Gilpin Peak (13,694) by Brian Schultz Thursday August 25, 2011
Roundtrip mileage: 6 miles from 4x4 trailhead in Yankee Boy Basin
Elevation gain: 2,350'
Participants: Tim Briese, Brian Schultz
We drove the Yankee Boy Basin road to the parking area at 11,350', slightly further up than where we parked for Potosi Peak two days ago. We began hiking the road at 6:55 AM under clear skies and though the weather forecast called for thunderstorms later, we expected to be off the summit well ahead of them.
Our straightforward route followed the road to the Blue Lakes trail and up into the basin below Blue Lakes Pass. This was an easy hike on a fine trail and quite scenic with wildflowers still in bloom on the grassy slopes. It took nearly two hours to reach the saddle but we weren't in a hurry and stopped often for photos.
From the pass, a good climbers trail leads up and over a rocky hump and stays close to the left side of the ridge walls. The rock is extremely loose and the climbing is steep all the way to the top of the wide gully. Helpful cairns marked the route whenever it veered away from the walls.
The steepness and loose rock relented at the top of the gully. We turned left and headed up Gilpin's southwest slopes, staying below the ridge and passing a false summit before arriving on top at 10:00. This summit is outstanding for San Juan views, especially of Dallas, Sneffels, Teakettle, Potosi, & Emma.
After an enjoyable stay we departed at 10:40 and noticed the harmless looking clouds from earlier were quickly building and getting darker. We took the loop trail around Wrights Lake, stopped for a few more flower pics and chatted with a guy fishing at the lake. We hurried the pace back to the truck as it began sprinkling and arrived at 12:30, just minutes before heavy rains hit.
Trailhead to summit- 3 hours 5 minutes
Summit to trailhead- 1 hour 50 minutes
Start to finish- 5 hours 35 minutes