Redcloud Peak is most often climbed from the Silver Creek trailhead, located on the Cinnamon Pass Road outside of Lake City. From Lake City (as measured from the bridge over Henson Creek), head south out of town about 2 miles to the turnoff (right) for Lake San Cristobal. Follow the road as it curves around the lake and becomes dirt at mile 6. This is the Cinnamon Pass road, and is pretty mellow for about 6 miles, but gets rougher as you continue. At about mile 14, you'll bear right and head up the pass. This is where you'll need a high-clearance 2WD or a 4x4, as the road gets bumpy and narrow as it climbs up the valley. At about mile 18 you'll reach the Grizzly Gulch/Silver Creek trailheads. The Silver Creek trailhead is on the right side of the road. The Grizzly Gulch trailhead (left side of the road) offers access to Handies from the east. You'll have no problem finding these trailheads as they're very well signed.

On this, the second day of my trip (August 12^th), I got up at around 4:30 in Lake City (rented a nice little cabin!) and assembled my gear while downing a bagel and a meal-replacement shake. Although I expected a repeat of the recent weather patterns (cloudy and rainy), the sky outside blazed with a million stars and it was a balmy 55 degrees...not bad for 8600 ft! I hopped in my trusty truck and headed up Cinnamon Pass to the aforementioned trailhead. There were 2 other vehicles there, and a couple of folks just emerging from their tent. I took off from the trailhead heading northeast at a few minutes after 6am, just as the sun was breaking on the peaks across the valley.

The day was calm and clear, and I had a wonderful hike through the woods and up to the basin northwest of Redcloud. The trail closely follows the Silver Creek for the first mile or so, then angles east high in the basin. Gentle grassy slopes covered with wildflowers stretch in all directions, and Redcloud's summit makes itself evident to the east as you climb up the basin. The excellent trail continues eastwards to the saddle on the northeast ridge of Redcloud at just over 13,000 ft. From here, you turn right and contemplate the next section of the trip: an extremely steep 0.4 miles up the ridge to a false summit at 13,800 ft. It is possible to grunt straight up this section, but there is a system of switchbacks that will not only save your lungs and legs, but is more environmentally correct as well. At this point of the trip, I ran into about a guy trailing about a dozen teenagers - some youth group, I think. They had started out at 3am! Whew.

Anyway, from the 13,800' bump, Redcloud's true summit is just a couple hundred yards to the south. I made the summit somewhere around 8:45am, and was met by a strong wind. The summit itself is pretty small, but the views will take your breath away! On this cloudless morning, I had a clear view of Handies to the west, and Sunshine just over a mile to the south via an easy ridge. But most impressive was the view north...Wetterhorn, Matterhorn, and Uncompahgre are lined up in a breathtaking panorama! Wow! I took a few minutes to sign in, take a few pictures and enjoy a Clif Bar. As I signed the register, I realized that Redcloud marked my official halfway point in the Grand Slam: 27 of 54! I sat alone on the summit, reflecting on that fact and feeling good about it. It's always nice to have a summit to yourself! The weather was still perfect (albeit a little windy), so I unhurriedly set off south along the ridge, headed for the lowest 14er, 14,001 ft.

continued on the Sunshine Peak trip report...