CURLEY PEAK
(9,622')April 14, 2008
By Tim Briese
8 miles, 2400' elevation gain, 6:15 roundtrip time
Curley Peak is located a few miles southwest of Canon City, and has the distinction of being the highest point in the northern portion of the Wet Mountains. The trail to the summit climbs up a forested canyon to a high ridge that affords splendid panoramic views of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains to the southwest. It seemed like a perfect destination for a beautiful April day.
Teresa and I left home about 7 a.m. with our lab Allie and drove to Canon City. We took the Oak Creek Grade southwest out of town and followed it about 11 miles up into the Wet Mountains to the East Bear Trailhead. The trailhead is located at about 7400 hundred feet elevation. About 9 a.m. we headed up the Tanner Trail on the other side of the road and followed it up a wooded drainage. We passed through stands of old growth forest, pausing to marvel at a magnificent Douglas fir that was over four feet in diameter. The day was sunny and warm, without a cloud in the sky, an ideal day to be on a hike in the mountains. There were patches of snow remaining on the trail in shady places but not enough to be more than a minor nuisance. The trail climbed relentlessly for about two miles up the drainage before leaving it and ascending up to the right to the crest of a broad, partially wooded ridge. We then followed the trail for an additional mile or so as it meandered northward along the ridge. Tantalizing views of the snow-covered Sangre de Cristos could be seen off to the west through openings in the trees. Considerable banks of snow lay across this upper part of the trail in some places, particularly on the leeward side of the ridge crest. We postholed through deep snow in a few places as the day warmed up. There were also many open areas exposed to the sun that were completely free of snow.
The Tanner Trail goes past the summit of Curley Peak through the woods a few hundred yards below on its eastern slopes, continuing a few more miles to Tanner Peak before turning to the east and descending several miles back toward Canon City. Our objective was to leave the trail and climb up through the woods to Curley=s summit. That is not as simple as it sounds, though, because the summit is little more than a high rocky outcrop along the ridge that is not easy to recognize. There is supposed to be a faint trail that leaves the main one and goes up to the summit but it was lost under the cover of snow today. We decided to leave the main trail at the edge of a meadow and bushwhack up through snow and downed timber to the crest of the rocky summit ridge about 200 feet above to the northwest. When we arrived there we scrambled atop a boulder to get a view to achieve our bearings, and we spotted the true summit about a quarter of a mile away to the northwest along the ridge. We struck off toward it through the woods, dropping down a ways on the sunny and snow-free western side of the ridge to get out of the troublesome deep snow on the eastern side. The summit consisted of a rocky outcropping about 50 feet high and 100 feet long. We circled most of the way around it looking for a manageable way to ascend, finally finding what we were looking for near its northern end. We made a fun little Class 3 scramble up through the rocks and stepped on top a few minutes after noon.
Curley=s summit was an excellent vantage point offering commanding views of the entire extent of the Sangres spread out before us to the west. On the northeastern horizon stood the snow-covered slopes of Pikes Peak, and the eastern plains of Colorado stretched off to the east. Visibility was unlimited on this beautiful clear day. I remarked to Teresa that the rocky summit of Curley was smaller than that of the great majority of the state=s 14ers. We found a tiny summit register rolled up in a baby food jar and perused the list of infrequent visitors. Allie curled up to take a nap while we rested and enjoyed the views. We were amazed to see swarms of ladybugs crawling about on the rocks so early in the season, because snowstorms and frigid weather were still likely in the offing.
After 45 minutes we left and began our descent. We elected to stay on the western snow-free side of the summit ridge all the way past the first rocky outcropping we had climbed up onto. We found this route to be easier than the way we had come other than having to push through a few stands of scrub oaks growing on the side slopes. Presently we climbed back up over the crest of the ridge and strolled back across a meadow to the Tanner Trail. We headed back along the ridge to the south and met the only other hiker we saw today, a shirtless young man with his two dogs. We descended back down the drainage to the trailhead, where we arrived about 3:15, completing this pleasant early season climb.
