Santa Fe Peak (13,180), Sullivan Mountain (13,134), Geneva Peak (13,266), Landslide Peak (13,238), & Morgan Peak (12,474) by Brian Schultz Saturday August 3, 2013
Roundtrip mileage: 8 miles from 4x4 road (elev 11,950') above Quail mine
Elevation gain: ~3,300'
Start to finish: 5 hours 30 minutes
The 4x4 road to Quail mine begins from the town of Montezuma. No parking is allowed in town but a car can make it to one of the lower pullouts along the road if driven carefully. The road gets very rough the higher up you go and narrows to the point where an oncoming vehicle would create a difficult situation. I parked my truck at the first switchback above the mine.
The forecast called for 60% chance of thunderstorms but skies were clear and sunny when I started at 7:40 AM. The road eventually forks and I stayed on the left fork, which continues all the way to Santa Fe's northeast ridge. I left the road and headed up the ridge to the summit, an easy stroll, and arrived on top (photo 1, photo 2) at 8:40. Ten minutes later I descended the other side of Santa Fe and headed for unranked Sullivan Mountain.
The hike to Sullivan only took twenty minutes and after five minutes on top I continued on to Geneva Peak. The terrain ahead on Geneva's north ridge looked somewhat intimidating but a handy trail keeps the difficulty at class 2 and Geneva's summit was easily reached at 10:00. I continued on to unranked Landslide Peak, which took all of twelve minutes, before reversing my route.
I met a solo hiker and his dog at the Geneva/Sullivan saddle on the return. Dave Mattingly is a member of 14ers.com and we talked a long time before parting ways. I bypassed Santa Fe and stopped on the road below where the ridge leads to Morgan Peak, debating whether to climb the unranked twelver.
The weather was holding nicely so I scampered up the ridge, continued over a false summit, and arrived on Morgan at 12:45. I saw two slow moving vehicles coming up the road from far below and they passed by as I descended Morgan's lower ridge. I got back to my truck at 1:10 and drove past the narrowest section of the road without meeting another vehicle.
All these peaks were easy but the route stays high, which means keeping a watchful eye on the weather.
