Heading southwest on US 285, drive through the South Park area, turning south on US 24 at Johnson Village. Then it’s west on US 50 near Poncha Springs, over Monarch Pass, through Gunnison to Montrose. In Montrose, take a left (south) on US 550 to Ridgway, then right (west) on CO 62 over Dallas Divide and down to Placerville. Then (almost there) it’s left (east) on CO 145 towards Telluride. However, CO 145 turns right (south) a few miles before that, and heads up Lizard Head Pass. From the top of Lizard Head Pass, start watching your odometer. Drive 5.4 miles down the pass (still south) to the very well signed Dunton road (FS 535). The Roach and Dawson books label this dirt road as rough but passable for passenger cars. It must’ve been graded recently, because it was very smooth and easy driving. Drive in for about 7.2 miles. Take a hard right turn and finish up 0.1 miles farther in. The hard right is signed, but the sign points the other direction. Still, it’s pretty hard to miss.

It took almost exactly 6 hours to get to the trailhead from Denver, which included a couple stops for food and bathrooms, and road construction delays on CO 145 just outside Placerville.

The Navajo Lake trail is a fantastic hike! The 5 miles from the trailhead to the lake alternately run through dense woods and picturesque meadows as you hike mostly north towards the Navajo Lake basin area. After the first 3 miles or so, the trail begins to climb the left side of the valley, and becomes fairly steep by mile 3.5. For the next mile, you’ll get a serious calf workout as you grunt up the unrelenting trail, each switchback getting steeper than the last. When you finally top out, be sure to bear right (the signage is kind of poor here) to get to Navajo Lake. The last half mile before the lake consists of a couple steep descents (which become real pissers on the hike out) and then a meander alongside Navajo Lake…a beautiful area, replete with plenty of campsites and views of the north side of Mount Wilson and El Diente. Wilson Peak is hidden to the left as you look farther up the basin. The impressive peak just to the right side of the basin is Gladstone Peak (13, 913’). For overnighters, I recommend finding a campsite just above the lake…there are several excellent spots that are near the water and well-protected from storms be the trees. Or, it’s also possible to set up a higher camp farther into the basin, which cuts down even further on the subsequent climbing.

At the Rock of Ages saddle you’ll get your first view of Wilson Peak. You might’ve thought it was the peak you were staring at while at the east end of Navajo Basin, but that was a false summit. The true summit appears beyond this and to the left from the saddle. At this point, the trail turns right (east) and follows the crest line to a small saddle point on the Wilson-Gladstone ridge. The trail can get a bit indistinct here, but it’s pretty easy to pick out a decent path. From this saddle point is where things start to get a bit more challenging. Looking at the rest of the route from where we were, I took a cue from several others who were on the route, and left my pack at the saddle, just to eliminate that variable while I was concentrating on climbing.

The trail is pretty much gone at this point, so a little routefinding is required. Either traverse straight across an area of broken cliffs, or descend slightly from the saddle and traverse beneath them. I didn’t have too much trouble going straight across, but it was hand-and-foot. After the “cliffy” section, stay below the ridgeline and contour gradually upwards to a false summit at 13,900’. From here, you can see what you’re facing to get to the summit. It’s a sharp, 50 ft. descent (but not so sharp that it requires a rappel) over the north side of the ridge, and then a short traverse and 150’ class 3 scramble to get to the summit. There are several potential routes here, and they’re all solid rock with good hand and foot holds.

This was the hardest pitch I’d ever seen up to this point, so I was a bit nervous. Even though the exposure’s not too bad, a fall would still be painful at the least. Chris led the way upwards, and I followed very gingerly, making sure the rock was solid. The fact that I weigh 220 pounds (more than the average climber, I think) was foremost on my mind as I slowly climbed the pitch. But finally we made it to the top, and it was a minute’s walk to the actual summit from there.

Wilson Peak’s summit is pretty much just the highest point of the ridgeline, a couple dozen yards long and not very wide at all. By now (about 1:30 in the afternoon), the clouds had gathered fairly heavily, but weren’t organized to present too much of a threat, which was a relief. The last half-mile or so was challenging enough without having to contend with rain and wet rock. We took about 15 minutes to relax, sign the register, consume the requisite handful of animal cookies, take a few pictures, and then head back down. As tends to be the case, downclimbing the crux area was a little trickier than the climb up. Still, we managed to pick our way down without too much trouble. A group of folks on their way up paused to watch us come down, noting the route and looking at each other like maybe this wasn’t such a good idea. We assured them that the rock was solid and the climbing fairly easy, so they continued onwards.

When we reached the Rock of Ages saddle again, I breathed a bit of a sigh of relief. Wilson Peak was a milestone climb for me, and went a long way toward increasing my confidence on steep and exposed routes. I felt really good as we ambled back down Navajo Basin to our camp. It was nearly 3pm, so Chris and I decided that we’d get an early start tomorrow, attack Mount Wilson, and then make a judgment call on the Ridge. We hit camp about 4pm and spent a couple hours getting ourselves set up, making dinner, and fending off one very persistent marmot, who obviously felt he deserved some kind of food handout from us. Since we’d been up and going at 2am that morning, we both crashed about 6:30 and slept quite soundly ‘til my watch alarm got me going at 4am the next morning.