Homestake Peak (13,209) & UN 10904 by Brian Schultz Friday July 25, 2014

Homestake Peak:

Roundtrip mileage: 7.5 miles from my parking spot (~10,925') on the 10th Mountain Hut road
Elevation gain: 2,450'
Start to finish: 4 hours 50 minutes

The directions to Homestake Peak are straightforward. Drive 6.9 miles north of Leadville on Hwy 24 and turn left on CR 19, where a large sand and gravel pit sign marks the turn. Continue another 0.9 miles and turn right, signed for Slide Lake, and go one mile to an open gate just past a cabin. The 4x4 road beyond the gate goes 2.5 miles to the 10th Mountain Memorial Hut.

I stopped before the gate last night and camped at a large turn-out. I didn't drive all the way to the Hut this morning because there were a couple rough spots in the road 1.2 miles past the gate that I didn't want to drive on. I parked off the road just before that area but the road is quite good after it all the way to the Hut. A side road (left) leads down to the Hut from the main road, the right side of this junction is marked with a blue sign for parking. I wasn't paying attention to the sign and continued a quarter mile further to where the road ended at a picnic area. I turned around.

I began at 6:35 AM from the Hut (photo 1, photo 2) and set a bearing for the lower grassy slopes of Homestake, easily visible from the Hut. I hiked across the meadow and through the woods, and through another meadow and more woods before finding a trail that handily skirted some big rock walls. At 8:05, I reached Homestake's grassy ridge (11,900') and started up after a short break.

The upper half of the ridge is a mix of talus and grass, and then primarily talus near the summit. I arrived on top at 9:05 and took shelter in a deep windbreak to get relief from strong gusting winds. I stayed for twenty five minutes.

I headed down at 9:30. It only took forty five minutes to get back to the lower ridge and twenty more to get back to the Hut. I peeked inside and was impressed with the accommodations before continuing on. I reached my truck at 11:25.

UN 10904:

Roundtrip mileage: 1.4 miles
Elevation gain: ~300'
Start to finish: 50 minutes

The weather was threatening but still holding when I drove back to my camp area and parked. At 12:15, I crossed over both the Mountain Hut road and Wurt's Ditch road and followed a faint trail in the meadow. When the trail disappeared, I left the meadow and turned to the right toward 10904. I happened upon a better trail and stayed on it until my GPS showed 10904 was straight up to the right. The hike up through the trees was easy and I reached the summit around 12:35. Skies were quickly turning dark so I made a beeline back to the trail below. I stayed on this trail to see how far it went and interestingly, it led back to the road near my parking area. I got back at 1:05, moments before it started raining.

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