With plans to climb RGP and return in a day, I had created a route with OnX that would take me along the Rio Grande Reservoir, up to Weminuche Pass, along the Rincon La Vaca trail, up a portion of Skyline trail to avoid very loose scree, and then up the mountain along the east ridge.. Estimated to be 22.5 miles and 4500' elevation gain.. I had climbed Snowmass in a day, in about 12:15 hours out-and-back, so I figured this would be a bit easier and a couple hours faster.

I started out from Thirty Mile CG campsite #24 around 4:20am on June 14, 2025; a crisp Saturday morning under nearly a full moon. Met the Thirty Mile/Weminuche Pass TH marker around 4:30am. From there the trail gains elevation as it nears the Rio Grande Dam, which is pretty well lit. The trail then rolls up and down as you hike single track alongside the Rio Grande Reservoir, which under full moon looks amazing. First light was starting to creep in and around 2.4 miles in, I found the bridge crossing; the bridge was in great shape and I could tell a lot of water was coming down. After the bridge, the trail gets a little rough as it steeply gains elevation.. There were a couple smaller, downed trees, yet nothing too hard to overcome. Once the trail began to level out, I was able to look back as sunrise was just beginning to make its way up and the scene was serene.

The trail became a lot nicer and was very runnable, with just a couple of easy creek crossings. Deer, Elk, and several species of birds were out in the cool morning air. There were a couple open meadows where it felt like I was at the top of Weminuche Pass, yet I wasn't officially there until I saw this pole. This should also have been where they Skyline/Opal Lake trail started, yet there was absolutely no obvious sign of that trail anywhere. However, given other RGP trip reports I read, I wasn't surprise and continued on with my plan to follow the Rincon La Vaca trail to the base of RGP.

There were a couple forks on the trail, which I assumed went to campsites, yet with my GPS in hand, I stayed to the right and kept on truckin'.

The meadow views along Weminuche Pass were fantastic and I even caught glimpse of three moose along the way.

Eventually, you'll find yourself hiking along the Robert Lohr Ditch, a great source for water miles into the hike. However, this time of year, the ditch was overflowing in some parts, so there was a little bit of going off trail to avoid 6" deep water.

The only other two people I saw anywhere near the trail that morning were a couple of campers across the meadow, maybe making their way along the CDT. Otherwise, I had the whole trail to myself!

I eventually found Section 7 of the CDT about 6.5 miles in and, once again, stayed to the right.

About another half-mile or so past the CDT fork, I caught my first glimpse of Rio Grande Pyramid (RGP).

The trail was still very runnable as I encountered another wide open meadow section with a great view of RGP.

After that, the trail began to ascend more steeply with several switchbacks up to right about treeline; there were a couple very small snowfield crossings, though nothing serious. About 9 miles in, after the switchbacks, is where I got a good view of the base of RGP and the first ugly scree slope I wanted to avoid with the help of Skyline trail.

And as I neared where OnX said Skyline trail should fork back into Rincon La Vaca (RLV), I caught a great view of The Window.

..I never did find Skyline trail; there simply was no sign of it anywhere.. again. However, continuing with my plan to get up to the east ridgeline, I plodded off trail towards the base of RGP.

I used the rockfield for solid footing to avoid the marshes from the snowmelt. I then pushed my way through about 50 feet of chest-high willows, towards the first scree slope and a game trail traversing upward. Having read the other RGP trip reports, I knew what to expect here.. Ball-bearing scree.. And it was! For every two steps, it seemed that scree pulls you back at least one! Fortunately there was only a couple hundred feet or so of it to manage and then the smallest scree gave way to larger, soccerball sized scree.

I continued to follow the ridgeline as closely as I could toward the top of the mountain. The scree continued to grow in size, yet it seemed like every piece of it was unstable.. TEST EVERYTHING on this mountain before you commit! Test your handholds and your foot placements. I nearly had a couple small, table-sized boulders roll from under me and down on to me! The ridgeline was definitely Class 3 scrambling and scree-hopping all the way to the top!

The views were so worth it though! I summited around 9:38am, just over 5 hours from starting out! (BTW, there's no organized windbreak at the top, just a pile of rocks!) The weather was perfect, in the low 50's up top with a cool breeze! And, after hanging out at the top for a few minutes to grab a quick meal and several videos/photos, I started on my way back down.

Instead of sticking closely to the ridgeline, I came down a little more south of it, and then angled towards the grassy section near the base of RGP.. I figured it had to be easier to dealing with all of the scree - especially the smaller stuff! And, in fact, this is now the path I recommend you take to climb and descend RGP rather than pushing through the ball-bearing scree!

On my way back to the trailhead, the warmth of the sun opened up hundreds of thousands of flowers I had not seen in the morning.. Old Man Of The Mountain's, Lilies, Forget-Me-Not's, and fields of Dandelions!

I could also see the water coming down at the bridge crossing much better, as well as different aspects of the RG Reservoir and Dam that I couldn't see before sunrise.

I estimate that I would've made it back to our campsite in about 10 hours total, out-and-back. Yet, I found my wife on trail along the way down and enjoyed the last few miles out at her pace. And, somehow, I ended up tracking 23.59 miles and 6060' of elevation gain! Still, it was a great run-&-hike with absolutely beautiful weather and trail conditions!