Crestone Peak

To quote the Lord of the Rings movie...

Aragorn: "We do not stop 'til nightfall!"
Pippin: "But what about Crestone?"
Aragorn: "You've already done it."
Pippin: "We've done one, yes. But what about second Crestone?"

(If you're already rolling your eyeballs at me, please continue reading. I promise it might get better!)

I loved Crestone Needle so much, its neighbor was a primary goal of my summer 2024 season especially considering my prior attempt as part of HikesInGeologicTime's finisher resulted in an unfortunate need to turn around on the way up Broken Hand Pass (BHP).

Darin, Lisa, and I did class 3 Music Mountain the previous day, so naturally why not follow that with a huge day on Crestone Peak? To say I had many doubts about myself would be a wild understatement.

To the Stats, We Go!

Total mileage: 15.39
Total elevation gain: 5,771'

Mileage splits:
Mile 1 - 525'
Mile 2 - 367'
Mile 3 - 364'
Mile 4 - 361'
Mile 5 - 774'
Mile 6 - 673'
Mile 7 - 738'
Mile 8 - 1,270' (whoa)
Mile 9 to the end - 699' (643' of this is the re-ascent of Broken Hand Pass)

The Climb

We started out with two other members in our party: Two Lunches and Jesus2021. But we did not come back with them. NO, nothing unsavory occurred. This isn't a Donner Party story, it's just they were faster and wanted to do the traverse, and Darin and I were not and did not. That is all. Sorry to disappoint all you who are into the murdery stuff, but feel free to read this TR in Keith Morrison's voice, if you must! ("Sure, they wanted to do the traverse. A likely story... or WAS it?" - Keith)

We all set out from the upper South Colony Lakes (SCL) trailhead, very much in the dark, and eventually we drifted apart into two separate parties. Again, it's not that the other two wanted to get as far away from us as possible, as fast as possible, we just had different objectives. ("Or DID they?" - Keith ........ ok, I'll stop now.)

Every time I've been up to SCL, my #1 goal is I MUST make it into the basin by sunrise for the Needle glow! I practically don't care about the climbing objective at all until after Needle glow. I don't even see the point in starting so late you miss Needle glow. It's the best thing ever! What color will it be today?! Deep red? Orange? Yellow? On this day, according to a website I pulled up, the color was akin to "atomic tangerine". That's ... incredibly specific.

With the Needle glow objective met, we made our way up Broken Hand. My legs and lungs felt yesterday's climb, and for a while everything seemed like a legitimate excuse to turn around, up to and including the turbulence of a slight breeze, and a marmot I swear tried to punch me in the face. But as I would grow accustomed to hearing throughout the day, Darin just calmly said, "One chunk at a time, Mary."

Dammit, Darin.

Broken Hand seemed a LOT more loose and crappy than what I remembered even though it wasn't that long ago I was here, but maybe it is eroding a lot faster than I gave it credit for? I was happy to see RMFI up there doing trail work and hope that helps with the big erosion problem.

And now for the fun part: descending into the basin on the other side. I was mentally prepared for this, for descending with the nugget in the back of my mind that I have to come back up this section later. It honestly didn't seem THAT bad. And, indeed, I would think the same upon re-ascent. More on that later, though.

We descended into the basin; so beautiful! The rocks above us on both sides; Cottonwood Lake all sparkly. Very green, very luscious, the sun hitting everything just right. Crestolita (future goal) towering over me was a treat.

And eventually came views of the red gully. The bacon. The visually striated wonder.

We took a sizable break for food and sunscreen before we ascended to the base of the gully, and I just stared at it ... and stared ... and stared some more. I knew from pictures it was going to be different from Needle's gully, but for some reason now it was really registering to me this would be WAY different from Needle's gully both in quality and type of rock but also in length.

We wound our way up to the base of the gully, and I was still plodding along feeling "less than". I figured I'd try one more time to prompt a turnaround, so I said, "I might be too tired to do this," and I believe Darin said, "No, you're not. You're fine."

Dammit, Darin.

Moral of the story: don't hike with people who know you and your BS well.

I didn't enjoy the gully. I didn't like the rock. I didn't like the streams of water coming down that must be 100% avoided. I didn't like how it never, ever ended. Visually, I was a little mystified, and I think there is actually a scientific term for this experience, though the term escapes me. We'd climb 700 feet, and yet the top of the gully looked exactly zero degrees closer. I know my perspective is likely skewed by the physical strain I was experiencing, but surely there's still some validity here?

We were "stalked" by a solo hiker (henceforth to be known as "our shadow") almost the whole way up the gully, which was fine. It was pretty obvious he was trying to stay close to us; he even took rest breaks when we took rest breaks. We made note of that and kept an eye on him including to make sure we stayed in his line of sight, or sometimes giving some verbal guidance about actual or potential rockfall.

And just to continue to assure you nothing murdery was going on, on our way up the gully we encountered Two Lunches and Jesus2021 coming back down to the start of the traverse. Hooray! They were totally alive, in super great spirits, and crushing it. I was so impressed by them and glad their day went amazingly well!

For Darin and I, we continued our journey up the gully, Darin kicking my butt both in speed and in graceful technique. But, I felt good that I was still managing to knock it out. I was in a pleasant mood (I think)... I really can't complain on a beautiful day with great company on an objectively fine peak in my favorite range!

