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South Face route
Cottonwood Creek approach
Approximately 13 miles RT, 6,100 ft. elevation gain (per our GPS)
By Kate Decker and Paul Stratmoen
Saturday 7/1 – Approach
We departed Littleton at 4:30am Saturday morning and arrived at the Cottonwood Creek TH around 8:15am (actually at a parking area .1 mile before the trailhead). We were on the trail at 8:45am. The first couple of miles followed an easy, distinct trail. Soon after, there were several downed trees, and many opportunities to get off-course navigating through them. In about 3 miles (around 10,400 feet), we came to an area where the trail seemed to disappear near a waterfall. We found a route between a large tree and a huge boulder to the right of the waterfall, and squeezed through to reach the beginning of the rock slabs.
The route through the slabs was pretty well marked by cairns. While the slabs seemed pretty grippy when dry, the parts with water running through were often slick. There were a couple of stream crossings on the rock slabs, first to the right (more about that crossing on the return trip), then back to the left and into the forest.
Soon we reached a large camping area at about 11,100 feet. Past that, we followed what appeared to be the trail, but it soon appeared that we may be headed into the wrong drainage as our GPS seemed to indicate that we were following a trail that branched off to the right. We went back to the camping area to study the map and it started to rain, then sleet, then thunder. By this time we were getting pretty wet, so we quickly threw up the tent to wait it out for a while.
After about an hour, the rain stopped and it looked like we may have a bit of a reprieve. We scouted out the surrounding area, and concluded that there was only one trail out of this area, and it was the one we were on originally. We re-packed the tent, set out again, and found that the trail turned towards the correct drainage soon after.
Our plan was to camp below treeline, so we found a camping spot at around 11,300 feet. Just as we got the tent up, the “real” fireworks started with a loud crackle of thunder, more rain, followed by several simultaneous flash-booms. We huddled in the tent for another hour or so until it stopped. Happily, it cleared up enough later so we could pump water and cook dinner, etc. before dark.
While pumping water at the stream, we met a man that had done Crestone Peak that day. He tried to discourage us, saying that it was a really treacherous route, and highly exposed near the summit. We thanked him for the information, but we wanted to find out for ourselves.
Sunday 7/2 – Crestone Peak
On Sunday, the alarm was set for 4:30am, with plans to be on the trail by daylight. We didn’t suspect that the route-finding would be as challenging as it turned out to be. We left the campsite at 6:00am, and followed the trail past some more campsites about a hundred feet up. We followed a cairned route which led us up a couple hundred feet through a boulder field and then back down. Next, we spent what seemed to be an eternity thrashing through willows and climbing to the top of rock slabs, trying to spot a decent route. We did encounter occasional cairns along the way, but they usually disappeared soon after. We just continued in the general direction we needed to go. Then, we spotted a very large cairn with a tall stick in it, about a hundred feet below us in a meadow. There was a faint trail through the meadow leading to it. We made our way to the cairn, and followed the route up, then past the turn-off to Cottonwood Lake.
The trail proceeded upward, swung around a large, rounded rock formation, then back to the left and entered the Red Gully at about 13,000 feet. By this time, we were afraid that the time we wasted thrashing through the willows may cost us the summit, but the skies appeared clear, so we continued. For me, the smooth slabs at the beginning of the gully were the most difficult. Once past that, the terrain became much easier. We alternated between the left and the right of the gully, depending on terrain, avoiding the water in the center. It was less steep in this section of the gully. There were many trail-like dirt alleys between the rocks. The upper 400 feet of the gully got steeper again, but there were many handholds, although there was lots of rubble & loose rocks.
We reached the saddle and looked down at the Northwest Couloir (yikes!) just as 3 people were descending from the summit. They pointed out the ledges to follow, and we proceeded carefully upward. We found this section to be similar in effort to the climbing in the gully, although there was some exposure. We were soon on the summit at 11:00am. Wow, what a place!! The clouds were building by this time, so we weren’t able to lounge on the summit as we would have liked. We could see several people over on the Needle, and some on Kit Carson & Challenger as well.
We didn’t want to press our luck with the weather, so we soon proceeded down. About halfway down the gully, we heard the first rumbles of thunder, but luckily, they were muted and seemed pretty far away. We continued downward, not wasting any time, just in case.
On the trip down, we found a much better route back to our campsite that avoided the boulder field. It crossed a waterfall in an unlikely-looking place, where it soon joined the original trail we had followed up. It was an exhausting, but exhilarating day.
Monday 7/3 – Return Trip – No Needle Today
The weather stayed great most of the evening until it started raining about 8:00pm. It continued to rain off & on all night. In the morning, the sky was mostly clear to the west, but clouds were already forming over the peaks and the humidity level was high. Not a day to attempt the Needle. Plus, we wanted to get down the slabs before they got wet, and as a bonus, avoid the July 4 traffic.
The trip down was mostly uneventful, other than the rock slabs were still a little damp from the rains the night before. They were mostly OK, but there were slick spots which made it a little unnerving. Another difficulty was the lower stream crossing on the slabs. Not a problem going up, but on the descent, it required hopping over a small gorge onto a small wet, rounded rock, then a short climb up more wet rocks. No thanks. So we descended about 20 feet further down the rock slab to its end, threw our packs down (about 6 feet) to the willows & mud, then jumped/climbed down ourselves. We crossed the stream, re-climbed a drier rock, and rejoined the trail.
We reached the Jeep around noon. As we drove towards Poncha Pass, the skies opened up with a torrential downpour. About a mile past the pass, we reached a huge traffic jam caused by a mudslide across the highway. So much for avoiding holiday traffic!
Overall, this was a great trip for us. Crestone Peak was definitely more effort than the other 14ers we have done so far, but it feels great to have completed it! |
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