"Puma Peak" (11,539) & "Little Puma" (11,476) by Brian Schultz Wednesday August 27, 2025

Roundtrip mileage: 8.9 miles
Elevation gain: 2,400'
Start to finish: 6 hours 5 minutes

With the weather forecast calling for an 80% chance of showers/storms after 12:00 noon, I felt I could get these peaks in before any storms rolled in. I drove from Fairplay to Jefferson, south on CR 77, right on CR 23 (past the Tarryall Reservoir), and then left (south) on FR 144 (Packer Gulch). FR 144 had at least a hundred puddles of water, some deep from the recent storms, so the driving was slow. I parked at a turn-out as the road turned west but a 4x4 vehicle with high clearance could easily drive all the way up.

I began at 7:50 AM by walking the road. There are long switchbacks on the road but otherwise it's easy hiking. I finally departed the road when I was due north of the summit and made the easy bushwhack to the top. Arrival time was 9:50. I enjoyed a stay of 30 minutes on the summit (photo 1, photo 2) before descending northeast to the Puma/Little Puma saddle. It's a moderately steep grunt to Little Puma, which I reached at 11:40.

Despite the sunny skies overhead, thunder rumbled while on Little Puma's summit (photo 1, photo 2) so I only stayed fifteen minutes before heading down. If not for the thunder rumbling, I would've hiked over to Farnum Peak but I was satisfied with getting these two summits. Once back on the road, I prepared for the long hike to my truck. Two groups on ATVs came roaring by when I was halfway down but and it also rained briefly before reaching my truck at 1:55.