Redcloud and Sunshine Peak

My friends Neil and Meghan who I met through Chad (he and Neil were roommates in college and Neil married Meghan who they also went to college with) have become my 14er hiking companions ever since our Dem-Lin-Cam-Bross expedition at Kite Lake. They were bitten by the 14er bug as I was and have started their quest on hiking as many as possible. I received an email from Meghan a few weeks ago after hiking Yale with them about hiking Redcloud and Sunshine Peak over Labor Day weekend. I didn't have any plans and Chad was on call so I decided to pack up and head to Gunnison this past Friday and meet them there before we went to Lake City where we would be camping two nights. N&M live in Crested Butte so many of the San Juan 14ers are close to them which equals many more hiking trips in the future hopefully!

Lake City is about an hour drive from Gunnison where you drive past beautiful Blue Mesa and clear into the wilderness. The town itself is small and sits at an elevation of 8,671 feet. We camped at the Mill Creek campground ( http://www.publiclands.org/explore/site.php?plicstate=CO&id=5267) right outside of Lake City off Cinnamon Pass which is at an elevation of 9,500 feet. The benefits to camping at a higher elevation are that you acclimate to the altitude and have an easier time climbing and gaining that 3,000feet without getting sick or a headache. The site was very nice with pump water, picnic tables, and restrooms and though there were 22 in all, the sites were spread out so you weren't on top of your neighbors. The fee was $7 a night and they are only open from Memorial Day to Labor Day so it was pretty crowded being it was the last weekend of the season open. Another benefit to the campsite was that Cinnamon Pass is the road you take to the Redcloud Trailhead. After setting up in the dark we hung out for about an hour before going to bed in preparation for our early morning hike.

I had seen earlier in the week on the news that the San Juans had received some snow earlier in the week so I was concerned about the weather. We woke up at about 5:45 am and temps were well in the 30's so I piled on the layers. The drive up Cinnamon Pass was rough with the dirt road being rutted out and it was narrow enough in some spots where only one car at a time could pass. We arrived at the trailhead about 7am to find plenty of other hikers, some who had camped there the night before. Of course this spot is also home to the Handies Peak trail (another 14er) so we weren't exactly sure how many people we would have hiking with us. It's never fun to have a too crowded trail but fortunately once we started hiking we realized there were only a few groups ahead and behind us.

The trailhead for Redcloud starts out at 10,400 feet which meant we would gain 3,700 feet in elevation. It's nine miles roundtrip if you only hike Redcloud but we were going to traverse over to Sunshine as well meaning that our total hike would be 12 miles with an elevation gain of 4,800 feet. Redcloud and Sunshine are traditionally hiked together unless you take the Northwest Face to hike Sunshine but it's a difficult class 2 so most people start at Redcloud.

We hiked through the Aspen's and Evergreen's along the Silver Creek for about an hour or so until we cleared the treeline and then it was easy hiking through the basin. The whole first part of the hike was actually a very nice and gradual climb and I quickly found out I didn't need all three jackets I was wearing. Right before you begin the uphill climb to the saddle there was a great little body of water that made the perfect resting site for us and the dogs to play in. I'm always a big fan of hiking along water because then my dog can drink whenever she needs to instead of me having to guess when to stop and pour some water for her.




After our nice little stop by the water we began the long climb up. We thought we were looking at Redcloud from the basin but upon gaining elevation we could see there was another summit past the one we thought was "it" and since it was red my guess was that we had longer to go than we thought. Before the first false summit you reach a saddle at 13,000 feet where we were give our first look at what was on the other side of the mountain. This is where the wind really started to pick up because we no longer had the side of Redcloud to protect us and there was a crosswind. We continued west through the scree and it was a slow hike for us as the wind was blowing hard and of course the footing was loose. It was a straightforward climb however, and we soon reached the summit at about 11:30pm.

