From the Silver Creek Trailhead
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Lush green tundra made healthy
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I decided that if I were
to drive all the way to hike Wetterhorn and Uncompahgre, I might as well hang around for
an extra day to climb Redcloud and Sunshine. That way, I wouldn't have to make the
13 or 14 hour round trip back down here. Well, after the excruciating hike of
Wetterhorn and Uncompahgre, the three other guys (Kirk, Ken, and Jim) all high-tailed it back to Denver.
I was determined to at least attempt these peaks the following day. I was a bit
worried though because I'm usually fairly sore and stiff after a hike. I did plenty
of stretching after getting back though so I was betting that I would be fine. I ate with the guys in Lake City and then headed to the southern road on the Alpine Loop that would take me to the Silver Creek Trailhead. The clouds were still quite thick but I was hoping that they would clear. After traversing the narrow shelf road, I arrived at the trailhead just as the sun was setting. There were about eight other vehicles already here but I found a nice spot in the corner that I could sneak into. After pumping some fresh water to brush my teeth with, I turned in. I read for about an hour then turned off the light around ten and went to sleep. I awoke around 3am to the pounding of rain on the car. It was coming down hard. If it hadn't cleared by now, I realized, it most likely would not be clear in the morning. I went back to sleep but woke up again around 5am as a second hard rainfall began. |
| I awoke around 6:30 am
and noticed someone just beginning their hike. I ate a little bit, got dressed and
was on the trail by 7. The clouds had indeed
not cleared; they were very thick and low. The ground and plants and trees were
sopping wet. Miserable hiking conditions at first glance - but it turned out to be
very pleasant. My legs felt pretty good actually. The ball of my ankle was still sore but after taking an ibuprofen tablet, it didn't bother me as much. It did seem that I didn't have quite the energy that I normally do as I began hiking up. The first part of the trail is sort of steep and I was breathing heavily as I trudged along. Silver Creek was way below me at this point but eventually, you level out a little bit and begin paralleling the creek. Eventually, you come to a huge beautiful alpine basin on the northwestern side of Redcloud. You continue following this trail on around to the north side of Redcloud. I took several pictures along the way. The rain was coming down pretty hard as I took this picture of a high alpine tarn (right). |
Rain on an isolated tarn |
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On the north side of
Redcloud, you begin traversing your way up to the north ridge. The higher I got, the
thicker the clouds got. Actually, it was simply a matter of me moving into the clouds.
(below left) This view shows how thick the clouds were as I began the hike up the ridge.
From time to time, I spotted the silhouette of the person who had begun thirty
minutes before me against the grey backdrop of the clouds. Parts of the ridge were quite steep. Not steep enough to require handwork of course, but it was tough on the calves and, from time to time, was quite loose. The trail is prominent the entire way and I was very thankful for that, for even if the visibility dropped even more severely, I could at least follow the trail all the way back down. There were a few sub trails that traversed here and there but they all lead back to the main trail on the ridge. So getting lost and taking the wrong trail was not an issue. I continued on and passed a few heart-breaking false summits. I had a feeling they were false because my altimeter was reading around 13,800-13,900 feet but I was hoping that the weather was throwing it off and I was actually much closer. Finally, I did catch a glimpse of the true summit and hiked a few more minutes until I was finally there. The summit was very red - obviously an influence on the name of the peak. The person that I'd seen was there. It was a 40 to 50-or-so year old woman. I talked to her a while and it turned out she was the author of a Colorado Hiking guidebook: 50 Best Hikes in Colorado which you can find at any bookstore in CO. The top of Redcloud was completely socked in with thick clouds. There were no views at all from the summit which was fine this time - it actually looked really surreal. |
| I headed down the ridge
to continue on to Sunshine Peak. The clouds were still very thick. However,
when I caught up with the author Chris, the clouds were beginning to break. We had
a view of the route to Sunshine Peak. We passed another party coming from Sunshine
Peak. I wondered where they came from since we were obviously the first climbers on
Redcloud (our names were the only ones signed in). I thought maybe they could give
us some advice on alternate routes back to the trailhead instead of hiking back over
Redcloud. We had the option of hiking down the talus field into the Silver Creek
drainage. I thought they might have hiked up the west ridge of Sunshine. When
we talked to them, the told us that they had indeed come the same way we had. The
had camped high up along the trail and were able to get a very early start. I continued on to Sunshine fairly certain that I would be re-climbing Redcloud in order to get back down. The clouds began breaking even more and I got my first view of Sunshine Peak. I knew I was going to get my fourth fourteener of the weekend! I was on the top of the peak well before Chris arrived and I took time to sign the register and take some pictures. The clouds were really beginning to break and expansive views began manifesting themselves. |
Mars on Earth - the summit of Redcloud Peak |
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On top of Sunshine with very little sun to show for it |
Here I am (left) on the top of
Sunshine Peak. Sunshine was the 35th fourteener for me. Sunshine has a really
neat summit. It's kind of small and it affords fabulous views. In this picture
(left) you can see the vicinity of the trailhead way below. Another man of about 60 arrived on top and the three of us chatted for a long time. We also were enjoying watching the clouds stream all around us. We headed down after about thirty minutes. When we arrived back at the saddle, the older man continued up Redcloud. Chris indicated she was going down the talus field. I was sort of reluctant to go down it after my experience on Mount Columbia. Plus, there was a warning sign in front of it. However, she finally convinced me and we started down. It was actually a very good choice. There was trail all the way down and it wasn't too steep. I only slightly slipped one time. The hike out of the Silver Creek drainage was very pleasant too. The trail is well-defined and easy. It's hard to see from the main trail (though I spotted where it ought to be) and there's a wide but shallow stream crossing over silver creek. I arrived back at the jeep around 1:30 pm. It was good to get back. I stretched for about 15 minutes, said bye to Chris, then headed back to Denver. |
