One of many
trip reports under the
SilGro home page for Alan Silverstein and Cathie
Grow.
Email me at
ajs@frii.com.
Last update: July 26, 2024
(Previous trip report: 1987_0907-07_MarbleQuarry.htm)
(A
Fourteener
trip report.)
The weather on Tuesday looked so crummy that I nearly gave up on climbing "South Elbert" and Mount Elbert. But it ended up an enjoyable, mellow day hiking through beautiful scenery, one of the best vacation days I ever spent.
Monday, September 7: Late the afternoon I split up with the others at Marble and drove down to CO 133, then north to Carbondale. After futzing around a while buying needed supplies and having dinner I decided to turn east towards Aspen, the long way home. I abandoned the notion of spending time at Glenwood Springs and going home on I-70, or for that matter just passing through Glenwood and reaching home late that night. ("I took the road less travelled, and it made all the difference.")
When I reached Aspen at nearly 8 pm I was so tired I crashed for the night at the Christiania Lodge. You know, the place with the hot tub (yum). It sure beat another two hours of driving followed by a cold night camping in the national forest.
Tuesday, September 8: My alarm went off at 0400... Nice try... No way. I finally got rolling at 0540 and left Aspen in cold, wet, overcast pre-dawn darkness.
Independence Pass, 12095', was deserted and gloomy, quite a contrast from usual. As over the last several days, thanks to the haze from California fires, sunrise was "late and slow". By the time I passed Twin Lakes it was rather light, but still mostly cloudy and gloomy.
I'd planned to drive my Jeep almost to Leadville, then west up SR 300 to the Halfmoon Creek road and southwest around the back side of Mount Elbert to about 11400'. This would put me as close and high as possible to both summits, but would require a lot of extra driving and then steep, rotten climbing. Combined with the late start and the bad weather I was unexcited about the idea. So at County Road 24 just past Twin Lakes, I got wanderlust and turned left to go exploring. The paved road led uphill to Lakeview Campground, a nice spot high above the reservoirs.
Beyond the campground and just past a marked vista point there was an unsigned dirt road that turned left. I knew from the forest and USGS topo maps that it probably led west to about 10500'. Sure enough 1.9 miles later along the road it more or less ended at the Bartlett Gulch creek crossing deep in trees. It was 4WD most of the way and rough at the end, but was a pretty drive through tall aspens, especially this golden time of year. The Colorado Trail (previously called "Main Range Trail") ran along the road and continued beyond its end. There were a number of side roads; I took the main one all the way.
So there I was at just 0720, in the right place to start a climb, and the weather looked better as the sky brightened. I thought "what the heck" and slowly got everything ready. By 0815 it had stabilized at partly cloudy, and I settled on taking the whole day off work. I didn't expect to make the peaks, but figured it would be fun to explore.
In retrospect I can see this was just about the very best trailhead for Mount Elbert or "South Elbert". Perhaps a quarter mile up the Colorado Trail there was a left fork which led rather directly to the main summit. I wasn't sure it was there and, before reaching it, when the trail began to drop more than I liked just beyond a small lake, I cut left into thick aspen trees and cross-countried towards my goal. I did a lot of bushwhacking and boghopping before entering an open pine forest on a ridge -- just south of the trail, as it turned out.
Here I had an unusual encounter with a little brown bunny rabbit, less than a year old. I almost stepped on it. Apparently it thought it was rather invisible and froze if detected, and when it hopped away it didn't go far. I took some pictures, followed it around a while, and finally caught it gently. It didn't like that one bit, so I let it go and left it a couple of nuts to say thanks.
Just beyond this point I stumbled across the Mount Elbert trail. I immediately realized I had simply shortcut it. Then I followed it west through thinning trees to above timberline. Heavy but scattered clouds continually blew from the northwest. I stopped several times to gaze across a magnificent alpine bowl east of and between the two peaks, lush with fall-colored vegetation and alive with running water.
At about 11900' I cut off the trail again to traverse directly towards the base of "South Elbert" across the upper part of the lovely bowl. All the while I watched the weather warily and told myself not to be disappointed at having to turn back at any moment. And I kept an eye out for shelter from possible lightning, which never materialized due to the cold wintry weather.
I made more and longer stops than usual. Funny how you can slow down 20% and enjoy a hike 100% more! Already I was exhilarated by the scenery and certain the day was not wasted, no matter the outcome.
Well I kept going, to the base of the peak, past an ice-cold and ice-rimed spring, beyond the last shallow shelter, and then up steep grassy slopes. It was apparent that there were no thunderstorms building. High on the east ridge of the south peak I encountered a young guy from California carrying a heavy pack heading much the same way. It was a pleasant surprise running into another person.
I reached the broad, bouldery top of "South Elbert" at 1240 (3630' in 4:25). The larger weather pattern was scattered cumulonimbus blowing through with areas of snow falling in the distance, quite marvelous to behold so long as it posed no threat. The main peak loomed bare and barren 550' higher and almost a mile north.
After a 25 minute break I continued north toward it, a gentle northwest drop down the massive rounded ridge to the wide double saddle at 13880+'. Going up was a bit steeper, but there was something of a trail on the ridge.
At 1350 I reached the summit of Mount Elbert, the highest point in Colorado, more than nine years after my first visit, but just one week after returning to Mount Massive. The first time up Elbert I came from the north, this time from the south.
It was smaller than I remembered, a fairly narrow ridge with a number of rock semi-circle shelter walls. Being late on a September afternoon it wasn't very crowded. Soon after I arrived it started to corn-snow heavily and blow hard and cold, off and on. I wished that last time I'd stashed the remaining half of the bottle of wine I'd brought up, rather than carrying it down again!
The rocks on the summit were very worn and roughed up from all the visitors. I could tell how long a rock had sat exposed by its lichen coverage. It took perhaps a hundred years to form. Mount Elbert was far from virgin, with hardly a patch of original and unaltered stone surface.
The snow wasn't a white-out but the distant scenery was largely obscured. I stayed for 53 minutes, mostly out of the wind and snow behind a wall, and departed at 1443. Following the ridge down on a well-worn trail led me too far north on the northeast ridge. I traversed back southeast to the east ridge just above the intervening valley. Here I found the same trail as earlier -- which must have faded out before the very top -- and took it quickly down.
The east trail was reasonably wide and direct, and not very eroded. It was a great way to return! I followed it all the way to the Colorado Trail this time, then took the latter south back to the trailhead. From the top of the mountain to my Jeep at 1612, a drop of almost 4000', took an amazingly short time of 1:29!
On the whole round trip, including 1:18 on two summits and a gain of 4180', I spent only 7:57. My total gain this summer on Fourteeners alone rose to nearly 44000'.
And if all that wasn't enough, rather than going home by Leadville, I cut through the Mosquito Range via Weston Pass (11921') an hour before sunset. The road was 2-wheel-drivable, 20-30 mph on the west side, 11.1 miles from US 24, and faster on the east side, 30-50 mph, another 16.2 miles down to US 285. It didn't get that high, but did go well above timberline, and passed a lot of pretty, open scenery and old mining sites. I didn't see another vehicle during the whole one-hour crossing!
From the east side I returned to Fort Collins through Fairplay and Evergreen. I called ahead and stopped in to visit Walter Borneman, co-author of "A Climbing Guide to Colorado's Fourteeners" (the "Blue Bible"). I got him to autograph my copy of his first edition, purchased in 1978 just two months after it came out. That was a real treat, icing on the cake for a great four-day Labor Day weekend.
(Next trip report: 1988_0618_MountBierstadt.htm)