i’m the man from the mountain, won’t you come on up. i made haste after work to ready and climb wetterhorn peak near lake city. the plan was to pack, leave that night, arrive at the trailhead around midnight, then immediately begin hiking. after some well-timed arbys in silverthron, i pushed on into the night and made leadville before breaking off on a sidetrack for the night. i’m so glad i did because i was questioning whether i’d make it to lake city that night. i was called back to summit county to watch ray johnny cash with my new hiking bud. it was a glorious start to something amazing.
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| tommyknocker town |
the next morning i eventually hit lake city and drove west toward engineer pass. it’s a beautiful drive along a shelf built into the canyon, dotted with tons of mining activity from years past. there’s a junction and then the road becomes rough. my girl made it but it was definitely testing her limits. it’s maybe a mile of rough road.
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| where's the damn water? |
i got a late start but it was blue skies all day. the climb begins up the forest but it’s short lived. soon you are above tree line and wetterhorn comes into view for the rest of the hike. i crossed the basin going up and down hills and what looked to be mine tailings, but maybe not. up and down over a good trail. some folks must have done recent back-breaking labor on this trail.
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| pretty high tech TH data |
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| few times in life do i remember being this happy. i had it all. |
eventually you gain, gain, gain a saddle and it’s just a hop, skip, and jump to the summit. not really. the views are really starting to open up into the san juans. the king of this country, uncompahgre, stands tall to the east. two contrasting colored broad hills of scree start the ridgeline hike to the summit. more mining this high up?? the trail picks up winding through talus and alpine plants. the trail peters out and the trekking poles are stowed; time to scramble.
for the most part you can pick your route up. there are some obvious obstacles to contend with, like the long rib where you can take any number of gullies that run up along either side of the rib, some more difficult than others to access and climb. pick what looks fun and comfortable. there’s also the kissing rocks above the gully. one option i fancied was to head left through the notch, climbing over the rib and down. from there i’d traverse my way back up to the ridge. or the more fun way was to climb beneath the smootching rocks and chimney up a tight hole about 8 feet up. this was the route i chose.
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| smootchy smootch |
walking the ridgeline unveils some incredible views. i came upon the “prow” and it was a sight to see. as large as a house it was. the summit was straight ahead up another hundred feet or so of kick ass scrambling. through the notch on the right (not left), and slightly around the summit block, i guess i should have made a right turn up the worn path, which probably could be kept to tough class 2, maybe light 3, but i kept going wanting to get this sick kodak moment shot along a narrow shelf. bagged the shot and from there i made my way up and encountered an awesome scramble to the top. i played leap frog to the top of wetterhorn peak as fast as i could.
i was jubilant and ecstatic. i was superman and leaped to the top of the mountain to find 3 texans chillin’ up top. they had rode in from wherever texas tech is. lubboch? doesn’t matter…it’s texas. one dude was sleeping or something. later on i’d pass them on the trail and the sleeping dude looked like a ghost. the altitude was surely getting to this lowland texan. best cure for that is to go back to texas. anyway, they left the summit and i had it all to myself until i left a half hour later. i took pics and rocked out. and i felt good. like i really accomplished something awesome, something worth celebrating, so i did. it is a beautiful summit with great views of some fine mountains. i signed a nice looking summit register. thanks cmc. got my which wich photo and was off the mountain. mind you, i had places to be.
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| which wich summit shot with unc. in the background |
getting down was just about as fun as going up. from back on the saddle the mountain becomes so much more lively, but nothing where you are fearing for your life. it’s a fun and giant rock obstacle course, without the pitfalls of doom like some other mountains i’ve been around lately. this was just fun. and short too. it took no time at all to climb. five hours total maybe. i made good time back to my car, passing the cowpokes from texas, and made my way down the 4wd rode, onto the main jeep road, then proceeded to get stuck in a jeep traffic jam. to be fair it was so the ambulance could take away the dude that rolled his jeep 100’ into the creek canyon. shouldn’t have taken that turn so quick dude. lesson leared.
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| wetterhorn peak - 14,016' |
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| jeep took a wrong turn |
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| purdy |
it was off to gunnison to visit bre, who i haven’t seen in an eternity. she is a super genius scientist saving the world and taking names. it would be great to go see her and meet her dude but they are so freaking far out there. i think you can get to any state bordering colorado quicker than it would take me to get to that town. someday i’ll head out. it’s goota be soon before she tromps off to cali so she can apply her mad chem skillz to the art and science of brewing. that would be a pretty impressive title on a biz card: brewmaster. how fun. we caught up while she endured my nasty hiker stench. it was good seeing her but i was soon back on the road to see a different mountain girl.
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| she's out there, but not for long |
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