Grizzly Peak C (13,700) by Brian Schultz July 19-20, 2010
Roundtrip mileage: ~33 miles from Vallecito trailhead
Elevation gain: 6,700'
Participants: Tim Briese, Brian Schultz
Monday July 19, 2010
The hot, sunny weather continued as Tim and I meet in Bayfield and drove to the Vallecito trailhead. It was reassuring to know that we'd be dry today but stormy weather was in the forecast for tomorrow. We hit the trail at 1:40 PM and set a steady pace for the eight mile backpack to the Johnson Creek trail, our intended destination for setting up camp for the night. It was nice to see the creek running low because we heard that the third creek crossing no longer had a bridge to cross and would require fording the creek. The washed-out bridge is not scheduled to be replaced, at least in the foreseeable future, and we relished the idea of cooling off while wading the creek.
A cloud cover helped keep the temperature cooler but only slightly so. We saw several people along the excellent trail, including a couple relaxing at their campsite, a fellow on horseback, and another backpacker with a dog heading to Chicago Basin. The fording of the creek was easy and when we reached the Johnson Creek trail junction, we crossed the Vallecito (on a bridge) while the main trail continued straight ahead. We passed by a group of young people cooling off in the creek and continued on the trail to Johnson Creek. We easily hopped over rocks to get across the creek and continued a short distance until the trail turned left up the drainage. After stopping briefly to chat with a woman backpacking with her dog, we decided it was still early enough to keep going and find a campsite higher in the drainage but she warned us that the trail often meanders away from Johnson Creek. That was good information because we wanted to make sure we found a camp site that wasn't too far from water.
We found a site near Johnson Creek at 9,700' and set up camp at 7:30 PM, gaining an extra mile on the day and putting us that much closer to Grizzly Peak for the morning. We covered nine miles and 1,800' of gain in just under six hours.
Tuesday July 20, 2010
I hadn't sleep very well, at most an hour, when the alarm rang at 3:15 AM. After a bite to eat we readied our packs and headed out by headlamp at 3:45, the excellent trail presenting no issues hiking in the dark. The route to Grizzly from our campsite would be about seven miles one way and we wanted to get most of that out of the way, if possible, before first light. We saw a tent near Columbine Lake while hiking up to Columbine Pass, and as morning dawned the worrisome weather forecast wasn't looking too bad. The heavy cloud cover at first light was quickly clearing and it looked like we'd be able to take some breaks without having to rush after all.
The trail split as we approached Columbine Pass. One headed up to Columbine Pass while the other contoured the basin to the pass north of Hope Mountain. We took the trail to the Hope Mountain pass and stopped at 7:30 for a fifteen minute break. From the pass we could see Grizzly Peak and the prominent ramp through the cliff bands described by Garratt & Martin. To get there would first require a descent of 250 feet to Hazel Lake.
The descent was steep but easy. We made our way around Hazel Lake's west side and up to the ramp, marveling at the difficulty or impossibility of getting above the vertical walls without the ramp. The ramp was mostly class 2+ with a few class 3 moves, and at the top we scrambled to a prominent notch separating us from the summit. We contemplated how to proceed as the right side had sheer drop-offs, straight ahead was seemingly vertical, and dropping to the left looked sketchy. Tim found a manageable class 4 route straight ahead leading to the bottom of the notch and from there we ascended slightly to the right before cutting back over to the left.
The class 3 route (with a few easy class 4 moves) to the summit was nicely cairned and saved us the guesswork of route-finding over many large blocky rocks. We arrived on top at 10:00 to stable weather. The register showed only four other entries for 2010 and we knew three of them: Terri Horvath, Kirk Mallory, and Teresa Gergen. The other signer was a fellow from California.
On our descent at 10:20, I scrambled to the other summit (with the balancing rock) just to make sure it wasn't higher. It only took a couple minutes to get there and it's clearly lower than the west summit with the register. It had a fun bouldering move to get on top.
The remainder of the descent went well but I was tiring by the time we got back to Hazel Lake. We took a long break before heading up to the Hope Mountain pass and by the time we contoured over to Columbine Pass, true to the forecast, the weather began deteriorating. Tim wanted to check out the view from Columbine Pass into Chicago Basin so he went up to the pass while I headed down to Columbine Lake. Thunder was rumbling and flashes of lightning soon followed. Tim quickly caught up to me and we hiked back to our campsite, pulling in at 3:50. Thunderstorms were definitely coming. We took a break to filter water before breaking down camp and yes, after a nearly fourteen mile roundtrip climb of Grizzly Peak, we were going to backpack out. We departed at 4:35.
Several waves of rain showers hit us on the descent and by the time we reached the Johnson Creek crossing, the skies broke open. It was pouring rain as thunder boomed and lightning flashed all around, and the now raging waters of the creek required a ford instead of hopping the rocks. The storm continued as we crossed Vallecito Creek and slowly followed overhead for the next several miles. I didn't mind the storm since we were already soaked but I really hoped we wouldn't have to hike out in the dark. As we plodded along it looked like that's exactly what was going to happen and in the waning minutes of daylight we stopped to put on headlamps. The last mile or so of the trail was grueling as it ascended from the creek, an elevation regain of several hundred feet which I'd totally forgotten about when we began yesterday, and my whining surely made Tim wish he'd brought earplugs with.
We pulled in to the trailhead at 9:40, totally worn out, and made the easy decision to get a room in Durango. Tomorrow would become a needed rest day and our itinerary would have to change anyway because of the monsoon storm pattern moving in.
This was a long route to get just one peak but other peaks can be climbed if desired. It's an excellent route for backpacking and also saves the cost of riding the train to Needleton, which is escalating as the years go by.
Campsite to summit- 6 hours 15 minutes
Summit to campsite- 5 hours 30 minutes
Campsite back to Vallecito trailhead- 5 hours 5 minutes
Start to finish- 17 hours 55 minutes