Trip Report
I am at my lowest weight in 30 years. Hiking has become a lot easier due to the weight loss. So all summer, I have felt amazing on our hikes. Then, 2 weeks ago, we did San Luis Peak. Despite being 11 miles of hiking, with 3500 feet of gain; it felt pretty mellow. My wife noticed me not having to push as well. So she thought I should get out there and really challenge myself without having to worry about a partner. Challenge accepted!
I scoured dozens of reports and maps. I finally settled on Silver Mountain and 2 unnamed 13,000 foot peaks nearby. My thoughts were that the trailhead was pretty close (just over an hour from my house), so I could spend more time on my feet and less time driving.
I left the house at 5:30am and was hiking just before 7am. It was clear and cold, 34 degrees at the trailhead, in fact. I wanted it to be nice and cool, so I was excited about that.
The initial route is in a meadow next to Firebox Creek. This is a long and beautiful meadow. Eventually, this meadow ends and the trail descends into Fall Creek.
The meadow along Fall Creek is the largest meadow I have ever seen. It continues on for miles!
Other than some boggy spots, the trail was great, as it headed for the Silver Mountain/Peak 13048 saddle. I finally reached the saddle at 12,700' after hiking 7 miles.
I then dropped over the saddle and down about 100', then started traversing for the saddle just south of Silver Mountain. Staying at around 12,650' limited my elevation loss, but it was a pain, as I crossed gully after gully. I think just giving up another 100' would have prevented this hassle.
I finally reached the base of the gully at 12,800'. The slopes looked steep, but not impossible. I simply followed the creek bed up. I like hiking up the dry creek beds, as the water scours out all of the debris and you are on grippy bedrock. The only problem was it kept getting steeper and steeper and then just ended! I looked left, right and up and no options seemed good, just hardpan gravel on steep slopes! I looked down and didn't like that either. So a 30 second deep breath and I decide up it was. I just got momentum and kept it, using bigger rocks for support here and there and eventually was on flat ground.
The remaining slopes to Silver were easy. The views of the surrounding mountains here were stunning, especially the north face of Uncompahgre Peak!!!
I descended Silver, back to the saddle. This time, I stayed further north on steep, but grassier slopes. This worked MUCH better and soon I was traversing back to the Silver Mountain/Peak 13048 saddle.
Peak 13048 was next up and it was just grassy slopes to the top. Then it was on to Peak 13015. Again, this was simply grassy slopes, until maybe the final 100 feet, which were on stable boulders.
While hiking in, I had spied the descent from 13015 and saw I could accomplish it on mostly grassy slopes. So as I descended, I aimed for the slopes I'd seen from below. While steep, the footing was always good and soon, I was back to the meadow and trail. I still had 6 miles of hiking to go, but most of the "up" for the day was done.
This was a really long and tough day for me, but it proved to be a great test. My body felt great after the hike was done and even the next day. So maybe I've got one more challenge this year... 20 miles and 5k of gain???
Oh yeah, the weather stayed amazing all day. It was cool and breezy, perfect for a long day like that. That plus the beauty of the area kept my mind occupied for the entire 9+ hour hike!
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