JENKINS MOUNTAIN
(13,432’)June 17, 2016
By Tim Briese
5.9 miles, 3200’ elevation gain, 6:30 roundtrip time
I left home at 5:20 am with my lab Abby and drove into the mountains on a beautiful clear day.
a moose along the road near cottonwood pass
I went over scenic Cottonwood Pass to Taylor Reservoir, then went right on the main road up the valley about four miles and turned right onto the Pieplant Road. I could preview my peak ahead as I drove across the open landscape before entering the forest.
jenkins is the peak at the left with quite a bit of snow on it
i went up the snow-free slope to the right of the peak, then left along the ridge to the top
I followed the high clearance two wheel drive road to the old Pieplant Mill site and parked at 10,300 feet, near a green gate that blocked further access up the old road that continued on up to the old Pieplant Mine. At 9:30 I began the hike, quite a late time to start if not for the perfect weather I had today. I walked past the green gate and started hiking up the old road, which is also Timberline Trail 414 at this point.
where the hike began
After 0.5 miles I reached a second gate and left the road here and headed right on the Timberline Trail. I followed the trail about 0.4 miles southeast until I neared a stream at about 10,500 feet. Just before reaching the stream I left the trail and began bushwhacking left through the woods to the northeast up a broad rounded ridge that I had noted on my topo map. The trees were fairly open so the bushwhacking was relatively easy.
on the slope up through the woods
I left most of the trees at about 11,500 feet and continued up a steep grassy slope to 12,500 feet.
i went up the tundra slope at the right, jenkins is to the left
There was a great view of Taylor Park spread out below and Grizzly Peak E across the drainage to the southeast.
taylor park
grizzly peak e, (13,281')
The ridge was rockier with some talus as I climbed up to 13,000 feet. At this point I angled to the left toward Jenkins’ south ridge.
i went up the ridge at the right a ways to avoid some snow before cutting left toward jenkins
There was quite a bit of steep soft snow to the left of Jenkins’ south ridge, and I was not in the mood for a post-holing adventure, so I stayed on the rough ridge. It definitely would have been easier to stay below the left side of the ridge if the snow weren’t there.
jenkins' south ridge
I made my way on up to the summit and arrived at 1:05. It was a beautiful day to be on top of a high peak.
abby on the summit
the elk range in the distance
taylor park
jenkins' south ridge that i came up
While I was resting on the summit I tried out my new Delorme InReach satellite texting device and was very pleased with it. I sent my wife a text and she responded within five minutes. She could check a link to a map to see my precise location, too. She said later that she wished I had gotten one years ago, had they been available, with all the solo hiking and climbing I have done. After 45 minutes I left the summit and headed down. I didn’t want to go back on the rough ridge so elected to head directly down the slope to the southwest in spite of the snow. On the first patch of snow I encountered I post-holed up to my thighs, which wasn't much fun! After that I managed to mostly weave my way around patches of snow as I headed down. Maybe it was just my imagination but the slope seemed to have less snow on my descent compared to what I had seen on it a few hours earlier, as the snow rapidly melted in the bright sunshine today.
was there really less snow on the slope now?
I bushwhacked down steep grassy slopes to the trees on a route somewhat to the north of where I had come up, and went down through the trees along a steep drainage until I came to the Pieplant Mill Road about 0.4 miles north of where I had left it in the morning. I followed the old road back down and reached the trailhead at 4 pm. As I drove back on this Friday afternoon I saw a lot of campers, fishermen, and ATV’ers all over in Taylor Park, and a steady stream of more of them coming for the weekend as I drove back on the Cottonwood Pass Road.
the three apostles from scenic cottonwood pass
