NAVAJO PEAK
(13,409')July 18, 2006
By Tim Briese
Navajo Peak is an impressive cone-shaped peak lying in the heart of the Indian Peaks Wilderness. Brian and I had talked about climbing it for years because of its reputation as a fun peak to climb, and finally took the opportunity to do so. We were certainly not disappointed.
I left home at 2:30 a.m. and drove to the Long Lake Trailhead a few miles west of Ward. I arrived just after 5, which was our prescribed meeting time, but Brian was nowhere to be seen. He is very seldom late for anything, so I started to get a little concerned as the minutes rolled by and he had still not arrived by 5:30. It was a relief to see his Camry finally come flying up the road a few minutes later. He had taken a wrong turn and apologized about the delay, but I reassured him that such things can happen to anybody.
We hit the trail at 5:45 and clipped rapidly up the Pawnee Pass Trail about two miles to Lake Isabelle. At this point we continued left on the Isabelle Glacier Trail up the valley. A few banks of snow lay upon the trail yet as we rounded the north side of Lake Isabelle. The morning was clear and beautiful, and the early sunlight played grandly upon Navajo Peak and other majestic summits before us at the head of the valley. We followed a picturesque stream past rocky outcroppings and hiked across flowery meadows while climbing to a small unnamed lake at 11,400 feet. Navajo loomed ever more impressively to the southwest as we approached.
Just beyond the unnamed lake we left the trail and climbed southwest on snow for a hundred yards or so toward an area of steeper terrain above. We found a nice route above the snow on grass and talus that took us up into a basin at 12,200 feet, directly below Navajo. We paused for a moment to identify the Airplane Gully, the couloir in the cliff band above that held our route up to the Niwot Ridge. The gully got its name from an airplane that crashed in its upper end many years ago. It was not hard to pick out the correct couloir, because it was the only one that did not have any cliffs in it.
We hiked over to the base of the gully and proceeded to climb it, at first on large blocks of talus, then on loose dirt and scree as the angle steepened. Pieces of airplane debris were scattered about on the slope, several hundred feet below the main body of the crashed plane. The footing in the gully was rather loose but we=d seen worse. The gully forked a couple of hundred feet below the top, and we took the right branch of the gully up past the wreckage of the plane to the crest of the Niwot Ridge, at about 13,000 feet. We hiked a short distance west to the base of Navajo, where we sat down to take a nice break. There was an impressive view of Arikaree Peak (13,150') to the south.
After the break we headed up Navajo=s southeast slopes, traversing back and forth on broken ledges until we reached the base of the summit block. The summit was guarded by an imposing cliff band that barred further easy progress. Rather than following the standard route that traversed to the left, we chose to climb a 50 foot Class 3 crack at the right end of the cliff band. The crack was a great deal of fun. Brian went first, scrambling nimbly to its upper end. After a nifty move up to the left out of the gully, all that remained was a 30 foot scamper to the airy summit.
We arrived on top about 9:50, and spent the next hour soaking up the grandeur of this incredible summit. Conditions remained sunny and calm, perfect for summit lounging. We were surrounded by the rugged and impressive grandeur of the Indian Peaks Wilderness, with magnificent views from North Arapaho off to the south, around to Longs Peak to the north. This was what mountain climbing is all about, enjoying a fine summit experience after a scenic approach hike and a sporty summit scramble!
We finally left the top about 11 and began our descent. Going back down the crack was a little harder than coming up had been, particularly the move to climb back into its upper end, but it went well. We made a slow and methodical descent back down the loose footing in the Airplane Gully and retraced our steps down to regain the trail by the upper lake, pausing to greet a friendly marmot along the way. Lake Isabelle offered a nice spot for a scenic break, as the afternoon sunlight splashed upon surrounding flowery meadows. We met numerous casual hikers coming up the trail as we hiked on down, several dozen of them in fact. This trail is justifiably popular, because it is very scenic, not to mention easily accessible from Front Range cities.
We returned to the trailhead at 2:30, after hiking nine and a half miles and climbing 3100 feet of elevation gain in a little under nine hours. We found parking tickets awaiting us on the windows of our vehicles in the now-crowded parking lot. In the early morning darkness I had not seen a nearby self-service pay station that we were supposed to have used. The friendly staff was happy to take our money on our way out, though, as we headed down the road. This fine climb met and even exceeded my expectations, because it was a scenic and fun climb to a spectacular summit. I highly recommend it.
