Point 13,811 & Point 13,832 by Brian Schultz Saturday July 20, 2002 Silver Creek trailhead
These unnamed thirteeners were last minute fill-ins as I changed my list and postponed Gladstone Peak until next year. With so many peaks to choose from I picked these simply for their convenience to Lake City, where I'd be meeting Jason to hike Uncompahgre. After the Mt Wilson climb, I drove to Lake City, stopped to eat at the Blue Iguana and hurried on to the Silver Creek trailhead to beat the dark. I barely made it. Only a few vehicles were parked when I arrived and after getting my pack ready for the morning I turned in.
I started under clear skies at 5:31 and pushed a reasonably fast pace. My legs were holding up well after climbing Mt Wilson yesterday and surprisingly, I made the saddle at 7:28. I stopped and talked for fifteen minutes with a guy from Grand Junction named Glen. He was the only other person I saw on the trail and when we parted ways, he turned to climb Redcloud while I went the other way and followed a good trail to the large rocky peak (Point 13,561) straight ahead. I hadn't paid much attention to the route description and foolishly stayed on the trail all the way to the left side of Point 13,561 before it faded out. I had to contour under the Point to regain the route on the right side. The most efficient route, as I found out on the descent later, is to take the trail from the Redcloud saddle as it leads through a white rock area followed by reddish dirt, but instead of following the worn trail bearing left though the red dirt, leave it and turn up to a small rocky outcropping on the right. Cairns mark the route from there as it traverses the right side (south) of Point 13,561.
The talus-hopping route led up to a small saddle (on the right side of the Point), then did some steep up and downs before leveling out below the ridge under Point 13,832. I bypassed it because I wasn't sure it was the correct summit-it looked high enough but the trail just continued going around it and no cairns indicated a route up. I figured if that really was it, I'd just climb it on the return. As the trail meandered on and on, staying below all the higher bumps on the ridge, I followed it for what seemed an eternity until it ended on a summit. The trail had run its course and for sure that was Point 13,832 I passed back there but I desperately hoped the peak I was now standing on was Point 13,811. The summit register verified it was. The time was 9:46 but threatening clouds kept my break short. I left the summit at 10:03 and climbed up all the high points on the way back to Point 13,832 while enjoying the exceptional views of Wetterhorn and Uncompahgre. Also interesting were the dramatic drop-offs below the cliffs.
It started drizzling as I neared Point 13,832. Because no visible cairns marked a route to the top, I charted my own way up the steep slopes and summited at 10:56. I looked over to see several hikers on Redcloud and wondered if they saw me as I opened the register and signed in. The first entry in the register was dated July 4,1996. With the clouds getting darker and sprinkles of rain intensifying, I had a quick bite to eat and left at 11:09. At the Redcloud saddle I came across a group of people taking pictures and continued down without stopping to talk. As soon as I got below the saddle it hailed for a minute, then poured rain until I cleared the basin. It tapered off and I made it back to the parking area at 1:05 just before it started raining again.
Doing the farthest thirteener first turned out okay because it made the return from the near one shorter. Regardless, the round trip for both thirteeners was a long haul at nearly 13 miles.
Total hiking time- 7 hours 34 minutes including breaks