BENT PEAK
(13,393’)CARSON PEAK
(13,657’)PT. 13,580
PT. 13,581
September 28, 2010
By Tim Briese
10.0 miles, 4100’ elevation gain, 10:10 roundtrip time
Brian and I left Lake City in the early darkness and headed southwest of town on the Cinnamon Pass Road as we had done the day before. We turned left and followed the 4WD Wager Gulch Road 4.7 miles up to a pass at 12,300 feet, passing by the old ghost town of Carson shortly before we reached the pass. I was pleasantly surprised by the reasonable condition of the road.
We parked at the pass and embarked on our climb at 7:35. We climbed northwest up easy slopes toward Bent Peak, taking advantage of an old 4WD road that we followed up to 12,900 feet. We arrived on Bent at 8:25 and took a short ten minute break before heading for Carson Peak, which lay a mile and a half to the west. We followed a gentle route southwest on grassy slopes then west up an easy ridge to Carson, where we arrived at 9:35. While approaching Carson we were afforded an excellent opportunity to preview our route later in the day to Pt. 13,581, which lay to the south across the other side of the Lost Trail Creek drainage. We took a twenty minute break on Carson and enjoyed fine views all around, including a point blank view of Sunshine and Redcloud Peaks to the north. The day was clear, calm, and warm, a perfect day for this lengthy loop hike that was virtually all above timberline.
We left the flat summit of Carson and headed down the peak’s gentle west ridge, finding smooth sailing until we reached a rather rough area of pinnacles and cliffs on the ridge. Not finding this to our liking, we bailed off the ridge to the south and descended a few hundred feet to the Colorado Trail at 12,750 feet, and followed it west to a broad and gentle pass at 12,900 feet. From the pass we headed south up grassy slopes and were pleasantly surprised to find a trail that we followed on a contour southeast to a saddle just north of Pt. 13,580. We quickly scooted up the easy slopes to the summit of the Point, where we arrived at noon. From this vantage point we gazed to the south toward Pole Creek Mountain and "Northwest Pole", two peaks that we hoped to climb next year. We also previewed the route over to Pt. 13,581, next up for today.
At 12:30 we left Pt.13,580 and returned to the saddle, aiming to get on the ridge to Pt.13,581. The first part of the ridge was laced with nasty spires so we dropped down from the saddle about 100 feet and traversed across somewhat loose slopes to regain the ridge beyond the spires. We followed the ridge eastward on modest terrain for a while until we neared the crux of the route, a reputedly impassable section of the ridge marked by a rugged notch and spires. We bypassed this rough area by bailing off the left side of the ridge about 150 yards west of the notch and descending 300 feet on a grassy slope and traversing across below the spires before ascending a scree and talus filled gully about 400 feet back up to the ridge. The traverse was not bad and the footing in the gully was more solid than I expected.
Upon emerging from the top of the gully we were greeted by a dazzling view of Pt. 13,581’s summit block that got our adrenaline flowing. We eagerly hiked up to the base of it and looked for a way to ascend it. The summit block consisted of a tower about 100 feet long and 20 feet wide at its crest that ran in a northwesterly to southeasterly direction. We climbed up onto its southeastern end and found a route around to its northeastern side on a ledge marked by a few cairns. From the ledge we made a delightful 25 foot Class 3 climb to the summit, where we arrived at 2:30. Climbing this peak was definitely the highlight of the day for me!
We rested on top for 40 minutes while basking in the thrill of our climbs today, particularly this peak. My thermometer registered a remarkable 66 degrees, and not a breath of wind was blowing. Sitting on this peak was truly a mountain climbing high for me!
Our day wasn’t over yet, though. The truck lay only two miles away to the northeast, but between it and us was a deep drainage to cross and 600 feet of elevation to regain. We took our leave of the peak and headed down the northeast ridge on a fun and interesting bushwhacking descent of 2000 feet into the Lost Trail Creek drainage. We heard elk bugling off and on in the valleys far below all day today, including some on this late afternoon descent. Upon reaching the bottom of the drainage we were confronted by a sea of willows to cross but were pleasantly surprised to find an array of game trails that made passage relatively easy. A moose popped out of the willows in front of us and rapidly disappeared before we could pull out our cameras. A short time later we saw six more. From the drainage we climbed northeastward on grassy slopes up to the Colorado Trail, which we followed east until we reached an old road that took us back up to the truck waiting at the pass. The sun was sinking low when we arrived there at 5:50. I was very grateful we had perfect weather for this climb because this high elevation loop would have been far less pleasant in stormy or windy conditions.
As we drove back down the road to Lake City we spotted a beaver swimming across a pond and some deer along the road, making this one of the most wildlife prolific days I could remember in the mountains. We pulled into Lake City at dark and returned to the Silver Spur to rest up for the next day’s climbing adventure.
This fine loop hike route turned out to be an excellent way to climb these four peaks. I must give credit to Pete Krzanowsky for his trip report that suggested this route to us.
