Climbed Huron Peak 8/27/00 with Jake. This was one of those trips that just wasn't meant to be, but we still reached the summit. I wasn't really sure the night before whether I wanted to climb or just be lazy at home, but at around 23:00 I gathered my gear and set the clock for 05:00. This next morning I loaded the car, ran to the grocery store for Clif Bars and film, ran back home to get my cell phone, and left Aurora at 06:00. We drove to Buena Vista and headed north to Chaffee County 390, and parked in Winfield. We started up on the trail at 09:00, which is really late - mistake number one.

My plan was to bike up the 4X4 road to the Hamilton townsite, about 4 miles from the trailhead. The road only gained about 500-600' in that distance so I figured it might be suitable for biking. I wanted to ditch the bike in Hamilton and hike up to a saddle southeast of Huron, then climb Huron's southeast ridge to the summit. I thought it would be a gentler slope than the standard route, less crowded, and biking in would make up for the longer distance. The ride in went pretty well, I averaged around 5mph, sometimes I got up to 15mph on the flat parts. Jake enjoys being chased by the bike at high speed, and he tore off ahead of me at full tilt, kicking up rocks and dirt. Lots of rocks, a few stream crossings, and a few places that were too rough to ride through. I passed the standard route trailhead at just under 2 miles, then after another 1.5 miles the trail really got rough, and I saw a cabin ruin in the distance. Hamilton?

I ditched the bike in the trees and we followed a trail. We soon came across a sign, Apostle Basin straight ahead and Lake Ann to the right. We took the left fork figuring it would lead us to the saddle below Huron's ridge. Mistake number two - always bring a map, even on the "easy" climbs where you think you have it memorized. This trail soon crossed over to the west side of the creek, and I started to have my doubts. Still, we continued to follow it south. As the Three Apostles grew closer and Huron got farther away, I decided we were in the wrong drainage and had to go cross country to get back on route. The creek was in a deep gorge at this point, so we made our way down and back up the other side. Then we hiked more or less east up the forested hill, following occasional game trails. It was nice to be in the real wilderness, though I knew we were way off track. Jake found a deer leg and rolled around in it, like the dog he is. Shortly after that a deer, fully intact, bounded off through the trees. Jake didn't notice this one.

Eventually we reached treeline, and I could see how far we had to go to get back on route. We were on a ridge, separated from Huron by another drainage. We would have to drop about 500' to get into the valley, cross the valley, and continue up to the saddle. It was already 11:00 and clouds were moving in. The ridge was cliffy and we had to backtrack to find a good place to descend. At this point I considered bailing out on the climb, but I thought we would at least try to find the correct route for next time. We crossed a sea of willows and were now about 2000' directly below Huron's summit, below steep scree and talus slopes. The weather had remained steady, with puffy clouds moving in, but patches of blue behind. I figured we had a shot at the summit if it didn't get much worse.

Not really committing to the climb, but hopeful, I started up the slope. It was a grunt, lots of loose dirt and unstable scree - not much fun, but we slowly made progress. My energy level seemed low, but I was really starting to want to reach the top, since we had spent so much energy getting to that point. When we reached 12,500', I sat down to rest and became discouraged. It seemed so far to the summit, and though the clouds weren't getting much worse, they weren't getting any better. I figured the best we could do would be to reach the summit around 14:00. I considered bailing out a second time, but eventually lifted myself up and continued up the steep slope. At 13,000' we reached a grassy shoulder and the climb became easier. Finally I felt fully committed, and I could see people on the summit and hear their voices. The weather was about the same; all the nastier dark clouds passed to the east or west of us, miraculously.

We reached the ridge at around 13,300', and could see into the valley on the other side, and the Belford group to the east. The ridge was fairly sharp, and this was a fun part of the climb. I was eager to reach the summit and begin our descent, since I couldn't tell how long the weather would hold out. There were several small towers to navigate over or around, it wasn't a trivial ridge walk. My altimeter indicated we were at 13,800' at 2:15, but there was no more mountain - we had summited! It was a small summit, with two windbreaks and a CMC summit register. I signed the register on a scrap of paper, and sat a while to enjoy the view. We must have been the last to summit that day, since we were alone and saw no other climbers on the descent. We had a nice view of the Three Apostles, Ice Mountain in the center is one of the harder 13ers.

Foto ©2000 by John C. Maki

The trail down was nice, it must have been worked on fairly recently. Below treeline the trail switchbacked relentlessly and finally emerged at the first trailhead we passed. I stuck my pack in the trees and we hiked the 1.5 miles back to where I left my bike. Biking back down to the car was a lot of fun, and a nice way to end the hike. It really woke me up, and I rode quite a bit faster than I did on the ride up - partly because of the elevation change, but also because it was so much fun, bumping over the smaller rocks and dodging the larger ones. Jake, as usual, ran ahead of me the whole way, a big grin on his face. I don't know where he gets his energy... The last slope before the car was somewhat steep, and I rode my brakes to stay at a reasonable speed. I loaded the bike on the car, checked the map I had in my car(!) to see where I went wrong, and drove home, this time taking I-70. The I-70 route was about 20 miles shorter than the US-285 route, but because of an accident near US-40 and heavy rains in Denver, it took about the same amount of time.

Now that I've climbed Colorado's 2 lowest 14ers this year, I have to make another attempt on the highest, Mount Elbert. I came up with a scheme to climb the highest and lowest 14ers I have left on my checklist each year, starting in 2000. I just need to return to Elbert when it's not stormy and I'll have made my goal for this year. In 2001 I'll need to climb Massive and Holy Cross to fulfill my requirement. After that, well, it depends on what else I climb in the meantime. If I can manage another year like I've had in 2000, I'll have climbed them all before too long. Then I'll need to climb them again, and/or work on the highest 100. There are enough mountains in Colorado to keep me busy for a lifetime!