(picture: view of the false summit and summit of Redcloud)

(getting closer)

(Meghan and Neil at the final push to the summit)

(success! we made it to the top! I'm reaching for the clouds on Redcloud)

(Neil, Meghan, Me, Bebe and Marley)

(wait we have to go over THERE now?)
From the top of Redcloud you can see Sunshine which is 1.5 miles to the south. The trail is obvious and stays to the right of the ridge and after passing an unnamed point at 13, 841 feet we reached the Redcloud-Sunshine Saddle. We stopped for a break here for awhile until we could summon the energy to hike the remaining route to the top. The traverse was easy for the most part as you are climbing down not up, it's just long and tiring. To reach the summit from the saddle we had to gain 500 feet in elevation along Sunshine's North Ridge. We passed some ugly terrain along the way but the actual ascent to the top wasn't bad at all. It took us about one hour and 45 minutes to reach the top of Sunshine.

(the hike over to sunshine with redcloud and various other 14ers behind me)

(the long way down haha)

(the traverse from Redcloud)

(we made it! two in one day is quite an accomplishment)


The worst part of the entire hike came next. Unfortunately, we had to descend by going back over Redcloud. Unlike Gray's and Torrey's there is no safe way to descend without taking the same route back. The entire slope is covered with scree and loose rock. Knowing this made the summit of Sunshine bittersweet because all we could do was look back over to Redcloud and think, "we have to do the whole thing in reverse now?" Fortunately we had fantastic weather and the top of Sunshine was even warm with a nice warm breeze. We stayed up there for about 20 minutes before beginning the long journey back to Redcloud. While I'm glad we were able to summit both in one day, I would not recommend hiking over to Sunshine unless you know the weather will hold out for you. Since there's no safe fast way down you must really plan ahead and cross your fingers no storm rolls in.

The hike down seemed longer than we all remembered as we were awake now (as opposed to being the zombies we were at 7am) and this was the first time in all my 12 summit's that my feet had really started to hurt. Usually hiking down is the best part but the loose rock coming off Redcloud made it slow going. Once we reached the pool of water at the basin after descending the saddle we took another long break to relax before beginning the rest of the hike to the car. Knowing we had 12 miles to tackle on this hike we really tried to conserve our energy and hike at a slower pace. Our total hike time ended up being 10 hours, 7 minutes and 41 seconds. We averaged about 16 feet a minute at that rate.

Needless to say we arrived back at camp way past lunch hour. Neil had brought a small charcoal grill so we had hot dogs right away after arriving back at camp. Since Neil had set up their camp shower he was eager to test it out so Meghan and I started on building a fire in the pit at our site in preparation for dinner. I have never started a fire before myself out in the wilderness (usually Chad takes on the task because he loves fire) so after one attempt at getting a Duraflame started failed, Meghan and I added another on top and soon had a fire I knew Chad would have been proud of. My friend Lyndee turned me on to using starter logs on our last camping trip and I swear I will never camp without them again. They work wonders for starting a fire (usually at least!) and are pretty idiot proof. We cooked steak on their charcoal grill and potatoes in the coals of the big fire with corn on the grate. After our long day of hiking it was a pretty fantastic meal.

The plan for Sunday was to wake up and hike Handies Peak but after Saturday we decided against it. N&M's dog Marley had bloody paws from being rubbed raw on the hike and my dog Bebe could barely walk. Of course we were pretty stiff ourselves and even if it is only 6 miles round trip we knew the mountain could wait for another day. Instead, I packed up camp and headed into the town of Lake City where we checked out Lake San Cristobal and ate breakfast at the Lake City Bakery. I really enjoyed the little town and it seemed like the perfect spot to bring our friends back next year for another camping and hiking trip. There were cabins to rent along the lake and the weather was very mild (probably about 65 degrees) for such a high elevation town.

(Lake San Cristobal)
I said goodbye to N&M after breakfast and began the long 5 hour drive home. I was glad to be heading home Sunday because I knew the roads would be packed with Labor Day traffic Monday leaving the mountains and I wanted to get back as soon as possible. I enjoy camping but two nights in the woods is plenty for me!

