UN 10989, Cochetopa Dome (11,132), & UN 10998 by Brian Schultz Saturday August 29, 2020

UN 10989:
Roundtrip mileage: 1.85 miles
Elevation gain: 630'
Start to finish: 1 hour 25 minutes
Participants: Tim Briese, Brian Schultz

Tim and I met at North Pass and drove west on Hwy 114 to FR 785. We turned right on FR 785, an excellent road that any two wheel drive vehicle can handle, and drove it to Lujan Pass. We set up for truckcamping in the large flat area of the pass.

We began at 7:35 AM by following a logging road south, where some signs indicated timber sales while others said cutting was prohibited. After a short distance on the road, we began an easy bushwhack through the trees and followed a bearing to the summit. Our bearing was marked by flags, not sure why the flags were put up but they generally led toward the summit.

We didn't make an effort to follow them but we kept seeing them on our route. We crossed another logging road on our ascent and arrived on the nondescript summit around 8:15. We left after a couple minutes and headed back down, arriving at our trucks at 9:00. Our first peak of the day was short and easy.

Cochetopa Dome:
Roundtrip mileage: 3.4 miles
Elevation gain: ~1,150'
Start to finish: 2 hours 50 minutes
Participants: Tim Briese, Brian Schultz

We hadn't planned on this peak but Tim noticed it on the map and suggested we go for it. It wasn't far from where we were so we continued on Hwy 114 to the west and turned left on road 17GG (FR 804 on Trails Illustrated map). Then we turned right on FR 804.1F (which was signed but faintly) and then took a left turn on FR 804.1D, which we followed to its end.

There's actually a trail for about a half mile before the route turns into a bushwhack. The initial ascent was pretty steep but leveled off and then became a pleasant stroll through the woods. There was a fair amount of deadfall in the woods but it was very manageable.

It started raining and continued raining all the way to the summit and most of the way back. The summit was on an obvious rise and we arrived on top at 11:40.

We weren't interested in sitting down for too long in the rain so we departed after taking a few pics. On the way back we spotted a cache of large water jugs and a container and figured it was left by a hunter. It would've been a mighty heavy load to carry up, perhaps a pack animal was used. We made it back to our trucks at 1:00 and stopped for lunch at a very nice camp area along the road. Despite the rain, this was a nice little outing.

UN 10998:
Roundtrip mileage: 2.75 miles
Elevation gain: 945'
Start to finish: 1 hour 50 minutes
Participants: Tim Briese, Brian Schultz

We drove back to North Pass under clear and sunny skies and began hiking from the pass at 2:05 PM. We crossed a barbed wire fence within minutes and stayed just to the left of it as we hiked up the forested ridge. There was lots of deadfall but staying close to the west side of the ridge avoided most of it.

A nice overlook prompted us to stop for a few minutes to take in the views before continuing on. We reached the summit at 3:00 and walked around to several highpoint candidates. The descent went without issue and we were back to our trucks at 3:55.

This peak is the highest ranked 10er in Colorado.