From the trailhead (
1), follow the excellent trail for 1.25 miles to reach an open area, at 11,200' -
2. Continue to the other side of the clearing to reach a junction -
3. Turning right will take you up Mt. Massive; Continue straight on the North Halfmoon Lakes trail. Hike up through the trees and pass a long rock-slab to reach a clearing where you can see 13er Mt. Oklahoma -
4. Continue to 11,600' and reach a flat, rocky overlook where the trail continues north. You've hiked this high on the North Halfmoon Lakes trail to avoid the ugly terrain down near the creek but now you must bushwack west to reach K49. Leave the trail and walk west into the forest -
5.
After a short distance, without gaining or losing much elevation, you'll reach the first of two stream crossings -
6. Find a log or some other way across and continue to another stream. Once you've made your way across the two streams, continue sidehilling west/southwest through small clearings (
7) and forest for over 1/4 mile before angling down to the creek. Again, the point of this bushwacking is to avoid the ugly terrain near the creek, down to your left. Exit the forest to reach the North Halfmoon Creek, near 11,600' -
8.
Without a trail, walk southwest along the creek, toward Deer Mountain -
9. After following the creek for over 3/4 mile, look for a large rib of slanted rock up to your right -
10. Continue past the rock rib and turn right to locate a gully to the north -
11. Now above 12,000', climb northwest up the steep gully (
12) to reach a flat area, above 12,400' -
13. Continue southwest (
14 ) before climbing west to reach a saddle on Deer's northeast ridge, near 13,000' -
15.
Don't be fooled, that's not the summit in
15. Walk up to the right side of the ridge and continue up Class 2 terrain (
16) to reach a bump/outcrop on the ridge, near 13,400' -
17. Climb a short, somewhat-loose, Class 3 pitch (
18) and continue to the top of the false summit -
19. Scramble along the ridge and around some large boulders to reach the messy, final section -
20. Continue past a small saddle and begin climbing along the left side of the ridge crest. After a short distance and before the climbing becomes much more difficult, look for a way to cross over to the right side of the ridge crest -
21. Continue higher while angling to the right to avoid the ugly terrain up to your left -
22 and
23. Pass under some large blocks and locate a slabby pitch which provides the "easiest" line to the summit -
24. Climb the short pitch (
25) and walk over to the top -
26 and
27.
GPX File
