Carrie and I wanted a challenging hike and to explore another area in the San Juans, so we decided to do Vermilion Peak. Vermilion Peak is 13,909' high and the county highpoint of San Juan county. Additionally, it has over 2000 feet of prominence, making it the dominant peak in the area.

The normal route up Vermilion Peak is to come in from Ice Lake Basin. We chose to come in from the other side via the Hope Lake trail.

The forecast was for a 80% chance of rain after 3pm. However, anyone that knows the San Juans, knows that during monsoon season it can rain anytime of day.

The trail to Hope Lake is very popular. We probably saw 20 people in the 40 minutes we were on the trail, before turning off trail to head toward Vermilion Peak.

We basically went up the drainage leading to the saddle between Fuller and Beattie peaks. This was just grass and tundra early on before giving way to scree and talus. It's a bit of a slog, but not too bad. We varied routes each direction and both had slight use trails and cairns... go figure.

From the Beattie/Fuller saddle we jumped on a use trail that led us to the Fuller/Vermilion saddle. This is a nasty talus slope, so that use trail was a big blessing!

At the Fuller/Vermilion saddle we joined up with the typical route from Ice Lake Basin on the southeast ridge of Vermilion Peak. This is a neat route that weaves through the rocks with some occasional easy scrambling. About 100' below the summit, you encounter a steep gully. This bothered my wife a bit as it is steep and slick with minimal holds. After that gully, you have 30 or 40 feet of easy terrain to the summit.

The views from the top are impressive! Ice Lake, Pilot Knob, the Wilson group of peaks, Hope Lake, etc.

We would have stayed to take in the views, but storms were building fast. Sure enough, about 10 minutes into the descent, it started to hail fairly hard on us. Luckily this was short lived, but the storms continued to thunder around us, with some rain from time-to-time.

Fun day on an impressive peak in a beautiful area! 5 stars!

From the roundabout 3 miles west of Telluride, follow Highway 145 for approximately 10 miles and take a left at the road signed for Trout Lake. Follow the road around the shores of Trout lake for approximately one mile to Forest Road 627. Turn left on 627 and follow it to it's end in approximately 2.5 miles. This is the Hope Lake Trailhead.

This road is a bit rough, but several sedans were at the trailhead. I think if you just go slow in a low clearance car, you will be alright.

We took the trail to Hope Lake until we hit 11,600 feet. We then turned east and followed the drainage to the Beattie Peak/Fuller Peak saddle. We then headed to the Fuller/Vermilion saddle on a decent use trail across the scree.

From the saddle, we were on the normal route for Vermilion Peak, the southeast ridge. The route on the ridge is well defined with a use trail and has minimal difficulties until a steep gully is encountered about 100' feet below the peak. After the gully, the final summit block is a 40' foot scramble.