I feel so fortunate I was able to summit Redcloud and Sunshine with two amazing hiking companions. I wish Chad could have been there to join us but I know we will be able to hike many more peaks together in the future. In fact we are all meeting up again to hike Pike's Peak in two weeks. It's a pack-in trip so I'm excited for the 13 mile push. It could possibly be my last 14er for the season so I will remember to enjoy my time on the trail even as I'm hating life carrying a 40lb pack!

Mt. Sherman and Sugar Loafin'

After our last camping and hiking trip to Kite Lake at the end of July I began planning another trip into the wilderness. I was eager to hike another 14er and had so much fun with all our friends in the great outdoors I knew I wanted a repeat weekend. I began researching campsites that were near 14ers and found the Sugar Loafin' campsite (sugarloafin.com). Unlike our previous camp ground at Kite Lake this one had level campsites, water at each site, heated bathrooms and showers, nice fire pits and a front desk/general store complete with fire wood for sale and an ice cream social every night at 7:30. While it was a bit pricey ($29 a night plus a lot of add on fees like extra person and extra car they don't tell you about until you get there) it was luxury compared to Kite Lake and I knew some of my friends would appreciate that. I sent out an invite and the only people who could go were my friends Malia, Lyndee and her fiance Mark and of course my husband Chad.

Having a small group, especially this group of people turned out to be ideal. Malia had a sprained ankle at Kite Lake and couldn't do much of anything except sit around. Lyndee and Mark arrived too late Friday night to find us and seeing as we were all hiking Saturday morning they ended up fishing and leaving. This was really a make-up camping trip for them since they all missed out in various ways the last time around. They were all going to attempt their first 14er as well with me and I picked out Mt. Sherman for them to attempt. It's an easy class 2 hike and more important was about a 10 minute drive from the campsite.

After meeting up Friday night we all caravaned to Leadville, Co. Since Lyndee and Mark weren't able to find us the previous camping trip and cell phone service can be spotty at best in the mountains they decided to follow us and Malia and Chad were both able to take off work early. We arrived at the campsite at about 7pm after stopping along the way in Climax, Co for some road side stand beef jerky. If you ever see a road side stand for beef jerky in Colorado you should definitely stop, as it's some of the best I've ever tasted.

We checked in at the front office at the Sugar Loafin then were shown to our campsite "O". The Sugar Loafin' is also an RV park but they keep the RV's separated from the regular tent campsites. While the campsites were very nice and had everything as promised by the website, they were a little close together. Luckily no one was directly on either side of us but there were some very loud rude people up the hill which liked to party all night and kept us up. If you like your remote camping sights I do not recommend camping here. However, the trade off is we didn't have to bring tons of fresh water and it was nice to have heated bathrooms close by. We went to the ice cream social both nights which was $1.75 for all you can eat ice cream. They set it up in a back room with chairs in a circle which reminded us of being in school. The one advantage to this is that fellow campers came in so you got to know your neighbors so to speak. Of course, us girls were never ones to turn down ice cream so it was a nice treat especially after hiking.

We made a simple dinner of hot dogs Friday night then went to bed early in preparation for the hike on Saturday. Since we were staying in Leadville we didn't have to get up until about 5:45am where Chad cooked an amazing breakfast of eggs and bacon. When you are hiking a 14er you need your energy and a good breakfast is very important. We used our propane coleman stove to cook on which works better than going through the task of starting a fire. I brought bread and peanut butter to make sandwiches for the hike and after loading up on water and power bars we were on our way.

You can actually see Mt. Sherman from the Sugar Loafin' campground so we knew we didn't have too far to drive. While most people hike the Southwest Ridge from FourMile Creek, we were hiking the West Slopes from Iowa Gulch. Even though the West Slopes trail is shorter by a quarter mile, you gain 50 more feet of elevation from this side and it's quite a bit steeper. The tradeoff is this route is closer to Leadville and less crowded.

