Calico Mountain (12,949) by Brian Schultz   Sunday  July 22, 2018

Roundtrip mileage: 5.8 miles from Cyclone Creek trailhead (~10,800')
Elevation gain: 2,300'
Start to finish: 5 hours 35 minutes

I wasn't up for a multi-peak outing today and chose Calico Mountain for an easier, shorter day. I drove just past the town of Maysville on Hwy 50 (west of Poncha Springs) and turned north on CR 240. The road is good to the Angel of Shavano campground but becomes rougher and slower to Calico's trailhead just past the old townsite of Shavano. It took 40 minutes to get to the trailhead from Highway 50.

I parked across from the trailhead and began at 9:05 AM under sunny skies. The trail is good but not always discernible in the trees. It doesn't matter though because the route never strays too far from Cyclone Creek all the way to the basin below Calico. There are some talus fields to contend with near the creek crossing higher up. I started up the slopes of the basin at 10:15 and despite the summit being only 0.30 miles away, the elevation gain to the top is 1,000'.

This was a steep ascent but the route up was straightforward and presented no difficulties. I arrived on the summit at 12:10 and plopped down for a fifteen minute break. There are nice views from the top (photo 1, photo 2, photo 3).

The descent went quickly and I was back on the trail at 1:25, and back to the trailhead at 2:40. All in all, this was a nice climb. The weather was great and the short day was just what I needed after the long day on Prize Benchmark and Booby Prize yesterday.