MT. SNIKTAU
13,234 ft.
July 9, 2004
By Tim Briese
My daughter Emily wanted to do a short, easy hike above timberline with me and suggested that we drive up to Loveland Pass and climb up the ridge to the east of the pass. That was a great idea, I responded, because I had wanted to do that hike for some time anyway.
We left home at 5 a.m. to beat the Denver rush hour traffic and arrived at the pass about two hours later. We left the 11,990 foot trailhead at the parking area with our lab Allie at about a quarter past seven. We headed uphill on a trail that took us up the broad ridge to the east, on the crest of the Continental Divide. The high alpine tundra was beautiful in the early morning light, with flowers brilliantly glistening in the golden sunshine. We proceeded at a leisurely pace and climbed a mile up to a 12,915 foot point on the ridge. From here Torreys Peak presented a fine appearance about three miles to the southeast.
At this point we turned to the northeast and followed a trail on a spur ridge another mile to Mt. Sniktau, going over a false summit along the way. We reached the summit at 9 a.m., and gazed about at the fine views in the early morning light. Torreys was even more impressive from this fine vantage point. We had a birds-eye view, too, of I-70 and the east entrance of the Eisenhower Tunnel far below in the valley to the northwest.
At 9:30 we left the summit and headed back down the ridge. We met two climbers coming up who told us to watch for a ptarmigan hen and her chicks in the tundra a short distance ahead. We carefully watched for them and indeed spotted them, but just barely, because they blended in with the tundra so well that we could only see them when they moved. We met eight or ten other hikers coming up the trail as we descended, including an older lady who had left her out-of-breath husband waiting several hundred yards below. We scooted easily down the trail and arrived back at the pass at 10:30. A fine blue sky still glistened above, punctuated by the first of the day=s convective clouds that were beginning to explode into the air.
We hiked about four miles roundtrip and climbed 1600 feet of elevation gain on this easy hike, including extra gain incurred in going over the false summit. This is one of Colorado=s easiest places to enjoy the grandeur of high elevation alpine hiking.