(picture: getting ready to hike. With mt. sheridan a 13er in the background)
We set off at about 7:45am and all quickly settled into our own pace. Since this was my 10th 14er I was quite a bit more acclimated to the hike than Lyndee, Mark or Malia. Chad started out in the lead but after about an hour of hiking he ended up in the back coaching Malia along while Lyndee and Mark stayed behind me. We all were pretty close to each other in distance until we reached the saddle. From the saddle you could see down the FourMile Creek trail and the old mining houses that dotted that path.

It was a shame we didn't get to see some of those places up close but after seeing how many people were headed up that path I was glad we took the Iowa Gulch side. I hate hiking behind large groups of people especially as the trail gets steep and you can't pass anyone on either side.

(picture: the beginning of the rocky part)



(girls at the midway point of the hike)

Once Malia got to the saddle it was hard to convince her to keep going but Chad did an excellent job helping her. She was succumbing to the altitude and didn't know how much further she could make it. I ended up way ahead of everyone at this point because I wanted to push myself to the summit and get a good ways ahead of the mass of hikers coming up behind us. The final ridge is pretty steep on either side and juts up like a knife edge so I found that most of the families hiking with little children seemed to be turning around when they got to that point. True to most 14ers, the route looks worse than it actually is and I found there to be plenty of room hiking up the final ridge to the top.

(picture: part of the remaining ridge of the hike)

I reached the summit at about 10am, with Mark and Lyndee 15 minutes behind me and Malia and Chad 15 minutes behind them. The wind was starting to pick up at the top so I was glad I had brought gloves and extra layers. There are several wind shelters made from rocks on the summit so I sat behind one of those and waited for the rest of my friends to arrive. The summit is quite large which is nice because there were lots of people on the top. I know Mt. Sherman is an easier mountain to hike and given the fact it was a Saturday you knew you could expect a lot of people. Once all of us were on the summit together we ate a snack and took pictures then headed back down. Some of our group didn't have gloves so it wasn't ideal conditions to stay up top for long.




The hike back down was a bit harder than it had initially been on the climb up. The route we took had a lot of scree which made for a slippery hike down. Mark and Lyndee did fall on their butts a few times while I had the hiking poles to help level me out. Malia found it a bit difficult as well since her legs were shaky from all the work climbing up. Chad as usual, was way ahead of all of us and ended up probably waiting on us at the bottom as long as I waited for everyone at the top. The best way to handle scree is just to hike slow and hope you have hiking poles to stabilize you so you don't fall on your face!





At about 12:45 we were all in the car and headed back to camp. We made a pit stop at the grocery store for more firewood and hamburgers to cook for lunch. Now that we had the hike behind us we could relax for the rest of the day and agreed naps and adult beverages never sounded so good. We had a gorgeous day to enjoy the campsite and it only rained for a brief moment that night while we were at the ice cream social. Unlike Kite Lake, we were only camping at an elevation of 10,000 feet (instead of 12,000) so we didn't get burdened by afternoon rain showers or heavy cloud cover. We had a great fire going that night and it wasn't even that cold out to be miserable. Camping when it's a little chilly out is definitely better in my opinion than trying to sleep in the heat and humidity.

Although Mt. Massive and Mt. Elbert were near us, I couldn't convince anyone to hike them with me Sunday so we all ended up sleeping in. After a final camp stove cooked breakfast we made our way to the nearby Turquoise lake to check it out before heading back to Denver. The lake was gorgeous and made a nice backdrop to the surrounding Sawatch mtn range.

I couldn't have been more proud of my friends for coming out to hike and camp this weekend. None of them are really campers and adding a hike like Mt. Sherman into the mix was sure to scare them off. But they all committed and finished the hike and enjoyed the camping making it a great weekend for all. I was a little scared they would hate me but now they are all looking forward to their next 14er (even though I heard a few grumblings of, "never again!" while hiking). I have only been in Colorado 5 years and my home state constantly amazes me at how much beauty there is around. I'm just so thankful I could share my weekend with such great friends and hopefully we can summit another mountain together next summer!

