One of many
trip reports under the
SilGro home page for Alan Silverstein and Cathie
Grow.
Email me at
ajs@frii.com.
Last update: March 29, 2024
(Previous trip report: 1979_0226_TotalEclipse1979.htm)
(A
Fourteener
trip report.)
(Originally posted to internal newsgroup:
/***** hpfcla:fsd.rec / ajs / 9:14 pm Sep 3, 1984)
This is a trip report on Mount of the Holy Cross (14005'). [I wrote back then:] "Usually I don't post something after a each expedition, but this mountain is so neat, I want to tell you about it."
The drive up was nothing special. Minturn was a nice little town. Then the road up to the trailhead was 8.8 miles of rough rocks and potholes. (You don't dare blink coming down at 20 MPH.) The 1200' up (two miles) from the trailhead to Half Moon Pass, at 11600', wasn't too unusual either.
But once I hiked over the saddle, I could see that something nice was coming. The view was several miles west across Cross Creek to some distant peaks. About halfway down I came a little left around a curve and wow, the whole valley of East Cross Creek and Mount of the Holy Cross became visible. The valley went way up into a bowl surrounded by peaks. Across the valley, Holy Cross was a tall spire with a long north ridge descending to the right and cliffs to the left.
A little further on and I found myself looking down about 500' into the best area to camp on East Cross Creek. Then I switchbacked down into the meadow/marsh along the creek. Even though it was crowded, there were still places to camp out of sight of anyone else.
To climb the mountain I had to first cross the creek. Don't try to jump across like I did (ouch). There was apparently a good log bridge a ways below the camping area...
Then the trail swung way around to the north and west of the north ridge and up the back side. It was gradual at first, then steep in places, but easy going and well marked (all the way to the top). It was 3300' up but it took me less than three hours. [2023: Ah to be that young and strong again!]
The first time I got back to the top of the ridge was well above timberline at about 12200'. Here I looked down on Lake Patricia (11398') and across to the Bowl of Tears (12001'). It really was a gorgeous valley. The trail was easy to follow up the long ridge, which gradually got almost level at around 13400'. Then I went steeply up the last 600' to the summit.
The top was about average size, maybe 40' across. There were nice projecting "peninsulas" west and north, which I could easily get out onto. There were some cliffs on the south, east, and north.
"If you are adventurous, don't take the trail down." Instead drop southwest to the next saddle south on Holy Cross Ridge. I could easily get down into an east-west valley from there -- at least late in the summer when there wasn't solid snow below the ridge.
I found pretty easy going, including talus and big snowfields (yum), past two beautiful ponds. I ran into the main valley and then passed north on the west side of the Bowl of Tears and dropped down to it. There was a lot of interesting scenery here, like deep splits in the rocks (caves), tall cliffs above the Bowl (reminiscent of California sea cliffs), and so on.
The Bowl was a crystal clear, deep blue, ice-cold mountain lake. There were even a few fish swimming in it (4-8 inches long).
At this point I'd gone 3/4 around the mountain. The cross was high up on the northeast face, and I looked up very steeply at it as I left the Bowl of Tears. It was not very easy to spot. But the alpine meadows and the neat rocks between Bowl of Tears and Lake Patricia were as awe-inspiring as any I'd seen in Colorado.
I went right (east) of the creek, over what was really cliffy, but could follow a narrow gully all the way down with no problems. Fun!
From Lake Patricia back to the camp was the hardest part of this route! Do not make the mistake I did and follow the creek; it got into waterfalls and cliffs that were tough to descend...
Finally I bushwhacked back to camp. I still had to hike four miles out, including 900' up. The area was so fantastic, though, that I mostly didn't mind, except for having to leave!
The distance from the road was probably part of the reason the valley of East Cross Creek was so untouched. It really was a Colorado paradise.
-- Alan (cliff? What cliff?) Silverstein
(Next trip report: 1984_0908-09_Harvard,Columbia.htm)