SILVER KING PEAK
(13,762')July 18, 2008
By Tim Briese
21 miles, 5600' elevation gain,13:30 roundtrip time
Silver King Peak (also known as Pt.13,762) lies deep in the heart of the Collegiate Peaks Wilderness, a long distance from any easily accessible trailhead. As usual, Brian and I wanted to avoid a backpack and were willing to do a long dayhike to climb the peak, no matter how long the day. Perhaps the most straightforward way to climb the peak is from the Pine Creek trailhead, but that route is very long. A shorter way is to hike in from the Missouri Gulch trailhead, but that route requires going over lofty Elkhead Pass twice and consequently entails a lot of elevation gain. Another option is the Pear Lake approach, but at this time of year that would involve a difficult crossing of Clear Creek as well as other uncertainties. In the end we decided to go in from Missouri Gulch but to leave a vehicle shuttle at the Pine Creek trailhead in the event we wanted to return that way.
The evening before the climb we left Brian=s car at the Pine Creek trailhead and drove to the Missouri Gulch trailhead where we slept in the back of my truck. We rose in the middle of the night at 2:30 and hit the trail with our headlamps at 3:00 (for the second time this week!) The peak was many miles away and we wanted to be on the summit well before the threat of thunderstorms arose. We made good time hiking up the excellent Missouri Gulch trail and reached 13,200 foot Elkhead Pass at 5:55, just as the sun was coming up. We had already covered four and a half miles and climbed 3600 feet of elevation gain at this point. It was a special treat to witness the beauty of the sun=s first rays on the surrounding landscape from such a lofty vantage point. Silver King was visible several miles away to the south across Missouri Basin.
After a short break we descended on the trail from the pass and followed it across Missouri Basin, slowly approaching our distant goal. We cast many a glance at scenic Emerald Peak as we hiked past it, noting that a considerable amount of snow still lay on its slopes. I thought it was quite an enchanting hike crossing this high grassy basin in the early morning light. There was ample opportunity to preview our route up Silver King as we grew closer to the peak. We descended slightly and crossed a little creek raging with snowmelt runoff. At about 11,800 feet we left the trail and bushwhacked southwest about one third of a mile on a shortcut over to the Pine Creek trail. This avoided the loss of a few hundred feet of elevation that would have resulted had we continued to the formal trail junction. We followed this trail up the valley across patches of snow and then up grassy slopes to Silver King Lake, where we arrived at 8:40. We spotted an old mining trail across the talus on the eastern slopes of Silver King that we followed up to a saddle on the peak=s east ridge. From there we climbed up the ridge on rough talus to the summit, where we arrived at 9:50. It took us just under seven hours to hike 8.7 miles from the trailhead.
We were treated to panoramic views of the Collegiate Peaks Wilderness from this remote vantage point. Mt. Harvard towered mightily about three miles to the east. Elkhead Pass seemed a long way away over on the other side of Missouri Basin. The Pine Creek drainage stretched off into the distance toward the northeast. The sky was sunny when we arrived but clouds soon began to rapidly fill the sky. We stayed on top for 45 minutes before beginning our descent.
We scooted back down the talus to the lake and headed down the Pine Creek trail. The trail was somewhat faint and lightly-trodden here at the far upper end of the drainage because of the considerable distance from the trailhead. It was now time to decide whether to go back over Elkhead Pass or go on down the longer Pine Creek trail. The weather was the deciding factor for us. A serious drawback of the Elkhead Pass route, besides requiring an additional 1400 feet of elevation gain, is that one would be exposed to the elements for many miles above timberline should nasty weather occur. The sky was now filled with clouds and rain looked imminent so we decided to go on down the Pine Creek trail in spite of the greater distance required. Garratt and Martin say it is about ten miles from Silver King Lake to the Pine Creek trailhead. It was fun to explore a scenic new drainage, but as the afternoon wore on the miles began to seem endless. Rain showers pattered down part of the time and further down on the trail we met groups of backpackers coming up. Our stamina and patience wore thin as the trail went on and on, and it was with great relief that we finally staggered back to Brian=s car at 4:30. The distance from the lake as measured by my GPS was significantly more than we expected, at 11.8 miles, with a total of 12.5 miles from the summit! The Pine Creek route is almost four miles longer each way than the Elkhead Pass route. I=m glad we did it the way we did, for we explored a lot of country on this lengthy outing, but in my opinion the Elkhead Pass route would be preferable in good weather. It was nice to have options available.
Brian gave me a ride back to my truck at the other trailhead and I headed for home. My knee was throbbing with pain for an hour and a half from the pounding it took on this adventure but it eventually calmed down. It felt good to achieve what we did today, because Silver King requires considerably more effort to climb than a typical Sawatch Range peak.
