Organ Mountain (13,801') by Brian Schultz Thursday September 30, 2010
Roundtrip mileage: 10.9 miles from Stewart Creek trailhead
Elevation gain: 3,321'
Making the long drive in from Gunnison and starting late wouldn't be an issue because the forecast called for no chance of storms, just more of same great weather I've had all week. No other vehicles were at the remote trailhead when I arrived but the register showed lots of climbers had signed in over the month of September to climb fourteener San Luis.
I began at 9:05 AM under clear sunny skies and set a good pace on the Stewart Creek trail. This would be my third trip over the years and I knew the excellent trail would travel fast. I reached the 12,000' elevation mark at 10:50 and took a short break before exiting the trail into Organ Mountain's drainage. But instead of following the Roaches' directions to stay in drainage before heading up the slopes, I cut over to Organ's northwest ridge and followed it to the summit, a straightforward route and reasonably fast despite strong winds gusting from 12,300' nearly all the way to the summit. The winds subsided by the time I arrived on top at 12:20 and allowed for a 25 minute stay in calm weather.
I departed at 12:45 and descended the Roaches' route to the main trail. The grassy slopes into the drainage were an easy and fast descent and I was back on the main trail at 1:40. I hiked nonstop back to the parking lot and arrived at 3:15 but for the first time in the past five days, the wonderfully clear skies were now developing heavy cloud formations. Perhaps a sign of a changing weather pattern but I really hoped it would hold for one more day as I drove to Poncha Springs.
Trailhead to summit- 3 hours 15 minutes
Summit to trailhead- 2 hours 30 minutes
Start to finish- 6 hours 10 minutes