Niagara Peak (13,807) and Jones Mountain (13,860) from Burns Gulch by Brian Schultz Sunday July 14, 2002
When the Durango-Silverton train shut down in June because of the fires, Tim and I made new plans and set up a backpack from Molas trailhead to climb Arrow, Vestal and the three Trinities, all thirteeners. The train resumed service right before I left Minnesota and by the time I climbed Torreys a few days later, Tim's phone call brought good news. Backpackers could now be dropped off at Needleton so we changed back to our original plans to climb Pigeon and Turret Peaks, also thirteeners. I met him in Ridgway last night and for the first time smelled smoke in the air, drifting in from the expanding Norwood fire. With the train ride scheduled for this afternoon and the morning free, Tim asked if I wanted to climb some peaks near Silverton. That's how the previously unscheduled Niagara and Jones peaks made their way onto my list.
We weren't the only ones up early in the morning- three firefighters in the lobby were leaving to fight the Norwood fire. We drove into Silverton, dropped my car off at the train station and headed up to the Burns Gulch trailhead. The four wheel drive road was rough all the way to a mine at 12,000 feet and we parked just beyond it. While driving up there Tim asked if I was interested in making this an official climb (3000 feet ascent). I told him he could continue driving up to the saddle if the road went that far. Official on the fourteeners, yes, but not on the thirteeners.
Under clear skies, we began our hike at 7:05. The perspective of Niagara from below looked intimidating. We were relieved to see that a good trail went not only to the saddle but continued up the ridge to Niagara. If not for the trail, the routefinding might have been a problem, especially in one particularly rugged area, but instead we were able to follow it right to the summit and got there at 8:40. Very nice views were seen from the top but we could smell traces of smoke depending on which way the wind blew. It was interesting to watch as near and distant peaks were blotted out by the smoky clouds but as much as I enjoyed the summit, I was worried about spending the next three days backpacking and breathing that smoke in. We stayed until 9:03, then departed for the saddle.
The cone-shaped Jones Mountain turned out to be a very easy hike. It began on the opposite side of the saddle from Niagara and another great trail led us to the summit, which we made at 10:00. We contemplated hiking over to American Peak but the long rough ridge might have taken more time than we had and we didn't want to miss our train. Tim commented on how unlikely it would be to see other climbers as we relaxed on top for a half hour. On our way down we descended the steep and loose rock of the west ridge and, wouldn't you know it, saw three climbers making their way up. So much for solitude on the thirteeners! But they traversed below us and disappeared out of sight while we continued down the ridge. We reached the truck at 11:38, dropped the packs and sat down on the grass. The views were still impressive at 12,000 feet, the weather was great and we had plenty of time to catch the train.
In Silverton we picked up our tickets and were told that three trains would be running on Tuesday instead of two. The town was hurting from the shutdown and you could tell they were eager to get back to normal. We ate lunch at Handlebars and had time for ice cream too before boarding. This would be an efficient day, hiking two peaks in the morning and doing a backpack in the afternoon.
Total hiking time- 4 hours 33 minutes including all breaks