ELECTRIC PEAK A
(13,598')July 1, 2009
By Tim Briese
15.3 miles, 5100' elevation gain, 10:25 roundtrip time
I left home at 2:30 a.m. and headed for the mountains with my lab Allie. The early start was necessitated by the long drive from my house to the Cotton Creek Trailhead on the west side of the Sangre de Cristos. The sun was just starting to shine on the floor of the San Luis Valley when I pulled into the spacious trailhead parking area about 5:45. When I stepped out of my truck I was greeted by the roar of Cotton Creek in the trees nearby and by swarms of voracious mosquitoes awaiting their next meal. There were no other vehicles there.
At 6 a.m. I strode off up the trail and quickly came to the first of five crossings of Cotton Creek. The creek was swollen with runoff from melting snow far away in the upper reaches of the drainage. I saw no choice but to remove my boots and ford it, feeling slightly annoyed by this unanticipated delay less than five minutes after I left my truck. I suspect this would not be an issue during most times of the year. I continued rapidly up the easy trail, admiring the wildflowers and lush foliage here on the wetter west side of the range. Presently I forded the creek again, and on the third crossing was finally able to cross on some logs, although I am not a fan of crossing raging creeks on skinny wet logs! Allie gamely followed me through or across the water each time.
After hiking about five miles I reached a trail junction at 8:30 and turned to the left onto signed trail number 856. This trail climbs over the crest of the range and drops into the South Brush Creek drainage on the other side. I followed this trail for a while as it climbed lazily up through groves of aspens on long sweeping switchbacks that gained elevation almost imperceptibly, which I found a little frustrating. I thought about taking this trail all the way up above timberline and then traversing north toward Electric Peak but decided it would be more expedient to leave the trail lower. At about 10,800 feet I left the main trail and headed left on a more faint trail that climbed north along a drainage up to Horsethief Basin. After a short steep climb I arrived in the broad grassy basin, where I was greeted by a fine view of my objective. I hiked across the basin and climbed up a steep drainage below Electric Peak=s grassy southwest slopes. After a few hundred feet of climbing I angled left up out of the drainage and climbed grassy slopes up to the peak=s south ridge at 13,200'. I paused a few times on this stiff 2000 foot ascent to admire Mt. Owen across the valley to the southwest and the other surrounding scenery. Once I reached the south ridge it was an easy climb up to the summit on grass and some talus.
I arrived on top at 11:35. Conditions were pleasant and sunny today so I indulged in a nice 45 minute sojourn on the summit. I gazed about at Cottonwood Peak off to the north, Gibbs Peak to the southeast, the main range stretching away to the south, and the Cotton Creek Valley below to the southwest that I had hiked up. At 12:15 I left the top and headed back down the south ridge. Banjo Lake was an interesting sight in the drainage below to the east. For the sake of exploration I decided to head south and traverse around the west side of Pt. 13,060 to catch the main trail I had left below and follow it down. It was simple enough to get to the trail but when I began to follow it down I discovered it had the same long and frustrating nearly flat switchbacks that I had encountered below. After walking and walking without much elevation drop I began to cut some of the switchbacks to save time. I wondered why a trail would be built in such a manner. I decided this route was not nearly as good as my ascent route, determining that it added at least a mile onto my hike. Eventually when I neared timberline I left the trail in disgust and bushwhacked to the right into Horsethief Basin and went back down through the trees the same way I came up. Allie was getting quite hot in the afternoon sunshine and gladly took advantage of the cooling waters of Cotton Creek when we made our way back down to it. I met two parties of backpackers on their way up to Cotton Lake as I hiked down the trail, the only other people I saw on the hike today. I rapidly hiked back through the lush forest and arrived at the trailhead at 4:25. It felt good to climb my first new peak of the year!
