UN 8753, Big Mesa (8,750), UN 8770, UN 8750, UN 8890, & UN 9460 by Brian Schultz Monday August 30, 2021
UN 8753:
Roundtrip mileage: 1.7 miles
Elevation gain: 575'
Start to finish: 1 hour 15 minutes
Participants: Tim Briese, Brian Schultz
From Gunnison, we headed south on Hwy 149 and turned left onto CR 31, also marked as Willow Creek road on some maps. Then another left turn on CR 61, also signed as BLM 3054 (and marked on some maps as North Pole Creek Road). This is an excellent road that any two wheel drive can handle. We parked at a road junction east of the peak.
We began at 8:30 AM and followed the road a short distance before heading southwest to 8753's slopes and then up to the summit. We reached the cairned area marking the broad summit at 9:05. Mike Garratt placed a register in 2018 and only one person had signed in before us. After a ten minute stay, which included checking to see if another point was higher (it wasn't) we departed and were back at the truck at 9:45.
Big Mesa:
Roundtrip mileage: 2.1 miles
Elevation gain: 575'
Start to finish: 1 hour 20 minutes
Participants: Tim Briese, Brian Schultz
We drove back to where BLM road 3054g heads uphill toward Big Mesa and parked at the intersection, even though the road can be driven. Other trip reports show an approach from the north but we thought why not save the miles and start from the south. We began at 10:05 AM and hiked the road before turning up the grassy and scrub brush slopes toward the cell tower on top.
The tower is not the high point. We continued another half mile across the flat summit covering what we thought were potential highpoints, and ended up at an American flag planted near the power line. We made the easy return and arrived at the truck at 11:25.
UN 8770:
Roundtrip mileage: 1.5 miles
Elevation gain: 350'
Start to finish: 1 hour 5 minutes
Participants: Tim Briese, Brian Schultz
We drove back to Hwy 149 and headed south. Just past Blaine Rock is a road shown on the Trails Illustrated map as Powerline Road. We turned left (east) on this road, drove up to the electrical tower and parked. We began at 12:20 PM. It was a steep grunt up the slopes to the top but the rock piles we quickly encountered weren't the high points.
It was another half mile across the plateau with barely any elevation gain to get to three benchmarks (photo 1, photo 2) identifying the summit. There is a nice view of Blue Mesa Reservoir from the summit and we spent about 10 minutes walking around before departing and arriving back to the truck at 1:25.
UN 8750:
Roundtrip mileage: 0.9 miles
Elevation gain: 170'
Start to finish: 33 minutes
Participants: Tim Briese, Brian Schultz
From our parking spot on UN 8770, we simply drove south to UN 8750 on a good road. We parked on the slopes and began at 1:45 PM. It didn't take long to get to the summit, only 15 minutes, but I walked over to another potential highpoint to see if it was higher. It wasn't. When I got back we hiked back to the truck and arrived at 2:18. Short and easy hike.
UN 8890:
Roundtrip mileage: 0.85 miles
Elevation gain: 325'
Start to finish: 45 minutes
Participants: Tim Briese, Brian Schultz
Continuing further south on Hwy 149, we turned left (east) on BLM road 31A and parked off the road directly below the cliffy south face of the peak. We began at 3:00 PM and contoured around the west side until easily attaining the north slopes of the peak. It was an easy jaunt to the summit and we arrived at 3:20. After a ten minute break we departed and retraced our route, dropping just slightly below our ascent route on easier terrain.
When we got back to the truck at 3:45, I realized I left my GPS near the summit cairn. I wasn't about to leave it up there so back I went to reclimb the peak. I was up and down in 27 minutes, good thing it was a short climb.
UN 9460:
Roundtrip mileage: 0.25 miles
Elevation gain: 60'
Start to finish: 11 minutes
Participants: Tim Briese, Brian Schultz
On to the highest peak of the day and what turned out to be the easiest one. We drove down Hwy 149 a few more miles and turned right on a good road that headed west toward the peak. We ignored the first two left turn junctions and took the third one. This led right to the summit area and we parked just before it in order to walk around and find the highest point.
We began at 5:43 and walked through lots of scrub brush and grass to cover potential highpoints. Satisfied we covered the highest one, we returned to the truck, stopped on the road for a pic, and called it a day.
All the peaks we hiked today were easy and all were on public lands. Beautiful weather made for a relaxing day as well.
