PT. 13,626
Grouse Canyon approach
June 30, 2010
By Tim Briese
7.3 miles, 4500' elevation gain, 7:40 roundtrip time
I left home at 3:15 a.m. and headed for the mountains. As I pulled out of my driveway I had an odd feeling, a premonition perhaps, about hitting a deer while driving in the dark this morning, so I exercised greater caution than usual and used my high beam headlamps as much as possible to see better. Sure enough a large doe jumped in front of me near Wilkerson Pass and I braked hard but nevertheless hit it, instantly killing it and causing about $3500 worth of damage to my truck. My truck was still driveable so I continued on to the trailhead without further incident.
I used Roach= s excellent directions for the Grouse Canyon approach for climbing Mt. Princeton to get to the trailhead and for the climbing route all the way to timberline, where I left his prescribed route and bushwhacked to the Point. I chose this route over Garratt and Martin= s route from Cottonwood Lake because it promised a shorter climb and also because I liked the gentle contours on the east side of the summit. I was also lured by the promise of adventure. It turned out to be a great route, aside from a very arduous ascent up the first half mile of Grouse Canyon.
I left the trailhead at 6 a.m. and headed to the northwest on an old four wheel drive road that quickly deteriorated into a faint trail, which I followed about a quarter of a mile to Grouse Creek and the mouth of Grouse Canyon, at about 9400 feet elevation. I lost the trail and crossed to the west side of the creek and began bushwhacking up the canyon, which was a mistake as it turned out. There is a rough Class 2 trail along the east side of the creek that one would be well advised to find. The rugged and sometimes faint trail stays close to the creek at first because of cliffs but after a while the trail gets better and climbs up higher away from the creek but always stays on the east side of the creek. I eventually gave up on the west side of the creek and crossed back to the east side and found the trail. After going about a half mile up the canyon from its mouth, at about 10,200 feet, the trail leaves the main canyon and turns right and goes northeast up a side drainage. Finding the remarkably nice trail up this drainage is key to avoiding a bushwhacking nightmare! This side drainage is relentlessly steep but amazingly straight, with only an occasional minor twist and turn. I followed the trail up the drainage all the way up to the last of the trees at about 12,000 feet, where I left the trail and climbed north up a steep grassy slope to the top of a ridge, where I was greeted by my first view of the Point and had a look at the rest of the route.
A cliff band on the north side of the ridge forced me to climb up the ridge a little further to about 12,300 feet, where I began a slightly descending traverse across talus and grass north toward the summit. I soon reached a grassy drainage southeast of the summit, which I followed up to the peak= s grassy eastern slopes and at 10:30 I stepped on top.
From the summit I was treated to nice views of neighboring Mt. Princeton, Mt. Antero, and numerous Sawatch peaks. I looked down at the somewhat rough west ridge that came up from the vicinity of Cottonwood Lake, and was glad I climbed the peak the way I had. Clouds were quickly building so I left after only 20 minutes on top.
I strolled down the pleasant grassy drainage southeast of the summit on a route a little lower down than I had taken coming across from the ridge. My intent was to get back over the ridge and into the correct drainage by going below, or to the west of, rather than above, the previously mentioned cliff band in order to save some elevation regain, but this was almost more trouble than it was worth. I wished I had simply retraced my steps. I became a little disoriented for a bit and realized it would be easy to head down the wrong drainage too soon. I knew it was crucial to get back into the correct drainage and on the trail in order to avoid an extremely rugged bushwhack down the upper part of Grouse Canyon, based on trip reports I had seen.
I soon scooted back over the ridge and dropped down into the drainage I wanted and found myself back on the comfort of the trail. I followed it back down into Grouse Canyon and then followed the trail along the creek down out of the canyon. I tramped back to my truck in the afternoon heat at 1:40. I thoroughly examined my truck and realized that damage was more extensive than I had thought, but thankfully it was in good enough shape to get me home.
