This was a fun weekend. Donna, her Mom and I went rafting on the Arkansas River Saturday afternoon. I had only rafted on the Colorado River (and a glacial river in Alaska) and I thought the Arkansas was more interesting. There were a lot of rocks to avoid, and we ended up pinballing between rocks, spinning around, getting hung up on a rock and dumping one rafter. I'll go back there for sure next year!

After the raft trip Donna and her Mom drove home, and I drove up to the Rockdale trailhead for Missouri. It's not marked, but you'll see a dirt road off to the north that goes by some old log cabins. If you continue you'll soon encounter your first obstacle: Clear Creek. The water didn't look too deep so I crawled in with the Jeep. You first cross to an island and then to the opposite shore. The water wasn't as deep on the second section of the creek, but getting out was a little more interesting - a rock step about 12" high had to be crossed to get out of the creek. I passed that with no problem, then the road climbed a steep hill and made its way up a drainage.

Foto ©2001 by John C. Maki

I drove almost 3 miles to the 4X4 trailhead. There were several parties camping near the trailhead so I drove back down the road about a quarter mile to a nice campsite above the creek that I saw on the way in. I set up camp, ate dinner and made a fire in the large fire ring. I hit the sleeping bag around 10, and awoke about every two hours. I would check the time and the sky and go back to sleep. At 04:00 I decided to get up. The sky was filled with dark clouds which didn't look too promising, but I thought there was a good chance they would go away. I got my gear together, ate breakfast, and packed camp except for the tent, which I left standing. I left the Jeep where it was and started hiking at 04:40. I signed in at the trailhead and continued up the road/trail. The moon was out so I kept my headlamp off most of the time. Near Clohesy Lake, or Cloyses, whichever is correct, I got a little confused about the trail but found one and kept going. I passed the end of the lake, and passed a stream or two when I began to think that maybe I missed the trail for Missouri.

I checked the map, and sure enough, I had missed it. Rather than backtrack and lose elevation and waste time looking for the trail junction, I started up the hill and to the north to intercept the trail. I broke out of some very thick woods and ran into a scree slope. I thought I'd climb the slope and look around. That was the worst scree I can remember climbing. The slope was very steep, at the angle of repose for the scree and talus. None of the rock had any moss or lichen on it so I knew it had recently fallen and was likely unstable. In between patches of small talus were steep chutes of gravel hardened by water, so that boot edges wouldn't dig in and loose gravel formed a ball-bearing surface. I was almost certain that I would slide down the hill, or just not be able to make it up. I finally made it without incident and cut to the north. After some thrashing around I found a trail, and followed it up the hill.

This trail followed a creek that cascaded down the hill and promoted lush growth of wildflowers along its banks. After a short climb the trail intersected another trail coming from the north, then it continued up the hill. The trail I came from was marked with two cairns, and I don't know what would happen if you took the north trail coming down.

At treeline the trail wound into a large grassy basin and petered out. The rest of the route was apparent from here: climb across the basin and onto the grass-covered shoulder of Missouri's west ridge, continue up the ridge and intersect another ridge leading to the summit. No trail was needed across the grassy slopes, so you could pick whatever line you wanted to gain the lower part of the ridge. This was very pleasant hiking amidst many types of wildflowers.

Foto ©2001 by John C. Maki

Eventually the ridge steepens into a talus-covered step and the pleasant hiking on grass gives way to a steep climb on rock. At the top of this section I finally saw the sun peeking out over the summit ridge. I could see down into Missouri Gulch and Elkhead Basin below. The ridge to the summit was easy enough and I hurried along trying to reach the summit by 08:00. Just before the last pitch to the summit the trail bypasses some rotten looking towers to the west. There is some exposure here as the trail drops down below the ridge. Finally the trail regains the ridge beyond the towers and I reached the summit at 08:00, 3:20 hours for the ascent. The weather was perfect: no wind, not many clouds, nothing bad to the west. I signed the register, had lunch and took some pictures. I walked over to check out the nasty 4th class east ridge between Elkhead Pass and the summit. It didn't look like anything I'd want to climb.

          
Fotos ©2001 by John C. Maki

I think I was the first to summit today. At 08:25 I started down, after deciding not to continue on the ridge to Iowa Peak or Emerald Peak beyond that, two centennial 13ers. I encountered my first climbers along the summit ridge, and many more on the steep step and grassy slopes of the west ridge. Once I reached the grass I made good time and was below treeline before too long. I took the same trail that was marked with the cairns that I found on the way up, and it led down into the trees near Clohesy Lake and joined up with the pack trail. I could see how easy it was to miss the trail junction in the dark - it was not very prominent and only marked with a small pile of rocks.

I signed out on the trail register and hiked the short distance back to camp, reaching it at 10:05 - 1:40 hours for the descent. It was a steep climb and descent overall, but my legs and knees gave me no problems. I relaxed in camp for a while with a cold beer before packing up the tent and heading back down the 4X4 trail. This time I aired down my tires to 20 psi before starting on the trail. It seemed to make a small bit of difference in traction and ride, but I really noticed the difference later on with the washboard sections on Chaffee County 390.

Foto ©2001 by John C. Maki

I reached the ford of Clear Creek, and left the Jeep running in the middle of each crossing and waded to shore to get pictures. The water was a little below the floorboards at the deepest spot. Shortly I was back on Chaffee County 390 and headed back to the highway. I stopped before reaching the highway and inflated my tires back up to 30 psi for the road. I made it home about 14:00, feeling good but tired, and my legs were still sunburned from the raft trip. This was a nice climb and I would repeat this route if I wanted to climb Missouri again.