MT. WILCOX
(13,408’)July 19, 2018
By Tim Briese
6.7 miles, 2400’ elevation gain, 6:15 roundtrip time
From the Guanella Pass Road I drove 0.6 miles up a high clearance road to the 11,200’ Silver Dollar Lake Trailhead. Some other vehicles had parked down by the paved road but I saved about 400’ of elevation gain by driving up this semi-rough road. At 830 am I headed up into the woods on the excellent Silver Dollar Lake Trail with my lab Abby. After half a mile I reached the edge of private Naylor Lake at timberline.
naylor lake, with mt. wilcox above to the right
Private property signs warned of going near the lake and I continued on the main trail as it switchbacked up the slope to the south then contoured west several hundred feet above the lake, and continued on to Silver Dollar Lake. This was a very scenic hike up this valley with prolific stands of beautiful wildflowers, and I mentally noted that I needed to come back here with my wife to show her sometime.
wildflowers along the trail
more flowers, and mt. wilcox
naylor lake
silver dollar lake
looking back at naylor lake to the left and silver dollar lake at the right
The trail past Silver Dollar Lake climbed on up to Murray Lake at 12,100’.
murray lake
wildflowers along my route beyond murray lake
The trail ended at Murray Lake, and I bushwhacked northeast and went up a grassy slope into an upper valley below Wilcox.
i avoided rougher terrain by going up this grassy slope to get into the upper valley
From the upper valley I picked a line and headed up a moderate grassy slope up to 13,000’ on the west ridge of Wilcox, just east of a 12,850’ saddle. This was a slow grind for me today because I wasn’t feeling too well.
from this valley i headed up the grassy slope at the right; wilcox is to the right off the photo
on the slope approaching the ridge
Once on the ridge I headed east up to the summit on grass and then some talus, and arrived on top at noon.
on the ridge approaching the summit
the summit of Wilcox
The summit was a nice pleasant vantage point to rest for a while and no one else was around. I could see four climbers far below heading up the upper valley toward Argentine Peak. I also saw scores of vehicles belonging to Bierstadt climbers parked at Guanella Pass in the distance.
view of grays and torreys peaks, and the road to argentine pass
argentine peak
square top mountain, with silver dollar lake at the left and murray lake at the right
mt. evans is to the left and mt. bierstadt is to the right, with naylor lake below
the climbers' vehicles at guanella pass
At 1235 I left the top and headed back down, again admiring the wildflowers gracing the meadows along the way. There were lots of other casual hikers on this popular trail to the lakes now. I tried to set a rapid pace because I hoped to get back through Denver before the traffic got too bad. I returned to the trailhead at 245 and promptly headed for home.
