SILVER MOUNTAIN
(13,714’)PT. 13,681
September 11, 2010
By Tim Briese
19.0 miles, 4500’ elevation gain, 12:05 roundtrip time
A backpack or a very long dayhike? That was the question I wrestled with for months as I pondered how best to climb these remote peaks. In the end I decided that a backpack would do little more than shave some easy miles off the front end of the hike so I opted for the lengthy dayhike.
As I’ve gotten older my wife has become less comfortable with my taking long, solitary hikes into remote places, especially after a couple of health issues cropped up during the past year. I can’t say that I blame her either, for in spite of all the precautions I take on every climb, things can happen. These thoughts were running through my mind as I prepared for this climb.
I drove to the Fall Creek Trailhead the evening before the climb, thoroughly enjoying the scenic twenty mile drive from Highway 50 up the gravel and dirt Little Cimarron Road to the trailhead. Yellow aspens glowed in the late day sunlight. There were numerous hunters’ trucks, campers, and horse trailers along the way. Eight vehicles were parked at the trailhead, too, probably all belonging to hunters. There was a definite autumn chill in the air, with the temperature rapidly dropping toward freezing, so I sat in the cab of my truck for warmth before crawling into my sleeping bag in the back about 8 p.m. Maybe I’m a wimp but I began to feel glad I wasn’t lying in a frosty tent on a backpack tonight!
After a restless sleep I awoke to the sound of hunters and their horses setting off on other trails in the early darkness. It was a frosty 25 degrees so I tried to warm up in the truck before I embarked on the Fall Creek Trail in the early twilight at 6:35. I hustled up the trail as fast as I could to try to warm up because my face and hands were very cold. I hiked two miles up the gentle Firebox Creek drainage before going over a slight divide and dropping into the Fall Creek drainage. The pleasant trail went up the broad and gentle grassy valley that was nearly flat for several miles. I finally burst into the sunlight at 8:15, some four and a half miles from the trailhead, and took a nice break to soak up some welcome rays and warm up. In the upper part of the valley the trail finally started to climb more earnestly toward the saddle east of Silver. The trail became somewhat faint in the grassy tundra and I lost it for a bit but it hardly mattered because the gentle terrain afforded easy bushwhacking. The rugged east-facing cliffs of Silver looked quite menacing as I approached. I reached the 12,750 foot saddle at 10:15 and paused for another break, some six and a half miles from the trailhead.
Climbing the rugged east ridge was of course the shortest way to get to the summit from here, but I deemed that route too dangerous to try alone so I contoured on grass around to a basin southeast of the peak to get to a saddle on the peak’s south ridge. I stayed just below some cliffs and sidehilled on steep grass, rocks, and scree while dropping about 200 feet as I made my way over toward that saddle. The final climb to the saddle was quite steep but doable, and I was rewarded with a fine view of Uncompahgre when I got there. It was about one mile from the saddle east of the peak around to this one.
From the saddle I embarked on an easy stroll 0.4 mile up gentle grassy slopes to the broad and flat summit, where I arrived at 11:50. At this point I had come about eight miles so far. What a perfect day to be on this peak, with pleasant and calm conditions and outstanding views! I gazed over at Pt. 13,681 and was quite surprised to see two climbers over there, the first hikers I had seen today.
After 15 minutes I left and headed toward the Point. As I hiked down Silver’s north ridge I stopped several times to peer over the cliffs to the right to see if I could spot a route down that way that I could take on my return, which could save me quite a bit of time and distance, but I saw nothing that I cared to try. Meanwhile the two climbers I had seen on the Point were coming over to Silver and were rapidly approaching me. I soon met the first one and stopped to visit and we quickly realized we knew each other by name via cyberspace. He was John Kirk and he asked if I was from Minnesota but I replied no, that was my climbing partner Brian, a very easy misidentification to make since Brian and I climb so much together. He remarked that he had used our trip reports for a climb of Coxcomb the year before. It was nice to hear that someone gets some use out of these things. Right behind him came Steve Knapp up the hill. They were on a mission to attempt nine peaks today, so we quickly said goodbye and they blasted off.
I continued down to the 13,150 foot saddle between the peaks and then climbed the easy slope up to the Point, where I arrived at 12:50. It was a little over one mile from Silver over to this summit, which I covered in 45 minutes, including my short visit break.
I spent some time gazing about intently at the incredible views on this amazingly beautiful day. Visibility was unlimited in the crisp clear air. I could easily see 110 miles to the LaSal and Blue Mountains in Utah, as well as back the other way to the distant Sangre de Cristos. Across the valleys to the west I marveled at the rugged peaks, spires, and pinnacles of the upper forks of the Cimarron Valley, which in recent years has become one of my favorite areas of the state.
I left at 1:15 and began retracing my steps. I contoured around the west side of Silver’s summit to save a little elevation regain on my way back to the saddle on the south ridge. I very carefully descended the steep slope from the saddle and made my back over to the saddle on the east ridge. By this time I was quite tired and dehydrated, and had developed a nasty headache that affected me almost to the point of nauseousness. I stopped to filter and chug a large quantity of water and slowly started to feel a little better. Earlier in the day I had considered making the easy climb of Pt. 13,069 from the saddle on my return but was no longer in any mood for that. I made good time hiking down the gentle valley in the pleasant late day sunshine, choosing at one point to bushwhack down the grassy meadows where the trail digressed up into the trees to the west. There was not a cloud in the sky all day. The sun was setting behind the ridge to the west as I hiked the last couple of miles of the trail along Firebox Creek. It was a great relief to finally tramp back to the truck at 6:40. I noticed a Subaru parked beside me, and wondered if John or Steve had left it there for a shuttle, since they had apparently started at a different trailhead.
I drove back down the Little Cimarron Road as dusk ensued, admiring a beautiful golden sky to the west that only a crystal clear autumn day can bring. I went to Gunnison and collapsed in bed at the Super 8, completely spent but thrilled about the successful day.
