Half Peak (13,841 ft)  by Brian Schultz    Tuesday  July 13, 2004

I'd been looking forward to climbing this centennial peak for a long time and wasn't the least bit discouraged when the fellow I met a few days ago said he turned back on the summit ridge. I drove to the Cataract Gulch trailhead from Lake City and began at 5:35 AM under clear skies. The excellent trail crosses the creek on a nice foot bridge, followed by another crossing on logs before beginning a steep ascent through the woods. I was feeling strong and set a quick pace.

I took a short break by an old building near 11,000 feet. Beyond the building, the trail crosses the stream and passes by a scenic waterfall, where I stopped to talk with a young man working for the Forest Service. He was hiking further up the trail to check on an endangered butterfly species and had only been as far as Cataract Lake when I asked if he'd ever climbed Half Peak. The trail crosses the stream twice more after the waterfall, emerges from treeline, and continues on flatter terrain before fading out. I bypassed Cataract Lake by hiking straight ahead and picked up the trail again near a higher lake. Small flags had been placed at intervals to the higher lake and turned out to be markers for the Hard Rock 100 race- I didn't see any of the runners but found out later that over 80 of the 125 entrants finished the race.

Three people hiking the Colorado Trail were camped near the higher lake along with their llamas and I stopped to say hello as they were packing up. At the other end of the scenic lake I took a break at 8:25 and sat for a half hour under near perfect skies. Gerry and Jennifer Roach suggest leaving the trail at the lake and doing a contour, but you can continue on the trail a short distance past the lake and descend slightly to a trail junction, and then take the right fork to reach the same spot in the drainage that you would've reached by staying high on the contour. I didn't take this handy trail on the ascent but did so on the return and it worked great. It's much easier than the Roaches' high route.

I made a slight blunder after entering the drainage. After gaining some elevation I looked behind and saw a trail leading to the left (west) and convinced myself that I should've been on it. I cut across and followed it around before realizing it was the Cuba Gulch trail. I didn't turn back though, I just hiked up and over the slope to reach the top of the drainage. It worked out fine and added only minimal mileage and gain.

The slopes above the drainage weren't hard and at 10:40 I reached the summit ridge. The exposure was significant on the last third of the ridge but not intimidating to me- I was more worried about the gusting winds blowing me over. A good path led through the maze-like ridge and an easy gravel slope led to the broad summit. The skies were sunny when I arrived at 11:05 and other than the strong winds it was a glorious morning. Several points dot the summit and I walked to all of them looking for a register but didn't find one. The large summit reminded me of fourteener Uncompahgre Peak with steep drop-offs on the north side and peering over the edge made me surprisingly nervous.

I left the summit at 11:40 and descended the easier route to the high lake. A man and woman near the lake were collecting the trail flags for the Hard Rock race- they were the ones who informed me how many runners finished.

Below Cataract Lake, many day hikers were coming up the trail including a mother and son with fishing poles. Everyone was going to the lake and everyone asked the same question. How far was it? But then two guys and a girl in their late teens stopped me and asked how much further the bridge was. A bridge? I told them I didn't see any bridge or know of any and wished them luck as they continued on. Way down the trail and well below all the stream crossings, an elderly group of four asked how far Cataract Lake was and I felt bad for them because they thought this hike was just a stroll through the woods. They were far from the lake and none of them had packs or even a jacket. I passed several backpackers too and finally pulled into the parking area at 3:35.

This was my kind of day in the mountains- great weather, great scenery and no hurry. On the other hand, it's a long hike at 12.6 miles so an early start is wise.

Trailhead to summit- 5 hours 30 minutes

Summit back to trailhead- 3 hours 55 minutes

Start to finish- 10 hours

-Back-