From Jennings Creek Trailhead
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Tabeguache Peak and Mount Shavano are the southernmost fourteeners of the
Sawatch Range and are often hiked together. I was very excited about hiking both
peaks because that would mark the exact halfway point to my completion of the Colorado
Fourteeners. Two weeks earlier, I hiked up Mount Antero in beautiful weather. The
weather was also fantastic this weekend and there was even less snow. A friend from
work, Bill Snodgrass, and I left Westminster around 6:15 am and drove to a quaint cafe
outside of Poncha Springs to meet one of Bill's friends, Steve Johnson. Both Steve
and Bill are veteran hikers having finished the fourteeners long ago. But they were
still up for a hike of Tabeguache and Shavano. We drove up a bumpy dirt road to the Jennings Creek trailhead and started hiking around 10:20 am. According to a warning at the trailhead, the trail was eroded and an alternate route on the other side of Shavano was suggested. Unfortunately, it was getting late so we opted not to turn around. The trail indeed is in bad shape. Higher up, in a skeletal forest of dead evergreen trees, the main trail splits several times into a wide-open eroded space. It's impossible to tell one "trail" from the other. This obviously, wasn't caused by human traffic; it's just naturally eroded. Hiking on it doesn't help though. This picture (left) was taken from the slopes underneath the sweeping ridge leading to Tabeguache. The peaks in the background are (l-r) Taylor Mountain and Mount Aetna. These peaks are prominent from Monarch Pass. |
| Finally, we emerged from the lower slopes and were greeted with this views
of both fourteeners (l-r Tabeguache and Shavano). From here, I realized how long
this hike really was going to be. To get to Shavano, we'd have to hike a giant
horseshoe of a ridge. This is a great time of year to hike. We only passed two other people all day. The day was perfectly clear, there was little wind, and the weather promised to hold all day. We also saw some mountain goats before arriving at this saddle. After taking a lunch break, we headed left towards Tabeguache Peak. Bill and Steve decided that they would not continue on to Shavano since they'd already been a few times so I decided I would eventually get in front of them, zoom over Tabeguache, hike up to Shavano, then meet them back on top of Tabeguache. |
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The route to Shavano is semi-straightforward. The trail disappears and re-appears from time to time on the talus slopes below Tabeguache. Once you arrive the highpoint of the ridge before summiting Tabeguache, you can see that the summit of Tabeguache is not quite as easy as the typical Sawatch fourteener. There's a fair amount of route-finding necessary in order to pick the best route. It's not too hard but it certainly is more challenging than most. I paused only for a moment on the summit, not taking any time to sit and rest. It was getting kind of late. It was already 3:15. So, I bounded down the other side of Tabeguache which had a fair amount of deep snow on it and began the long ridge ascent to the summit of Shavano. The wind was pretty hard on Shavano so I put on my jacket. I continued on past two false summits and arrived about 50 minutes later at the top. I paused only for about 5 minutes for pictures and zoomed back down. I was kind of bummed about not being able to spend a lot of time on the summit but I needed to get back to Steve and Bill who were waiting on the top of Tabeguache. At the saddle between the two fourteeners, I took about a 2 minute break to finish up some food. Then I reluctantly began the slog back up to the summit of Tabeguache through deep snow. I was back on top with Bill and Steve at 5:15 and requested about a ten minute break before descending. I was really tired! Bill took this picture of Steve and I (left) while I rested. You can see Mount Shavano in the background. The ridge that I climbed is on the left-hand side. |
| The view from the summits today was fabulous. We could see forever. We
were able to pick out at least seventeen fourteeners including San Luis, Wetterhorn and
Uncompahgre, the Blanca Group, the Crestones, the Maroon Bells, Castle Peak, and the
nearby Sawatch Peaks. Steve even saw a giant meteor streak through the sky. We started heading back down around 5:30. We realized that we would be hiking in the dark very soon! Here's a picture (right) of me on the hilly ridge below Tabeguache. This part of the ridge faces east and has more snow than the west. We tried to hurry so that we would be off the talus by the time it got too dark. |
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Here's a great sunset shot from the talus slopes beneath Tabeguache Peak. We were able to make it down off the talus to the lower ridge before we needed our flashlights. We were a little worried about finding the trail again since we had so obscure during the day. Strangely enough, we found the trail right away and easily followed it all the way back down. The stars were shined brilliantly. I hadn't hiked off a mountain in the dark before. I enjoyed it quite a bit. |
