Baldy Chato (13,401) & Stewart Peak (13,983 feet) by Brian Schultz Monday July 12, 2004
I drove to the Cebolla trailhead last night in the dark. Tim strongly suggested carcamping to save driving time from Gunnison and it was good advice. But it was eerie driving alone in the remote countryside and I almost turned around thinking I was on the wrong road before the trailhead sign finally sprang into view. There's no parking lot, just a pullout on the side of the road. I prepared my pack and turned in, but sleep did not come easy despite two days of previous climbing.
I began at 6:05 on an excellent trail that continued all the way to timberline. The morning was sunny and clear but I set a GPS waypoint after clearing the trees in case the weather fogged in later. The willows were easy to navigate- high poles conveniently mark the route and a faint trail exists between them. When I left the trail to ascend the slopes of Baldy Chato, a herd of 50 elk was on the move and making lots of noise. The closer I got to them though, the further they moved away.
At 7:35 I reached the shoulder of Baldy Chato and 15 minutes later stood on its summit. I sat for a breakfast break and pondered the chances of also climbing fourteener San Luis today. I left Baldy Chato at 8:05 and traversed to the saddle of Stewart in just under an hour, passed over a false summit and arrived on the summit at 9:23. The skies were still sunny but clouds were building quickly and even though the route to San Luis looked straightforward, I decided not to go. That turned out to be prudent because I left the summit at 9:45 and in less than thirty minutes the clouds turned dark and began sleeting. I had just enough time to photograph some wildflowers (photo 1, photo 2) before the weather let loose.
I hurried to Baldy Chato's shoulder and stopped on the other side after the sleet quit. I couldn't see the poles in the willows below and pulled out the GPS to check the waypoint- it was considerably east of me, which explained why nothing below looked familiar. The lull in the weather afforded a break so I sat down for lunch and watched more elk roaming the slopes below. On the remaining descent, I approached a small group of them and they bolted too, but otherwise I was soon on the trail and had a speedy return to the trailhead.
This turned out to be a short and easy day and I was back at the car at 12:15. After unloading my pack I drove the rough shortcut road to Lake City, manageable with a two wheel drive car but agonizingly slow, and spent a relaxing day in town. I had lots of time to prepare for Half Peak in the morning.
Trailhead to summit- 3 hours 18 minutes
Summit back to trailhead- 2 hours 15 minutes
Start to finish- 6 hours 10 minutes