Prairie Mountain (10,686), UN 10881, UN 11204, & Williams Peak (11,617) by Brian Schultz Friday July 16, 2021

Prairie Mountain:
Roundtrip mileage: 2.35 miles from Ute Pass
Elevation gain: 1,150'
Start to finish: 2 hours 10 minutes

I turned onto the well marked Ute Pass road from Highway 9 north of Silverthorne. It's an excellent road that any two wheel drive vehicle can handle and there's spacious parking at Ute Pass. The trail is just to the right of the information sign and behind the berm on the west side of the pass. It's a great trail (photo 1, photo 2) and I found myself stopping often to photograph the flowers and admire the outstanding views of the mountains to the west.

When the trail reached an open area I headed up the steep grassy slopes to the summit. There was much haze in the air from fires burning on the west coast and it would remain that way for the next week I was in Colorado. I was worried about breathing in smoke but fortunately, it never became an issue. After getting back to the trailhead, I drove back to Highway 9 and headed north.

UN 10881:
Elevation gain: 0'
Start to finish: 3 minutes

I exited Highway 9 on the well marked Williams Peak road. There is a gate that has to be opened on the road but this area is public land and there aren't private property issues to contend with. The road is in awful shape and has deep ruts (trenches) in the lower areas. I was concerned about slipping into a rut and getting stuck but was able to avoid them as I headed past Haystack Mountain and toward the turnoff to UN 10881. This side road was in great shape and was open all the way to the communication towers on the summit. Very nice and easy! I headed back down the road and on to UN 11204.

UN 11204:
Roundtrip mileage: 0.53 miles
Elevation gain: 309'
Start to finish: 35 minutes

I parked off the road south of the peak and used Alyson Kirk's track. I began at 1:25 PM. It's a short but steep grunt over lots of deadfall to the summit. There wasn't much for views on top so I descended immediately and was back at my truck at 2:00. I continued along the road a short distance to a junction and parked just west of Williams Peak.

Williams Peak:
Roundtrip mileage: 0.94 miles
Elevation gain: 665'
Start to finish: 1 hour

I started at 2:35 PM and walked the road briefly before bushwhacking up to the summit. The deadfall was much easier to navigate to the top and there were two registers (photo 1, photo 2) and a cairn on the summit (photo 1, photo 2). The high point itself was about 15 feet from the cairn. This was a fun climb but with thunder rumbling and dark clouds forming I headed down and called it a day. I was back at my truck at 3:35 and drove the slow road back to Highway 9.