GRIZZLY MOUNTAIN
(13,708 ft.)CYCLONE MOUNTAIN
(13,596 ft.)CARBONATE MOUNTAIN
(13,663 ft.)September 12, 2006
By Tim Briese
Clear and beautiful September weather was in the offing today, and I hoped to take advantage of it to climb three new Bicentennial 13ers. I left home at 5:20 and headed into the mountains with my two eager labs.
I took Highway 50 west of Poncha Springs and turned off at Maysville onto Chaffee County Road 240. The road is paved for the first few miles, almost to the Angel of Shavano campground, but rapidly becomes high clearance two wheel drive past that point. Garratt and Martin say to go up this road about six miles from Highway 50 to the Cyclone Creek Trailhead for this hike, but that mileage is incorrect. On the way out later in the day I measured it to be about 8.2 miles. Because of this discrepancy, and also because of the fact that the trailhead is unmarked, I missed it and drove on past while searching for it. I did not even see Cyclone Creek on my first time up the road because it is mostly hidden by dense trees on each side of the road, and also because it flows discreetly through a culvert under the road. After going a mile or two past the creek I yielded to my confusion and pulled out my GPS and used coordinates and my map to return and find the correct spot. After parking on the west side of the creek I noticed a small sign tacked to a tree on the north side of the road that said A Cyclone Creek@ .
This little misadventure cost me the better part of an hour, and I finally hit the trail at 9:05. It was a good thing that weather would not be an issue today, given such a late start for the hike! I noted the elevation at the trailhead was about 10,700 feet. I found an old jeep road, which is initially about 50 yards east of the creek, and followed it up the Cyclone Creek drainage. It quickly faded to a trail, and after a mile it crossed to the west side of the creek. The trail became more and more faint, and by the time I reached timberline my progress was reduced to bushwhacking. I could see Grizzly standing gracefully up at the head of the valley, and Cyclone and Carbonate loomed high above to the right, their upper slopes glistening white from a recent early season snow.
Garratt and Martin describe a combination climb of Carbonate and Cyclone from this drainage, but I was attempting to add Grizzly as well, knowing full well from an examination of my topo map that I might face a serious crux on the gnarly ridge above the Grizzly/Cyclone saddle.
I rapidly bushwhacked up the gentle valley, skirting around boggy areas, and at about 11,800 feet I left the valley and headed up a steep slope to the left up to a 12,600 foot saddle on Grizzly=s south ridge. I was able to pick out a reasonable line of ascent up this slope, primarily on grass and dirt. At 11 a.m. I reached the saddle and stopped for a refreshing break.
After resting for a few minutes I headed up the modest ridge toward Grizzly=s summit, a thousand feet above, and stepped on top at noon. There were great views all around, including Aetna and Taylor off to the south, Antero to the northeast, and Cylcone and Carbonate to the southeast. It was clear and pleasant, and the air was almost calm.
At 12:20 I left Grizzly and headed down its east ridge to the 13,200 foot saddle between Grizzly and Cyclone. The going was quite easy, except for a short steep and rough stretch at the end of this descent. I looked ahead at the previously mentioned crux slope with some trepidation and uncertainty. From the saddle I tried going right up the crest of the ridge, realizing that I needed to find a route with terrain that my dogs could handle. After climbing a hundred feet or more I realized this route was too steep for them, although I could have possibly handled it myself. I decided to go back down to get onto a steep talus slope to the right, so dropped down about 200 feet to a point below the saddle. I began an ascending traverse to the right on very steep and loose talus blocks. This was rather nerve-racking, as I recalled Brian=s mishap on Mt. Tyndall a few months before when his leg was pinned beneath a loose talus block. I was concerned about the danger for my dogs on this slope, and almost turned back, but very slowly pressed on. The going got a little easier when I got higher and I finally reached the top of the ridge at 2 p.m., having consumed an hour on the 400 foot climb from the saddle!
I sat down to rest for a while, and noticed that Jorie had a bloody paw, from a little tear in the skin near one of her claws. She did not appear to be in any pain, but it was a cause for concern for me, and I resolved not to subject my precious dogs to this sort of climbing again!
I headed south along the gentle and easy ridge toward the other two summits. There was some snow but not enough to bother much. I hiked up over Pt. 13,591, continued down the ridge to a saddle at 13,340 feet, then went up a rather steep, snow-covered slope to the summit of Cyclone Mountain, where I arrived at 2:45. The view of the peaks surrounding the Brown Creek drainage off to the east was quite impressive. After ten minutes I left and continued south toward Carbonate, hiking down to a 13,270 foot saddle, then climbing up a gradual ridge to the summit, where I arrived at 3:25. The gentle ridge hike from the top of the crux slope all the way to Carbonate was a great deal of fun, but I was getting too tired to fully enjoy it!
I spent nearly a half hour on Carbonate, relaxing and enjoying a fine summit experience. There was a marvelous view of Tabeguache and Shavano off to the east. It was pleasant and calm, with a temperature of 54 degrees. I did not need to wear a coat all day. I looked back along the ridge I had hiked all the way from Grizzly, realizing that I had been above 13,000 feet for nearly three miles. Meanwhile, my dogs took a well-deserved rest.
A few minutes before 4:00 I pulled myself away from the summit and headed down Carbonate=s south ridge, intent on a bushwhack down to the south end of the Cyclone Creek drainage, some 2600 feet below. It was a bit tricky to stay on reasonable terrain on this descent, and I found it useful to employ my topo map to avoid terrain that was too steep and rough. I found easy slopes to the right at first, but soon the slope steepened dramatically, and at 12,600 feet I crossed to the left side of a rough gully to less steep terrain, then stayed on the ridge crest for a while. At about 11,700 feet I bore to the right toward another drainage to find the least steep slope available.
I noticed that Jorie was dragging behind uncharacteristically, and that her rear legs were quivering. I was immediately concerned. Was her bloody paw bothering her? Did she need water, or was tiredness catching up with her? I sat down and comforted her for a few minutes, and concluded that she was merely frightened by the relentlessly steep terrain. After this she was herself once again. Allie, meanwhile, handled everything like a true mountain goat today, hopping over rocks and sliding down on scree just like a human mountaineer.
I continued down the steeply angled slope and presently got back down into the trees, including some stunning groves of blazing aspen, and continued down a few hundred more feet until I reached the bottom of the valley, intersecting the trail I had taken up in the morning at a point about a half mile north of the trailhead. I clipped back down the trail to my truck, where I arrived just past 5:30, as the sun was sinking low in the west.
I covered about eight miles and climbed 4300 feet of elevation gain on this loop hike today. It seemed like a long, tough hike for only eight miles of distance covered, but most of it was off-trail, and nearly half of it was above 13,000 feet. I packed up and left for home, feeling good about what I had done today.
