HALF PEAK
13,841 ft.
July 30, 2004
By Tim Briese
I left home on Thursday morning with my daughter Emily and our two labs and drove to Lake City. Our goals for this outing were somewhat different, for she simply wanted to backpack into the beautiful San Juans, while I wanted to climb a new Centennial 13er, so we decided to blend our aspirations into one trip. From Lake City we continued west to the Cataract Gulch Trailhead, where we arrived at mid-afternoon. There was a large group of backpackers just loading up to drive away from the trailhead when we pulled up.
At 3:55 we hit the trail, immediately crossing Cottonwood Creek and presently climbing numerous switchbacks up through the woods on the fine Cataract Gulch Trail. I noticed that the trailhead register held the names of a large number of hikers who had visited in recent days, so I expected to see numerous hikers on the trail, but to my surprise we didn=t see a single other soul in Cataract Gulch. The trail soon took us alongside the tumbling waters of Cataract Creek as we climbed ever higher up the gulch. The afternoon was sunny and warm, and we stopped a few times to enjoy fine views of Sunshine Peak back across the valley to the north. Pesky flies and insects swarmed around us when we stopped, which encouraged us to keep our breaks to a minimum. We hiked through beautiful meadows that lay in openings in the woods, past a nice waterfall, and across a talus field before climbing to a charming high valley above timberline. At this point the trail became nearly level and we pleasantly hiked along on in the early evening sunshine about a mile and a half south to Cataract Lake, at 12,050 feet. I noted the long plateau of Half Peak towering above the valley to the west.
We arrived at the lake just past 7:30, having hiked four and a half miles and climbing 2400 feet of elevation gain from the trailhead. We proceeded to set up camp in a pastoral meadow north of the lake. Neither of us had ever camped quite this high before, but we had often talked about doing so. The fine weather on this clear evening made the experience quite enjoyable. A silvery white moon rose grandly above the ridge southeast of the lake, presenting quite an impressive sight. The evening was rather chilly in this high basin, even though it was mid-summer. The temperature fell to 30 degrees by the time we retired at 9 p.m. I slept restlessly during the night, because our backpack tent is rather small and cramped for two people and a pair of dogs!
I expected to awaken to a beautiful clear sky in the morning, but was surprised to see ominous, rainy-looking clouds drifting overhead at 6:30 a.m.! After looking at the sky and glancing up at Half Peak, Emily decided to remain and rest at camp while I made a run for the summit. Her primary objective on this outing, after all, was the backpack itself. At 6:50 a.m. I hurriedly left camp and took off. Allie stayed behind with Emily while Jorie went with me. I rapidly hiked a quarter of a mile southwest to a small lake that gracefully rests at 12,200 feet on a saddle on the Continental Divide. I noticed a herd of elk grazing on a grassy slope above to the southeast.
I left the main trail at the south end of the lake and headed sharply uphill to the west on a more faint use trail. This turned out to be a minor mistake, because this trail took me up too high too quickly, and I had to descend somewhat and contour across a scree slope to get on the best trail that contoured to the west along the north side of the drainage that I wanted to hike up. (I discovered on the way back that I should have stayed on the main trail as it descended gently southwest of the lake, and after a quarter of a mile taken a trail to the right at a cairned junction.) Once I got on the better trail I took it up the valley to the west. At about 12,400 feet, when the trail curved to the left and headed up toward a saddle to the southwest, I left it and headed up a grassy slope to the northwest, and then to the north. A brief shower of sleet moved in, which was an unusual occurrence so early in the day. Fortunately the sky soon cleared off, though, and remained mostly clear for a while afterwards. I hiked to the top of the grassy slope at 13,000 feet and reached a remarkable broad, gently sloping area on Half Peak=s south slopes. This expansive area is nearly a half mile wide at its lower end and gradually tapers to a point on its north end as it rises to 13,500 feet. I rapidly hiked to the upper end of this slope on grass and gravel and saw the rough quarter-mile long summit ridge ahead. I could see Half=s gentle summit plateau just beyond the ridge. After pausing a moment to inspect the challenge that lay ahead, I began to engage the ridge, at first along its crest and then on an intermittent trail along its west side. I found this Class 2 route to be fun and exciting. It was airy and exposed in some places, though, with a sheer cliff dropping away several hundred feet on the east side. Some climbers might find this ridge a bit unnerving. It took me 15 minutes to do the ridge traverse, and then I stepped onto Half=s broad summit plateau and walked up gentle gravelly slopes a couple of hundred yards to the highest point on the northwest edge of the plateau.
I reached the summit at 8:45, and immediately noticed a sheer 800 foot cliff dropping away on the north side of the peak, with a big rock glacier at its base. Half Peak has an interesting combination of gentle slopes and sheer cliffs. The summit of Half reminded me of Uncompahgre Peak, but the approach from 13,000 feet to the top was unlike that of any other mountain I have climbed in Colorado.
The views from Half Peak are remarkable, too, for the summit offers a fine perspective of the San Juans from a vantage point deep in the heart of the range. Wetterhorn and Uncompahgre jutted into the sky a few miles to the north, Sneffels and the Wilsons lay off to the west, and the Needle Mountains punctuated the horizon like a sawblade off to the southwest. The pointed summit of Rio Grande Pyramid pierced the sky to the south, beyond Half=s summit ridge that I had come across. The valleys below were beautifully carpeted in velvety green. I looked southeast down into the valley toward Cataract Lake and wondered how Emily was doing. Unfortunately my camera malfunctioned after a few photos so I was unable to capture on film all that I would have liked! The weather was clear and cool, with a chilly breeze blowing out of the northwest. Clouds approaching in the distance warned me not to stay too long, though.
At 9:15 I left the top and rapidly scooted back down the interesting gravel slopes of the summit plateau to the ridge. It took me only eleven minutes to cross the ridge, and then I strolled easily down the gentle grassy slopes below. I stopped for a moment to identify Pole Creek Mountain (13,716'), which lay about four miles away to the south. It did not take long to retrace my steps down to the trail, and I followed it back to the saddle above camp. I was surprised to see a herd of cattle in the valley to the south. They certainly had a lush and pastoral summer grazing range to enjoy! I returned to camp at 10:30, completing a fast 2000 foot descent from the summit in only an hour and fifteen minutes. I hiked about four miles roundtrip from camp to the summit that morning.
I found Emily resting on a grassy spot beside the lake with her dog. She had enjoyed a nice relaxing morning. Clouds were rapidly building up again so we decided to pack up and take off. A shower of sleet pelted us shortly after we hit the trail at 11:00, followed by blue skies for a while afterward. We hiked back down the fine trail and returned to the trailhead at 1:30. We did not see another soul on the entire hike except for a few casual hikers near the trailhead.
I estimated that I hiked thirteen miles and climbed 4400 feet of elevation gain on this fine outing. Half Peak was an interesting and enjoyable peak to climb, and it lies in a beautiful setting as well. I consider it to be one of the more rewarding of the Centennial 13ers that I have visited.
