Whitecross Mountain (13,542) by Brian Schultz Sunday August 21, 2016

Roundtrip mileage: 7.35 miles from Grizzly Gulch trailhead (Cinnamon Pass road)
Elevation gain: 3,150'
Start to finish: 5 hours 45 minutes
Participants: Tim Briese, Brian Schultz

We truckcamped last night at the Cataract Gulch trailhead and drove up the Cinnamon Pass road this morning. The Cinnamon Pass road, also known as the shelf road, was in good shape and two wheel drive vehicles with cautious drivers can handle it without issue. We were surprised though at how few vehicles were parked at the Silver Creek and Grizzly Gulch trailheads, especially with three popular fourteeners nearby and this being a weekend.

Skies were clear and sunny as we headed up the Grizzly Gulch trail at 6:15 AM, our third time on the trail over the years. The prior times were to climb fourteener Handies Peak and thirteener UN 13795. We followed the excellent trail and departed it around 12,700', marked by a cairn, and headed toward the ridge leading up to Whitecross. Once on the ridge, a good trail continues to the summit. As we neared the summit, we scrambled around the right side and encountered one easy class 3 move before stepping on top at 9:20.

This was a fun summit to sit back on and we enjoyed the views for nearly a half hour. But we had a long drive ahead of us to Ridgway and headed down at 9:45, stopping only for a few pictures and talking to several hikers before reaching the trailhead at 12:00.