GUDY PEAK
(13,566’)August 22, 2018
By Tim Briese
7.3 miles, 3100’ elevation gain, 6:50 roundtrip time
I met Brian on a rainy evening in Lake City and after dinner we drove up the Cinnamon Pass Road and truck camped at a nice pull-off on the south side of the road about 100 yards past the point where the road crosses Cooper Creek, at about 10,600’ elevation.
our camp spot along the cinnamon pass road
It rained off and on during the night and the weather forecast for the day of the climb was rainy too so when we got up in the morning we put on all of our rain gear right away. At 630 we left in the early light and bushwhacked north through a meadow west of the creek and after going about 200 yards picked up the excellent Cooper Creek Trail. (I noted later after we left that the signed Cooper Creek Trailhead is about 200 yards further west up the road from where we had parked.) We followed the excellent trail all the way up the Cooper Creek drainage and continued on it as it climbed steeply up to Cooper Lake at 12,700’. This high lake lay in a rugged setting and it felt to me like a very remote and probably seldom visited place.
on the cooper creek trail looking back down the drainage
cooper lake
After a short break near the lake at about 9 am we headed up a steep slope to the west on mostly grass and some scree to gain Gudy’s north ridge at 13,300’.
we went up the slope ahead to reach the ridge just a little to the right of the saddle
brian on the start of the slope above cooper lake
Once we reached the ridge crest it was an easy hike along the ridge south and southeast to the summit. We arrived on top at 950, after covering 4.3 miles from the trailhead.
brian on the summit of gudy
cooper lake
redcloud and sunshine peaks, at the upper right, beyond the cooper creek drainage in the foreground
looking down the cooper creek drainage that we hiked up
It was not raining now but the sky was heavily overcast. After a short stay on the summit we left at 10 and headed south down the ridge toward C.T. Peak. The ridge descent was easy enough and we reached the 12,900’ Gudy/C.T. saddle at 1030. The ridge from the saddle up to C.T. looked gnarly but doable. I decided I wasn’t up for the additional climbing today so I headed down the grassy slope east from the saddle while Brian went on up to C.T.
the ridge up to c.t., from near the saddle
i went down this slope from the saddle
I descended over 1000’ on the steep grassy slope and waited for Brian at a pleasant spot a ways above the west side of Cooper Creek.
looking back up the slope to the saddle. c.t. is at the upper left
An hour after I arrived there Brian rejoined me and we went on down across the creek, rejoined the trail, and hiked back to the trailhead, where we arrived at 120. Our next destination was Ridgway that night. Brian drove back around through Lake City but I elected to four wheel on over Cinnamon Pass and go through Silverton.
going up the cinnamon pass road on a rainy afternoon
going down the other side of the pass
Going over the pass was a fun little adventure for me because I hadn't done this in quite a few years. I arrived in Ridgway late in the afternoon.
