Gravel Mountain (13,577) & UN 13688 B by Brian Schultz Saturday August 1, 2009
Roundtrip mileage: 2.4 miles from Hurricane Basin
Elevation gain: 1,600'
Participants: Tim Briese, Brian Schultz
After turning back on this peak in 2007, Tim and I decided to use a different approach. Our approach this year would be from Hurricane Basin to the north, as suggested by Jim Mallory when we met him right after bailing out on the peak in '07. It sounded straightforward and we checked topo maps, which show Hurricane Basin can be reached from Lake City by driving the Henson Creek road (past Capitol City toward Engineer Pass) and turning left up Schafer Gulch.
We drove to Lake City yesterday after backpacking out from Mt Oso and spent a few hours in town before heading up Henson Creek. A parallel road below the road we were driving on toward Engineer Pass presented some potential confusion, with several junctions near the turn-off for Schafer Gulch, but my GPS confirmed the correct turn and we followed the good but steep 4x4 road 2.1 miles to the mine buildings in Hurricane Basin at 12,370 feet. The road is very narrow and fortunately we didn't meet any oncoming vehicles, as there are few turn-outs. We parked off the road near some buildings and set up for the night in Tim's truck.
Our route to UN 13688 would start from the mine buildings and go up unranked Gravel Mountain first. We began at 6:15 AM by staying on grassy areas while working toward the left ridgeline but couldn't avoid the namesake mountain's loose rock once we got higher. The bulk of the elevation gain for the day came on Gravel Mt, and it was steep despite the short mileage. We followed faint trails and reached the summit at 7:20 under gloriously perfect skies, unlike the past few days in the San Juans, and took a short break before heading over to UN 13688.
Surprisingly, a defined trail exists much of the way on the connecting ridge from Gravel Mountain and it was easy- it only took twenty three minutes to top out on the summit of UN 13688. Arrival time was 8:00 and we settled in for nearly an hour, enjoying the weather and the terrific views, in particular the stunning panorama of Coxcomb, Wetterhorn, Matterhorn, and Uncompahgre. We spotted two climbers across Hurricane Basin on the unnamed peak and kicked back, totally enjoying the early morning sunshine and clear skies.
We departed at 8:55 and contoured below Gravel Mtn instead of reclimbing it. Boot-skiing the loose scree and gravel made for a fast descent and we arrived at the truck at 9:50. The drive down the narrow road went without difficulty and without meeting any oncoming vehicles, but there were lots of motorists driving the Henson Creek road back to Lake City. Tim and I parted ways after having lunch in town, both of us heading for home and feeling good about our easy climb today.
One could still use Garratt & Martin's directions to climb this peak without dealing with the horrible gullies on the Wood/UN 13688 connecting ridge. Just descend into Hurricane Basin from the Wood Mountain saddle to the mine buildings and then hike up Gravel Mountain as we did. It would add more mileage but would pick up the bicentennial peaks without the danger of the gullies.
Trailhead to UN13688 summit- 1 hour 45 minutes
UN13688 back to trailhead- 55 minutes
Start to finish- 3 hours 35 minutes