| Report Type | Full |
| Peak(s) |
"Every Mountain" - 13,698 feet "Cooper Creek Peak" - 13,694 feet |
| Date Posted | 09/30/2024 |
| Date Climbed | 09/14/2024 |
| Author | ReginaThomas |
| Additional Members | Kiefer |
| Solitude in Cooper Creek Basin |
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Every Mountain - 13,698' CO Rank 149
Cooper Creek Peak - 13,694' CO Rank 152
Date Hiked: 09/14/2024
Stats:
Distance: 10.72 miles
Elevation Gain: 3499'
Climb Every Mountain… I know the joke is overdone, but you can’t tell me you didn’t sing along. As a bonus, Cooper Creek Basin is the perfect place for some tundra twirls like Maria. Ok, I am done with the Sound of Music jokes now… maybe. It is my mom’s favorite movie so I have seen it countless times growing up, and yes I was singing while huffing up the steep tundra to the ridge. Kiefer and I have been trying to eek in a 3 day weekend of climbing all summer. His training schedule with work has made it challenging, but this weekend was finally the time. Our intent was to camp up at Cooper Creek for 2 nights, arriving late on Friday and heading home over Cinnamon Pass on Sunday night before hiking Cirque Mountain Monday. As I was typing the beginning of this that Monday, booms of early morning thunder provided some excellent background noise.
Kiefer and I have been navigating the road to homeownership over the past month, so rather than camping we ended up at the Matterhorn Motel in Lake City so we could sign contracts if necessary. It was our first time staying there, and the rooms were cute and comfortable. I want to say I was sad to not be camping under the stars, but you can’t beat having a bed, and a fridge to keep the drinks cold. We walked the dark quiet streets of Lake City and headed to the Bushwhacker for a beverage before turning in early for the night. This summer we have really gotten to know and love tiny Lake City.
The only problem with having a hotel room is the struggle to crawl out of the warm bed in the morning. Thankfully we knew we had a great forecast for the next day and began the drive up to Cooper Creek trailhead just as the sun was beginning to rise. We crossed the familiar shelf road and parked in the last spot across from Cooper Creek next to some hunter’s vehicles. I have to admit I was not particularly excited about visiting the Cooper Creek drainage as I am not a fan of Silver Creek next door. Silver Creek always simply feels like a slog of slogs to me, and after completing Sundog I was happy to never have to hike that trail again. It’s easy, but boring, however, Cooper Creek is the opposite.
As we steeply ascended leaving the road quickly behind, I once again questioned why I even have brought my fleece on any peaks this year (just kidding, safety first) and quickly delayered within minutes. Early on the trail a group of 3 elk crossed in front of us. We shooed them away from the trail (and hopefully any hunters… I know hunting is needed, but I didn’t want to see any dead wildlife today) quickly and continued on our way.
After an initial steep climb the trail enters the upper valley and slowly meanders toward treeline. We could see Every Mountain rising far in the distance and knew we had a long way to go. We passed a hunter in the trees who had his eye on some deer sleeping on the tundra by Gudy Peak, but we never heard a gunshot all day. The trail descends to cross the creek with the rusted out car undercarriage
before again continuing the gradual climb to treeline. I was surprised how high a car was at one time on this trail, as it seems impossible to access via vehicle.
We reached treeline just as the trail begins a steep ascent into the lower bowl between Gudy Peak and Every Mountain. The lower bowl looks closer than it is and I told Kiefer we will take a break in 5 minutes once we get to the bowl. 5 minutes turned into 20 minutes but eventually we were taking our first break of the day in the upper bowl and enjoying the views of the beautiful Cooper Creek Basin below us and Gudy Peak to our west.
We also had a clear view of the long undulating ridge we would follow to the summit of Every Mountain and continue along to Cooper Creek Peak. I will say here that Every Mountain should probably be Every Peak and Cooper Creek should probably be Cooper Creek Mountain. Every Mountain is peaky and Cooper Creek is more of a rounded lump on the ridge.
After our quick break for snacks and fluids we began the steeeeep climb up the tundra to the ridge. (Cliimmbbb Everryyyy Mounnntaiinnn).
We caught a social trail near the top which sped our progress, and after catching our breath continued up the rocky ridge toward Every Mountain. This ridge is longer than it looks. Much longer. I thought the ridge to American was long, this was longer.
The great news is the views are absolutely amazing as you climb up the lonnnnnngggg ridge. We could even see the little line of people ascending the switchbacks on Redcloud over in Silver Creek, while one basin over and about 400’ lower we enjoyed our complete solitude.
The weather was still fantastic so we enjoyed a long break with more summit snacks on the summit of Every Mountain before heading down the rocky ridge toward Cooper Creek Peak.
We could see a small patch of cushy tundra at the saddle and we were there before we knew it. The ridge down from Every Mountain was rocky and somewhat loose but not challenging.
From the saddle there was a use trail through the rocks all the way to the summit of Cooper Creek Peak that made for quick progress. We reached Cooper Creek Peak at a leisurely pace about an hour after leaving the summit of Every Mountain. 
After another break to enjoy the views we headed back to the saddle and dropped down some scree to a tundra slope which deposited us into the far reaches of Cooper Creek. We traipsed through the long grass along side the creek truly enjoying the views all around us. Cooper Creek truly is a beautiful place. Soon we met back up with the Cooper Creek trail and enjoyed a few minutes of rest for our now tired feet next to the creek.
It was now getting late as we were taking our time and in no rush to leave this beautiful place, except we were. The Lake City grocery store closes at 7 and I needed contact lens solution. Yes, it was only 4:45 when we reached the trailhead, but we were also a good ways from town and knew it would take a while to drive the shelf road back to town. Kiefer and I chatted with a hunter for a few minutes at the trailhead before I rushed him to leave so we could make it to the store. We both agreed as we drove out that our favorite part of the day was Cooper Creek Basin. It is truly a special place and I can’t wait to go back to hike CT and Gudy Peak soon! 
Little did we know that Cooper Creek Basin was about to be our second favorite thing of the day bumping the two peaks into 3rd place. It was now roughly 5:50 PM and we were past Sherman on the road toward Lake San Cristobal when we saw a bunch of cars pulled over taking pictures. I looked out the window and a cow moose was slinking into the thick willows. Kiefer asked if I wanted to stop, I said "no, she is gone anyway and I NEED to get to the store for contact solution."
We continued down the road ahead, and reached the shores of Lake San Cristobal. Here even MORE cars were pulled over on the side
of the road. This time I said to stop. There was a huge bull moose splashing in the lake waters. We watched him for about 10 minutes before hopping back in the car and heading to town.
We were successful in making it to the store before closing, and topped the night off with a delicious dinner celebrating our new journey at Climb Eatery in town. Sadly the following day weather rolled in early, so we left town and headed home to Montrose a day early but not before driving over the Alpine Plateau, which was also a beautiful adventure.
Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow): 
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