups and downs. Lots of loose rocks. Stay ridge proper, unless you see a very obvious path to the left or right. There were a few Class 3 sections, all were easy. Just check your handholds.

As we got near the second summit, there was another up and down… we skipped it and side-hilled to the saddle. The summit bump has some of the more fun Class 3 sections from here to the top.

Took us 1 hour and 30 minutes from the high point junction to the summit of 13,223. We spent some time looking at the view of the Elks, ate some pizza and took some photos. It took us about 1:20 to get back across the ridge. Had a few rain drops along the way, but nothing weatherwise materialized.

Back to the ridge above Rustlers Gulch and down to the main trail took about another hour. Several people on the trail coming and going, all looking at the flowers.

We took our time walking back. The flowers were just spectacular. I have never seen so many. One of the best wildflower days I've ever had.

All in all, it was a long day, 12 hrs, 15 minutes. 10.8 miles, and 3,700 gain (according to GAIA, which seems to never count the ups and downs, so probably more in the 4,100-4,200 range).