Tiff & Jared's adventures

Peak Adventuring in the San Juans

Thursday

This was our first time back to Lake City since we did our southwest Colorado roadtrip in 2020. We had big plans for the 4th, and we’d been looking forward to this weekend for months! I was especially excited to finally UTV the Alpine Loop, which had been on my bucket list for years. 

Lake City is about a five-hour drive from Denver, and we capitalized on the three day weekend by leaving midday on Thursday. The holiday traffic was thick by the time we left around 1PM, and we crawled and inched our way on 285 before breaking free after Kenosha Pass. By the time we stopped in Fairplay for a bathroom break, our ETA to Lake City was after dinnertime, so we opted to stop in Gunnison for food. Instead of stopping at the usual spot (High Alpine), we opted to try Blackstock Bistro instead. After a tasty meal, we stopped at Spenny’s for some Third Bowl ice cream – Jared literally couldn’t say we didn’t have time to stop because we parked right next to it. Tummies full of pre-14er protein and sugar, we drove through the evening sunset glow until we got to the Bushwhack Motel in Lake City, just in time for fireworks! Our lodgings were in the middle of downtown, and we walked the short block away to the town square and plopped down our folding chairs just in time for the light show. Now, Lake City’s population as of the 2020 census was 452 so this isn’t a huge town. I think the fireworks show lasted about ten minutes, which was plenty of time to go back to our room and try to fall asleep before our 5:30AM wake up call! 

Friday 

Rise and shine! We have a fourteener to climb! I haven’t hiked one since September 2019 and felt a bit apprehensive, but was really excited that we were hiking one in the San Juans. The mountains in this part of the state are just spectacular with their alpine tundra, residual snow caps in the summer, and abundant wildlife and wildflowers. The trailhead was 45 minutes from town, along part of the Alpine Loop that we’d be traversing again the following day. 

The last few miles of the drive were on a pretty gnarly gravel road, and included a part of the road called “The shelf” and will leave that up to your interpretation. Finally, we made it to the trailhead around 7:30AM, where a bunch of tent campers were starting to stir. I didn’t realize there was so much dispersed camping along the Alpine Loop – definitely something we’ll keep in mind for the future! Another fun fact – we chose to summit Redcloud Peak, but the trail for Handies (another 14er) was just on the other side of the road. Facts about Redcloud:

• 14,041 feet height
• Class 2
• 3,700 feet elevation gain

The first two miles of the trail weaved through alpine tree coverage and we were aware of how quiet it was without anyone else hiking near us. The hike’s elevation gain started quite abruptly, way before my body was ready to begin climbing, but a good way to get the heart rate up. Shortly, we were in a rhythm, breathing in through the nose, breathing out through the mouth, and inhaling the scent of citrusy pine and self-grit. We were gaining elevation in no time, and shortly found ourselves about three miles into the hike and in a basin filled with wildflowers as far as the eyes could see. There were Columbine, Indian Paintbrush, Bluebells, wild Geranium and more. We also saw a handful of hikers already descending from what we presumed to be their sunrise hike – very impressive. After taking way too many pictures of flowers, we began to mentally prepare for the steepest and most enduring last two miles of the ascent. 

My half-assed Peloton cycling did not prepare me for what came next! It was a grueling, slow, beautiful and quiet ascent. We took a breather at the first saddle, then scrambled, quite literally, up the hill to the false summit. Another five minutes, and we were at the top of Redcloud Peak!

After refueling with snacks and taking a #scenicsammie picture, we had a choice to make. We could hike to another 14er – Sunshine – but it would add 1,000 more feet of elevation (500 feet down and up a saddle, then back over to Redcloud). We were on the fence but figured why not – how cool would it be to say we hiked two 14ers in one day?!

A short way down the saddle, I was already beginning to regret it. However, the views were truly spectacular. It took us about an hour to ascend to the second summit. Honestly, the views were probably better at the first, but we were pretty happy with our accomplishment!

We were also so surprised with the lack of hikers on the trail. Yes, it was 4th of July, but it was a perfect day. We saw maybe 30-40 people during the entirety of the trail, and not one soul on the entire descent down. By the time we made it back to Redcloud, our legs were pretty tired and it was a grueling experience to clamber back down the scree. There might have been a few tears shed on my end from all the slips and near falls and falls but we made it!

To celebrate getting back to moderately flat land, we cracked open an Untitled Art beer and had the whole trail to ourselves as we walked down. Did we stop to smell the flowers some more? Yes, of course, but we also had a slight race against the clock. Neither of us thought we’d be out literally all day, but we finally got back to the trailhead around 5PM. That gave us just enough time to make it back to town for dinner and have a quick shower before the Ghost Tour walk we booked for 7:30PM – truly an all-day adventure! The tour was a little hokey so we ended up ditching early and going to San Juan Soda Company for a well-deserved ice cream sundae.

Saturday

The day has finally arrived. Driving the Alpine Loop has been on my bucket list for years and we’re finally getting the chance to do it! We pulled up our reservation with High Altitude Adventures and arrived promptly at 8AM to pick up our Polaris side-by-side UTV.

Now – what is the Alpine Loop? It’s a rugged, truly off-the-beaten-path 4×4 road that winds its way through the magnificent San Juans. This scenic byway traverses over two mountain passes (Cinnamon and Engineer Pass) that climb to well over 12,000 feet. Much of the roadway consists of old mining roads connecting the towns of Lake City, Silverton, and Ouray, and one can still see the haunting remnants of old mines and ghost towns sprinkled throughout the valleys. The drive itself isn’t for the faint of heart – it’s remote, rugged, and has its fair share of steep drop-offs. However, the risk is truly worth the reward.

Some of the highlights of the route included:

• American Basin: a high-alpine basin surrounded my mountains and peppered with a plethora of vibrant wildflowers. Our legs were too sore from the day before, but there’s a trailhead to do another 14er summit
• Cinnamon Pass: the first of two passes when driving the route clockwise. This pass was initially used to reach the town of Silverton during the gold rush, and later was established to link the towns of Lake City to the Animas Valley
• Animas Fork: this is a super well-preserved ghost town and has strangely been on my bucket list for years! I think the mining history of the state is super interesting and crazy that people found a way to live in these harsh mountain conditions year-round at over 11,000 feet. At its peak, the town grew to over 30 residences and businesses, and even had electricity, telephone and telegraph
• Engineer Pass: This was a ball-busting, white-knuckling drive up to 12,800 feet. At one point, we had to back up twice to let other vehicles pass, which was a little nerve-wracking as the roads were so narrow and rough. The panoramic views were incredible though!
• Whitmore Falls: There was a sign off the road for a viewpoint of the waterfall, but not many people braved the 1/10 mile steep hike down to the banks of the river. We had the place to ourselves for a bit and dunked in to cool off before sitting on the shore for a bit! Very refreshing to the end of a wonderful, sticky, dirty, happy day.

We finished our drive around 6PM, dropped off the UTV in Lake City, and headed out to Salida for the night. What a wonderful weekend down in the San Juans!