Dyer Mountain (13,855 ft) by Brian Schultz Thursday August 21, 2003
The sunny skies of Denver turned to stormclouds and rainshowers by the time I arrived in Leadville. With book in hand I followed Roach's directions to the Upper Iowa Gulch trailhead but thanks to some missing street signs in the residential area, I overshot a few turns and had to use the odometer readings to find it. I parked near a gate at the end of the road and changed into hiking clothes as light rain continued falling.
Dyer Mountain is a short mileage hike with minimal elevation gain, just right for a first climb after flying in from Minneapolis. My biggest concern was starting after 12:00 noon in the summer storm season but I had lots of time and was willing to wait for clearing weather. I struck up a conversation with a fellow who'd just come down the Dyer trail and had only hiked to the mine. He was waiting for a friend to return from Mt Sherman and pointed out the peak she was climbing. I told him he was pointing to Mt Sheridan and that Sherman was straight across from us but he didn't believe it. He soon retreated to his car and when the darkest clouds finally moved out of the area, I put on my rain jacket and headed up. The time was 12:40.
The very good trail begins about 30 feet to the left of the gate and quickly leads to a cluster of mine buildings in the Iowa Amphitheater. I angled up the slope to the left of the buildings and followed the fading trail into the curving drainage north, where I pressed on even when the rain stopped because more thunderclouds were streaming in. Instead of turning to the Dyer/Gemini saddle from the power line tower as Gerry and Jennifer Roach recommend, I went straight up the rocky slope, bypassed a minor wall to its left, and stepped onto the summit at 1:47. I surprised myself by gaining the 1,700+ feet elevation in just over an hour.
As much as I enjoyed the views of Gemini, Sherman and the Sawatch range, I only stayed until 2:05. On the descent I unwittingly crossed the drainage which added some extra time, but a good path on that side also led to the mine buildings and main trail. Below the buildings two hikers were scouting the route for the morning and I stopped to visit with them briefly. I made it back to the car at 3:05. This short easy route turned out to be a nice warm-up for Culebra with plenty of time to drive to Fort Garland before meeting Tim.
Trailhead to summit- 1 hour 7 minutes
Summit back to trailhead- 1 hour
Start to finish- 2 hours 25 minutes