Cinnamon Mountain (13,328) & UN 13535 by Brian Schultz Tuesday July 14, 2015
Roundtrip mileage: 3.6 miles from Cinnamon Pass (elevation 12,640')
Elevation gain: 1,410'
Start to finish: 3 hours 40 minutes
Participants: Tim Briese & Brian Schultz
Despite the 70% chance of showers/storms, we knew this would be a short day for mileage and elevation gain. And we'd be able to sleep in longer too. Tim and I drove to Cinnamon Pass from the Silverton side and we both thought the road had gotten rougher since we were last up here. Of course, that was eight years ago but one section in particular was especially rough, and that was just after we turned off CR 2 to the Cinnamon Pass road.
Two others parked near us at the pass were getting ready and said they were also climbing the same peaks. We started at 7:40 AM on a good trail, which is easy to follow through talus up to the ridge. Then it was an easy stroll to the summit of Cinnamon Mountain. We reached it at 8:20 and visited with the couple, Jim & Mary, for a few moments before they took off for UN 13535. The weather was obviously going to stay true to the forecast as dark clouds were already threatening in the west. We stayed all of 12 minutes before heading over to UN 13535. We met Jim and Mary again on the false summit at 9:15, where they were sitting down and thinking they were on the true summit. Not so, we told them and pointed to the actual summit, straight across, but over a half mile of looping around the ridge to get there.
They took off ahead of us and we caught up to them on the summit at 9:40. We settled down for an extended break and really enjoyed their company. They are avid climbers and have climbed many of the technical thirteeners and are now enjoying whatever thirteeners catch their fancy. Thirty five minutes later the ever darkening clouds suggested we get moving. We arrived back at Cinnamon Pass an hour later at 11:15 and exchanged emails with Jim and Mary.
A bunch of ATVs were parked near us as we departed. I didn't realize it but I'd left my trekking poles propped up against Tim's truck and we drove off without them. A few minutes later the ATVs came up behind us and when we pulled over to let them pass, the first driver stopped and said "I think these belong to you." He handed the poles through the window. How do you properly thank someone for such an act of kindness? It sure made my day.
It started raining before we got to Silverton and when we stopped for lunch at Handlebars it was coming down steadily. This was a nice easy day on the peaks.
