• Let me start off by saying - With all due respect fuck Spread Eagle East ridge route lol. It's very steep and after you leave Gibson creek trail there is no trail whatsoever and the forest is thick. The definition of bushwhacking. You gain almost 4k elevation within 3 miles most of that thru a dense forest. Going up wasn't that bad, it's the way down that really sucks. I highly recommend if you start from Gibson trailhead take the established trail to the lake of the clouds and then climb the saddle between Spread Eagle and Peak of the clouds. It's a couple extra miles round trip but probably faster since you don't have to bushwhack. Or if you have a capable vehicle you could start from hermit pass.

Well now that I got my complaining out of the way let me show y'all how absolutely beautiful it was yesterday. Made it just in time for peak fall colors. And the weather was perfect.

I've been thinking about buying property out near Westcliffe and I was here on Friday looking around. Spread Eagle Peak caught my eye, and I thought it'd be a good idea to hike it this weekend and get a lay of the land. The first 1.5 miles from the Gibson trail head is a nice trail that runs along the creek all the up until you reach the forest of bushwhack hell.

Be warned without the GPX tracks it will be very hard to find where to break away from the trail and into the forest. The route is kinda obvious in the sense that you just want to head west up thru the forest towards ridgeline, but the forest is dense and once inside it is easy to lose sight of where you are going. As long as you head straight up you will be able to find your way towards tree line but will probably end up adding extra miles and elevation, so I'd recommend if you do this route to download the tracks. The way back to the trailhead I'd say is a little easier to get lost but as long as you head straight down and find the creek it will bring you back to the trailhead.

Now don't get me wrong the forest was very beautiful, lots of aspens and old growth pines. Saw a lot of elk tracks also. It was just very steep and tedious; the way up isn't that bad as long as you don't mind lunging up the mountain, which I don't but the way down is rough my poor pinky toes have blisters on them from having to hit the brakes, so I don't just tumble thru the woods and down the mountain. It was humbling not having switchbacks to follow to say the least.

The first mile thru the forest is the worst but after that it levels out for a little bit before getting steep again. Once you get to tree line the route becomes obvious, and the views are amazing. The views of the Crestones and of Pikes Peak are awesome. I love this area of Colorado; the mountains just shoot right out of the valley floor. The people who live in the valley near Westcliffe have a crazy view, hopefully I can join them soon. Anyways once we got to tree line, we took a well-deserved break and soaked up the sun.

The route to the summit is pretty easy, no trail and steep but it felt like a walk in the park not having to fight thru trees and bushes. No climbing required just a straight walk up the ridge.

The Crestones look out of place compared to all the big round Colorado mountains, Truly the "Alps of Colorado". There were some ominous clouds hovering over the Crestones all day and just made me think of Transylvania or somewhere you'd expect a big castle with a vampire living in it to be.

Not sure why this peak is called Spread Eagle but I'm guessing because the false summit and the real summit are almost the same height and shape and the gap between them looks like spread apart butt cheeks? Or maybe my toes were the eagles, and they got spread apart and beat up hiking down the never-ending forest of steepness? who knows

Relaxed at the summit for a while, the weather was perfect barely any wind and lots of sunshine. If anyone else here knows about or plays RuneScape I got 99 Agility on top of the summit and made a cool video. If you see it floating around the 2007scape subreddit that's me

The first photo of the lakes is the route I recommend, there is a trail that goes to the lakes from Gibson trailhead and then from the lakes you can just head up the saddle between spread eagle and peak of the clouds. Looks a lot easier than what we did, I think there is a little section you have to climb if you come from the west side of spread eagle but nothing crazy. I was debating heading down that way, but we didn't leave the summit until around 3:15 and I didn't want to hike out in the dark. Because of the location of the lake trail between the two ridges the sun would have set there within the next hour. So, we decided to sacrifice our knees/toes and head back down the bushwhacking hellscape. The second photo showing Peak of the clouds and Rito Alto has a road that goes to the top of hermit pass just to the south of Rito Alto. If you have a vehicle that can make it to the top you could easily hike all 3 mountains in a day. I saw what looked like a red F150 Driving up the road while we were hiking it's pretty far away, so I wasn't 100% sure but if so, looks like the road isn't bad.

Well after enjoying the views and making my cinematic masterpiece we headed down the steep route back to the truck. it was a long day but always a good day when you are playing in the mountains. And you know what they say something about a struggle builds character.

After some more curse words and a couple branches slapping me in the face we made it back to the truck. Another beautiful day in the mountains, thank you mother nature I love you.