EAST BUFFALO PEAK
13,300 ft.
June 26, 1999
By Tim Briese
The twin summits of the Buffalo Peaks stand sentinel over the open reaches of the South Park west of Hartsel. I long admired their lofty summits on numerous trips past them on Highway 24 over the years, and thought they would be an interesting challenge to climb. I climbed West Buffalo the year before and now was ready to climb the eastern peak. I was not aware of any trail to the summit but thought it would be an interesting adventure to bushwhack up the mountain’s southeastern slopes.
I left home on a clear and beautiful Saturday morning with my lab Allie and drove to the Salt Creek Trailhead at the edge of the Buffalo Peaks Wilderness Area. I hit the trail at 8 a.m. and followed the Salt Creek Trail a short distance to the west through some trees and across open meadows before striking off to the north on a bushwhack up a wooded drainage. The trees soon became tall and dense and I lost my sense of location but I blindly pushed on up the drainage for a mile or two, hoping for the best. Bushwhacking is a much greater challenge in dense timber than it is above timberline where one can see where he is going!
After working my way across some steep side slopes on the west side of the drainage and skirting around some banks or snow that lay on the forest floor I eventually noticed that the trees were thinning out and beginning to get smaller. Presently I broke out of the trees at timberline and found that I was about a mile east of the summit. I unexpectedly came upon a trail that I followed across the tundra toward the saddle between East Buffalo and Point 12,644. I did not know where the trail came from or where it went, for it was not shown on my Trails Illustrated map. I was surprised to see two riders on horseback about a quarter of a mile away who had stopped in this lofty meadow to enjoy the views. I wondered where they had come from.
I rapidly hiked across the easy tundra to the saddle and then left the trail and began a vigorous thousand foot climb up on talus and grass toward the summit. I picked my way around some large banks of snow as I neared the top. I watched the progress of the two adventurers on horseback far below as they went back north over the saddle and followed a trail down toward the Lynch Creek Trailhead in a valley to the northeast.
About 11 a.m. I reached the broad summit. It was a clear and beautiful day, and I took my time to make the most of this wonderful summit experience. I leisurely counted about twenty-three 14ers in the distance around me, many still covered with a fair mantle of snow. I studied the slightly higher summit of West Buffalo about a mile to the northwest that I had stood on with my daughter Emily the year before.
After nearly an hour I left the summit and headed back down the steep eastern slopes of the mountain, selecting a different route a little to the south of where I had come up. Frequently I paused to enjoy the grand view spread out below. I headed toward a different drainage below that was somewhat to the west of the one I had bushwhacked up in the morning. I worked my way through a rocky area and hiked across some grassy meadows and began to follow the north fork of Salt Creek down a pleasant little valley. After I had gone a short distance the valley became filled with dense trees, primarily groves of aspens whose leaves chattered merrily in the afternoon breeze. It was immensely fun bushwhacking down the drainage, as I crossed from one side of the little creek to the other, seeking the most congenial route I could find past downed trees and rocky outcroppings.
Eventually the valley became broad and nearly flat, and I stopped to sit in a grove of aspens to rest for a while. It was a sheer delight to sit and gaze at the beautiful green leaves of the trees surrounding me, while the rejoicing stream sang its watery tunes nearby. I felt an uncanny bond of kinship to these vibrant trees, my fellow travelers through life joining me in this grand outdoor temple.
In a few minutes I continued on and presently burst out of the aspens into a meadow and stumbled onto the Salt Creek Trail, which I followed east back to the trailhead. This seven mile adventure took me about six hours to complete, at a rather leisurely pace.
The following morning I listened to my church choir sing a fine and spirited rendition of the old classic hymn “How Great Thou Art”. A shiver ran down my spine when I heard the words “When through the woods and forest glades I wander … When I look down from lofty mountain grandeur … And hear the brook and feel the gentle breeze …Then sings my soul …How great thou art! …”. These words took on new meaning for me that morning, for they most fittingly described what I had seen and felt on my adventure to East Buffalo Peak.