A weekend in the dirty dirty

Before my hiking adventure on Monday, Chad and I spent the weekend in my hometown of Birmingham, Al. My friend Kalah was looking for a good home for her yorkie Chloe and my mom, always the yorkier lover, said she would take the dog. Since my mom's birthday was on Tuesday, I decided Chad and I could fly to Birmingham on Friday and bring my mom Chloe. I haven't spent my mom's birthday with her in a few years so I thought it would be an excellent opportunity to spend some time at home.

As always Chad and I flew standby out of Denver. He had to work all day so we planned on taking the 7:20pm flight. I was a little nervous traveling with the dog because I know that most airlines have strict rules on how many pets can be in the cabin of the airplane. Also since we were flying standby I didn't want to miss the flight and have to go back home and try for another weekend, thus keeping Chloe longer than planned. Fortunately everything worked out and we made it there and back at the times planned. Gotta love school being back in session and the summer travel loads lightening up.

Since my mom lives with my dad now, Chad and I have to stay at my dad's when we come in town. This isn't the most ideal situation because my dad is, to put it lightly, a pack rat. I'm an OCD cleaning freak so staying at my dad's gives me anxiety, let alone brining my husband there. My parents divorced a long time ago so I never had to deal with staying with my dad at his house until a year or so ago when, due to changes in my mom's housing situation, she had to come over there. My dad has a garage apartment on his property that needed a new roof and, instead of simply installing one, he began to build a whole other level to the house. The result is what we now call the treehouse. It has been a work in progress for several years now and I don't think my dad ever had any real motivation to finish the place until recently when myself and my siblings were coming in to town and needed a place to stay.

(picture of the treehouse)

(the downstairs which is still a work in progress)

(view from the upstairs window)
Chad and I actually really enjoy staying in the treehouse for several reasons. First it's quite; away from the early morning barking of my mom's Pomeranian Cody. Second it's got a lot of cool stuff in it to look at as well as it's own flat screen tv and hangout area. And third the mini fridge is always stocked with alcohol. Chad never understood before, but I think now he realizes, when dealing with my family it's better to have a few beers in your system. You'll care less about what's going on around you and the craziness of the situation at that point.

Of course arriving late on Friday night and leaving Sunday afternoon means we didn't have much time in Birmingham. I had plans to see some friends but that didn't happen given the time constraint and the main focus of being there for my mom's birthday. Saturday we ended up spending most of the day grilling out filet mignon and the afternoon shopping at some of the local stores.

(chad and my dad hard at work manning the grill)

For dinner we took my mom to the Summit, an outdoor mall area, and had mexican and margarita's at a place called Chuy's. The Summit has changed a lot since I have lived in Birmingham so it was fun to explore the different stores that are now up there. We use to have to drive to Atlanta to find any kind of decent shopping so I'm very impressed at how far Birmingham has come in the fashion department. After dinner at Chuy's we went to 32 degrees which is a yogurt bar next door. I have become obsessed with yogurt bars after visiting pinkberry in San Diego so I relish any chance I can get to have some tart yogurt. It was a fabulous way to celebrate my mom's birthday and I'm glad we could be there for her.

Since we stayed until Sunday afternoon we were able to enjoy some of my dad's amazing dry rub ribs on the smoker. If it's one thing my dad does well is cook and he always prepares more than necessary. It did give Chad and my dad a chance to bond though which I was glad for. Having your parents live out of state is tough because you feel that the person you are married too doesn't really have a chance to get to know your family. My dad is definitely in his element at his house and I think he's a lot more open and talkative when we come visit him this way.

Of course before the weekend even got started it seems like it was already over. My mom really appreciated us coming to visit and especially brining Chloe as her birthday present. I know ever since Smucker's, our last yorkie, disappeared my mom has wanted another yorkie so I know she'll take great care of Chloe. Kalah was sad to give her away after having her six years but rest assured she's in great care now! If all goes according to plan we can make another trip to the south in time for the Alabama/Auburn football game over Thanksgiving. Chad has never experienced an SEC football game and I know he will really enjoy the excitement. While I am sad sometimes to be away from home. I take comfort knowing that my job allows me to hop on a plane whenever I like, which is perhaps the best perk of all.