At long last, the gully ended, and we were met with the joy of crossing onto classic Crestone conglomerate for the remainder of the way to the summit. Yeehaw! The change of terrain gave me a wonderful little boost of energy.

I thought it was funny to first top out on a teaser. "You thought I was the summit, but I'm not! Bahaha!" Clamber down a little bit, and back up - and just like that, you're on the actual summit.

I loved the views the whole way up; absolutely spectacular, and for that reason alone I still hold this peak in high regard despite my dislike of the gully. And from the summit, looking down the ridge line is AMAZING. Hello, East Crestone, beautiful Needle, and other rocky friends! There was also a fun little crew of people on the summit; very social; very lively. I very much enjoy being around people who are also having a good day and feel like they accomplished something. As for one of my summit photos, NO idea. What was happening here, besides my usual dilemma of not knowing how to pose for summit shots??

Darin, on the other hand, is sheer elegance... or possibly trying to avoid being associated with me. LOL.

As Darin and I chilled and ate food, we took in the views and chatted with some folks including our shadow, who was very nice. And ever on alert for the well-being of others, Darin noticed someone about to descend off the teaser point in very much the wrong direction. He gently called out to assist in pointing her in the right direction.

Alas, summit time had to come to an end eventually, so red gully, here comes the redhead again! Descent wasn't SO bad, but it definitely felt tedious, and there were sometimes spots that I just had to take extra slow because I was feeling more fatigued and didn't want to do something stupid. Our capable shadow was behind us, once again, and Darin kindly offered him help in a couple tricky down-climb spots just in case he needed it.

Near the end of the gully, my mind played tricks on me. "The bacon is slick. The bacon is steep. The bacon makes me creep, creep, creep." In hindsight, it wasn't as bad as my perception led me to believe. Darin said, "Trust your boots," and I said, "But I don't!" Oh, Mary. And then when we were below it, I looked back at it and wondered why I made such a fuss about it in my own head. Silly.

I eventually got down, ok? It wasn't always graceful, but last I knew there's no checkbox for "elegant descent" on the list, anyway. Haha.

From there, it was easy enough to hammer out the rest of the descent, and while my legs were definitely feeling some feelings, they were still fairly strong. It's really the heat of the day that finally set in, and that always adds plenty of wilt factor for me. Darin was still busting out a good pace, and I was busting out ... a pace. Admittedly, these particular back-to-back peak days were a huge push for me, so given that fact I was pleased with my overall performance.

About the Re-Ascent of BHP

I understand the disdain people have for it. I don't think anybody truly loves re-gaining elevation after already doing SO much, but I personally didn't think it was that bad. It's ~643' gain. Head down, one boot in front of the other, and just knock it out. Maybe breathe once in a while. It's such a small section of a relatively long day. I actually felt that descending the other side was significantly harder due to tired legs, and that's a fair bit of loose scree to descend on tired legs.

But be sure to take in the views again especially as the light now is different than earlier. This is absolutely mesmerizing to me.

Once back on more solid and level ground, we hammered out the rest of the trek but stopped once to rest for a bit and filter some water. I was hot, sweaty, tired, but also elated. The physical push of these two days was a BIG deal for me, and achieving my Crestone Peak goal felt great, too!

We got back to the trailhead. O, the joy of seeing my vehicle again! Sweet, sweet vehicle, containing clean shirts, sandals, and my go-to immediate post-hike recovery beverage: ice cold chocolate milk. Come to mama!

You know what else was at the trailhead? An old Geo Tracker. How?!

Now, I legit love off-roading and sometimes work it into peak trips so I can enjoy the best of both hobby worlds. However, I do not love having to drive back down SCL road after a tiring day. It is the worst thing ever. You just hiked this crazy long day; you're tired, you're hungry. Now you get to jostle around for a while and strategically shift gears and have to remain on high enough alert not to do something totally stupid to your vehicle. Awesome!

Mystery of the day: on our drive down, we encountered a vehicle that'd pulled a U-Haul trailer up the road. How??!! and MUCH more importantly: WHY? Will we ever know? Probably not. But if you're the person who did that, and you're reading this, for the love of all that is good in this world can you please send me a message to explain? Please, and thank you.

Final Thoughts

Yes, I'll repeat it. I have a suspicion the gully isn't as bad as I think it was, just a slightly skewed experience due to the prior day's climbing. However, it is objectively true that the gully lasts a LONG time. It's a long gully. It is all the lengths. It never ends - until it does. But that's just one ending! What about second ending? You have to go all the way back down and find it!

Views. As with all things in the Sangre de Cristos, there are views for days; views worth all the effort, hands down. Beautiful basins on either side, beautiful peaks everywhere. Re-ascent of BHP? Don't make that a problem in your mind, and don't view it as a deterrent. Again, small part of a big day. It's not that bad. You already did 5,100' gain by that point; what's another 643' more?

Partners. Great peak partners and friends are gold. I'm not sure I'd have been successful if it weren't for Darin's gentle motivation and breaking things up into manageable chunks. Darin, I'm so grateful for your patience, support, and investment in my goals. I also deeply appreciated witnessing your caring presence toward other climbers. Your vast experience and wisdom show - and more importantly the kindness of your character. Thank you for all that you bring to the table, always, my friend.

As to the rest of you, happy hiking! Cherish. Enjoy. Appreciate. Leave nothing. Take nothing.

BONUS CONTENT - Crestone Peak Photography - Other Times, Different Lights, Different Angles