Broncho Mountain (12,834) by Brian Schultz Monday July 20, 2020

Roundtrip mileage: 7.6 miles from Gold Creek trailhead
Elevation gain: 2,880'
Start to finish: 7 hours 30 minutes
Participants: Tim Briese, Brian Schultz

We arrived at the Gold Creek trailhead this morning by driving US 50 from Gunnison and turning onto CR 76 at Parlin, then turning on FR 771 from Ohio City to the trailhead. The roads are all two-wheel drive. We parked and began at 6:05 AM on the trail to Lamphiere Lakes. It's a good one and it's scenic.

After reaching the lakes (photo 1, photo 2) the trail drops slightly and crosses a talus field before gaining elevation through grass and talus to Gunsight Pass.

We climbed up to Gunsight Pass to see the views from there but one could save a bit of elevation gain by skipping that diversion and begin contouring under the ridge to Broncho. If planning on climbing Square Top Mtn and Henry Mtn from Gunsight Pass, note that the ridge is extremely rough. The easiest way to approach those peaks is to contour left under the ridge to a gully leading back up to the ridge and then on to Square Top.

The slopes under the ridge to Broncho are rocky until getting closer to the top. The last stretch to the summit flattens out considerably and the grassy slopes were a nice break before a talus finish to the top. We arrived at 10:05 and stayed 50 minutes. One of the coolest formations I've ever seen on a summit was a large fissure splitting the very top. It was moderately deep as well.

We arrived back at our trucks at 1:35. Other than two fellows going to the lakes, we didn't see anyone else on the trail or peak. The weather turned out really nice today despite the forecast of storms after 12:00 noon, although we did hear thunder rumbling in the distance on the descent.