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.:Getting to the trailhead:. To reach the Silver Creek trailhead, drive to Lake City from Denver. The route (US 285 to US 24 to US 50 to CO 149) is a fine drive, taking you past the southern Sawatch 14ers and over Monarch Pass. After turning down CO 149 outside Gunnison, you might wonder if you're going the right way. Lake City is about 50 miles down 149, but the first 30 or so miles pass through barren, sagebrush-covered hills - looks like your driving into the desert! Take heart, though...as you approach Lake City, the hills become mountains and become thick with evergreens and aspens. 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. .:The trail:. .:Trip Report:. continued on the Redcloud Peak trip report... After a fairly mellow and straightforward hike to the summit of Redcloud Peak, I started across the ridge that connects Sunshine to Redcloud. It's 1.3 miles of well-defined ridge walking, with virtually no exposure at all. In the summer months, climbing Sunshine via Redcloud is pretty much the only recommended route. There is another route that leads up the west slopes of Sunshine, but it's mostly a spring/winter route, and after snowmelt is a fairly steep and dangerously loose scree field. Like I said, the trail from Redcloud to Sunshine is well-worn and obvious. The ridge drops gently to about 13,500' in a little under a mile, and then rises to the 14,001' summit of Sunshine in the last 0.3 miles. Since the ridge walk isn't too strenuous, you can let yourself get absorbed in the peace and quiet and solitude of the high-altitude, and enjoy yourself without having to work too hard. It took just about an hour to meander my way to the Sunshine summit, and the views were just as spectacular as they were on Redcloud. Wetterhorn and Uncompahgre were still the dominant features on the skyline to the north, while Sneffels and a host of other far-off San Juan 14ers sat on the horizon to the west and southwest. Being alone on the summit, I took my time signing the register and having a snack. After about a half hour, I finally began making my way back to Redcloud. Again, this is pretty much the only decent summer route. After one glance at the scree fields and low cliffs on Sunshine's west side, I didn't have any trouble heading back the way I came. The trip back to Redcloud took a little less time than the trip over, mainly because the climb back is somewhat gentler. I scooted down the steep northeast ridge on Redcloud, and back into the basin. I hit the trailhead right about 12:30, making for a total round trip time of just about 6 hours. The weather was still great, and I felt awesome at having passed the halfway mark towards my Grand Slam. I drove back down to Lake City for a little lunch and then decided to drive Engineer Pass, partially for the fun of it, and partially to reconnoiter for the next day's attempt at climbing Wetterhorn and Uncompahgre Peaks! |
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