This post will detail two separate trips. Part one covers climbing Sunshine Peak and Redcloud Peak. Part two is about the climb of Handies Peak. Without further ado…

Part One

September 6, 2015

Sunday morning arrived with only darkness and wanderlust to greet weary eyes.  The 3 AM wake-up in Gunnison and the subsequent drive to Lake City were starting to become all too familiar for Skyler and I. The road turns to dirt shortly past Lake San Cristobal. After the first couple of miles, the way starts to get a little rough, and cautious driving was required to get through without a popped tire. The Silver Creek trailhead was packed with the cars of other hikers. We started the main part of the journey at 5:50 AM We passed several said hikers on the initial part of the trail, which was clearly marked and well traversed. After some time, we reached an opening in the trees. Shortly before the trail re-entered the trees, there was a large cairn to the right. It was here that we diverged from the main trail onto the Northwest Face route. Our path took a sharp right turn, and we crossed Silver Creek into thick vegetation. The path beyond the creek was poorly marked at first, and well disguised by the plant life. Our shoes and pants were quickly soaked from morning dew. Our route eventually turned uphill as the sun was beginning to rise, at this point becoming more apparent and negotiable.

We passed treeline, and quickly found ourselves in an open rock field. Cairns were at fairly regular intervals ahead to mark the way.

“Just follow the cairns, the route is clear,” a friend had told us the previous week. Of course, we made the decidedly bad choice of solely trusting his directions and not researching the route otherwise. Officially, the route for the Northwest Face of Sunshine Peak goes up the back end of the valley we were in, and circles up behind Sunshine. To us, however, the cairns appeared to lead to a scree field on our left, which we would have to climb straight up to reach the saddle between Redcloud and Sunshine. It didn’t look promising, but we went for it regardless.

While climbing up the loose rock, Skyler and I became separated. Skyler continued up the scree to our right while I, thinking I had spotted a better way, veered left towards some cliffs. This wasn’t a good plan. The way was far steeper than I had initially anticipated, and the cliffs that had looked solid from a distance turned out to be crumbling and loose. By the time I realized my mistake, I was a fair distance up, and my hands were becoming increasingly cold and numb from the shadowed granite. There was no feasible way of turning back, so I carried on. No part of what I did was safe, and I would not recommend it to any hiker.

After an eternity of slow progress, I climbed atop a rock outcropping that gave me a decent view of Sunshine. Skyler was standing some ways off in the distance. My hands had absolutely no feeling left in them, but I nevertheless made a halfhearted attempt to wave to him and indicate that I was alive. We exchanged pleasantries, and I breathed a sigh of relief at having made it past the worst part of my climb. I crawled the rest of the ways to the saddle, a sad sight indeed by the time I rejoined Skyler. A sign on the saddle highlighted the error of our ways.

After some rest and emotional recuperation, we continued on our way up Sunshine Peak. It was good to be back on a normal trail. There were many other hikers at the summit when we reached it at 10:07 AM, all who had taken a smarter way up. Still, we had reason to be happy.

From there, it was a quick jaunt to Redcloud Peak. We reached that summit at 11:30 AM.

We didn’t stay at the Redcloud summit for long, as the image of calorie-rich food shone in our heads. The first part of the trail down from Redcloud had some signs pointing out the way, but it looked as if they were frequently ignored, as a dozen different routes had been carved down the slope, ignoring most attempts at a switchback.

Once the rock turned to grass the trail became singular again, and was straightforward from then on. Some snow blocked part of the trail before treeline, but it was an otherwise uneventful and stress-free descent. We were back at the car at 1:25 PM after about 11 miles of hiking.

Part Two

September 18, 2015

Friday afternoons in Gunnison are typically uneventful affairs. Skyler and I decided to buck that trend on this particular Friday by hiking Handies Peak. We grabbed another friend, Jenn, to come along for the ride. Jenn had climbed mountains in Nepal with Skyler previously, but had never reached the summit of a Colorado 14er. The drive took us up Cinnamon Pass, past Lake City and past the Silver Creek trailhead. We drove as far as we could up the road to the American Basin, but a lack of four-wheel drive prevented us from getting all the way to the trailhead there. We had boots on the ground and were hiking at 3:10 PM. After reaching the actual trailhead, we followed the standard route of the Southwest Slopes. Besides a couple of hikers on their way out right at the start, we had the trail to ourselves. We reached the beautiful Sloan Lake in short order, where Skyler decided to try swimming. Jenn and I passed.

We continued our climb, with the air growing steadily colder as the sun descended. The trail was well marked and clear the whole way, and our progress was rapid.

Around 13,700 ft, the trail became very loose and gravelly. It was difficult to get traction, and we all found ourselves slipping a lot on this section going both ways. Regardless, we reached the summit (with me getting there first for once) at 6:15 PM. That made 25 unique 14er summits for Skyler, 10 for me, and 1 for Jenn.

The summit was ours and ours alone, a fact that we basked in for some time before heading back down. We made another stop at Sloan Lake on the way down, simply to enjoy the view.

The final part of our hike was in frigid moonlight. We made a beeline for the car, stopping only briefly to chat with some campers looking to make a sunrise hike the next morning. We gave them our best wishes, and carried on. We were back at the car at about 8:00 PM. It was a clear night, and the cool evening air soothed our sore and tired legs. The only other thing to note is the beaver that decided to take its time dragging part of a tree across the road while we were trying to drive out from Cinnamon Pass. Damn natives.

~Ty and Sky

(Pictures courtesy of Skyler Stanley, Words courtesy of Tyler Brant)