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Saturday, October 23rd, 2004 I made it to the summits of Redcloud 14,034 and Sunshine 14,001 Peaks!
Where are they?
Redcloud Peak and Sunshine Peak are about 1.3 miles apart, roughly 9 miles SW of Lake City Colorado. They are two of the thirteen "14ers" in the remote San Juan Range.
Route:
Northeast Ridge II, Class 2 from the 10,400 ft Silver Creek Trailhead
Distance ~8.6 miles, 3,650 ft.
Some background:
Sunshine Peak was the only mountain on my so-called "Grudge List".
It didn’t keep me awake at night but there was something unsettling about not being able to get there. Twice I'd tried in a short time period last year:
1) 4/13/2003 from Mill Creek Trailhead/Campground with my friend Adam, and
2) 5/17/2003 solo from Silver Creek (reaching Redcloud Peak
Trip Report:
Late Friday the green gate was open on the Cinnamon Pass road. The road was in great shape all the way to the trailhead. There were no cars in the parking area & I only saw one truck drive by the whole time I was there.
I got some sleep & set out ~8 am Saturday morning. It had been about 14 degrees and snowed lightly during the night.
After I read the comments in the trail register (which is located quite a distance up from the trailhead) I went back to get my snowshoes.
I recognized Sue Personetts name in the register from the fourteenerworld forum.
The last entry was from the 21st, so it had been a few days since anyone had reached Redcloud Peak from this (standard route) trail. The new snow had covered any footprints.
But there were fresh paw tracks I followed for about half a mile. I didn’t recognize the tracks, they looked like a dogs. I drew an arrow to mark where the tracks finally left the trail.
The well-established trail follows alongside Silver Creek and initially stays deep in a valley. The first distance landmark is where the South Fork feeds into Silver Creek at 1.5 miles.
Then the trail opens up into a basin and I felt the first rays of the sun.
At a small frozen pond, I needed to put on my snowshoes. Past there I could see a lone sign on a post; it said "TRAIL" with an arrow.
I would estimate there was 1 to 2 feet of unconsolidated snow in the basin-so I was glad I'd gone back for my snowshoes. They didn't seem to give me any floatation at all, just better traction and stability.
In the basin I could see the 13,020 ft pass the trail was winding its way up to.
Closer to the pass I was able to stay on top of the grainy snow with the snowshoes.
The stretch between the pass and the first of Redclouds' false summits is very steep. Then…another false summit! Finally I could see the actual summit area & there was a wide path of wind-blown snow leading to it.
The summit of Redcloud Peak looks very strange. It is an eye straining contrast of white snow and bright red rocks and dirt. The view from there was astounding. I took the time to take a close look around.
I easily found the summit canister (not tethered, however) and signed the register, which had been placed there on 8/27/2004. A new, blank register had also been left.
It was past 2 pm and I really needed to get going to Sunshine Peak, 1.3 miles south.
I was reassured to see an almost full moon and no clouds on the horizon, especially since I'd left my headlamp sitting on the seat of the car.%$^@#
2 hours there and 2 hours back was my estimate…and that would still have me descending Redcloud as the sun faded away.
It was a good estimate. There was even more snow from the low point (13,500 ft?)on the saddle connecting to Sunshine Peak. The tops of two nearly equal height piles of rocks were on the summit when I got there. I dug around them both but couldn’t locate a canister.
I decided it was a wasted effort, there was such large snowdrifts in the general area that possibly neither of them marked the summit.
I made a panoramic mpeg and snapped a few pictures before heading back.
About midway back I noticed 2 people standing on the distant summit of Redcloud Peak.
I thought I should try to catch up with them. A lower detour around Redclouds summit was tempting…but did not seem worth it. I couldn’t resist opening the summit canister when I got there again -and found the two guys names (both from Albuquerque NM) and comments:
"bush is scary, vote for kerry" There really is no escape from politics, I thought!
They were already halfway down to the pass when I set out from the summit.
Neither was wearing snowshoes, from their prints.
As it got dark the moon lit up the basin very well. These guys were following my tracks down and so was I.
When I caught up with them we all took a little break and talked. They had driven up from NM during the night. They'd seen my name & then me when I was on one of the false summits. I'd broken trail for them and they originally thought I had a dog with me.
I described my forgotten headlamp dilemma & how I'd like to keep them in my view descending. They were easy to see as moving specks against the pure white basin.
My own ascent trail was distinctive enough to follow anyway.
Back at the frozen pond, it took a long time for me to switch out of the snowshoes and re-pack them. I made the mistake of taking my gloves off and got my hands wet.
I put back on the liners as well as the fleece gloves to warm up my hands.
The rest of the route through the woods was very peaceful. It warmed up considerably without a strong wind.
I didn’t see the other two guys again -but there was a beer on the hood of my car when I got to it! What a nice sight.
I really enjoyed this trip. It was also an early season (re)introduction to snowshoes, I thought! I'd kept them on the majority of the journey.
Hope you ?enjoyed the story, ------- Mike 'Eagle Eye' Via |
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