On Walkabout On: Redcloud Peak, Colorado – Part 2

Prior Posting:  Redcloud Peak, Colorado – Part1

After making the decision to turn around on the traverse to Sunshine Peak due to the problem I was having with my right hand, I headed back up to the summit of Redcloud Peak.  From there I then carefully started making my way down the mountain.  While going down the mountain I ran into at least 15 other people who were hiking up the mountain.  I spoke with many of them who thanked me for helping break the trail up the mountain that morning.  Definitely the trail breaking that I and the other hikers did that morning made the ascent much easier for everyone else hiking up later in the day.  It also made it much easier for me to get down, especially since so many hikers going up further packed the snow on the trail:

My descent down the mountain was thankfully much quicker than I expected because of the improved trail conditions:

Here is a panorama I took looking down the snow covered upper basin:

Here is a panorama that shows the trail heading up to the ridgeline that leads to the summit of Redcloud Peak:

At about 12,500 feet I came to this small alpine pond that I did not notice in the morning because it was covered in snow:

This lake showed how much it had warmed up here at the lower altitude compared to on the summit.  Additionally there was no wind like there was on the summit that further drops the temperature.  So at the pond my hand was feeling much better and I was happy I turned around.  It was still a bit cold and stiff, but I could feel my hand again.  Since it was feeling better actually slowed my descent a bit to enjoy the views and take pictures of the incredible scenery that was surrounding me.  Here is a panorama which shows Redcloud Peak to the far left and on the far right the trail broken through the snow can be seen with Silver Creek flowing through the middle of the basin:

The scenery was just absolutely stunning.  Here is a panorama from lower down in the basin where the warmer temperatures had caused further snow melt:

As I continued to descend the snow on the trail was quickly melting away:

For the remainder of the walk from the basin to treeline the view was dominated by the 13,542 foot Whitecross Mountain which had the 14er Handies Peak hovering behind it to the left:

You can read more about my prior hike up Handies Peak at the below link:

• On Walkabout On: Handies Peak, Colorado

Here is a panorama I took shortly before entering the treeline that shows a 13er that rises adjacent to Redcloud Peak on the far left and a rocky red cliff face on the far right:

As I entered treeline the snow had largely melted and the various streams flowing into Silver Creek were gushing with fresh snow melt:

The hike along Silver Creek felt like a whole new hike compared to the morning hours when everything was frozen and covered in snow:

Eventually I reached about 11,500 feet where the aspen trees had began to take on their autumn colors:

Needless to say the fall foliage was quite spectacular and literally in my face at some points during the walk down:

Even within the forest the spectacular Whitecross Mountain would occasionally make an appearance to let me know it is still out there looking over me:

Occasionally I would spot other snow capped peaks as well:

There was one area along the trail that did open up enough to where I had a great view of Handies Peak and other nearby 13ers to include Whitecross Mountain on the far right:

Here is a panorama of the view from this section of the trail:

For the rest of the hike there wasn’t any views of the mountains and instead I just enjoyed the fall foliage:

Some of the aspen trees along the trail were impressively large:

This aspen tree appeared to by keeping an “eye” on me:

Near the trailhead the views began to open up again:

Here was the view looking back towards the 13er that rises adjacent to Redcloud Peak:

From the trailhead Redcloud Peak cannot be seen so it is easy to confuse the above peak as being Redcloud, but it isn’t.  As I exited the treeline the meadow where the trailhead is located opened up in front of me:

What a difference a few hours makes.  This whole valley was filled with snow that morning and now it was just a beautiful day out with temperatures around 50 degrees Fahrenheit:

Here is the view from the trailhead looking west up this beautiful valley:

Conclusion

Though I did not accomplish my goal of reaching the summits of both Redcloud and Sunshine Peaks I was still quite satisfied with the day that I had.  It was a tough hike due to the snow fall, but it gave me further experience in climbing mountains in winter conditions.  This was a good tune up for the upcoming winter where I want to climb two or three more 14ers depending on weather and time available.  In total it took me about 7 hours to cover the 9+ miles up Redcloud Peak to include part of the traverse and back.  This was done while postholing and breaking trail in the snow, so anyone attempting this peak in non-wintry conditions will hike up Redcloud much quicker than I did.  Since I did not bag Sunshine Peak on this trip that means I will need to come back to Lake City next summer which I was planning to do anyway since I still need to climb Wetterhorn Peak as well.

So my plan for next summer is to use Sunshine as a warm up for Wetterhorn Peak.  There is an alternate trail up Sunshine Peak from the Mill Creek campground that is much shorter than the standard route up Redcloud and then the traverse to Sunshine.  The trail from Mill Creek is only about 7.5 miles round-trip.  So I figure I can do that one day and then the next climb up Wetterhorn Peak the next day.  That will have to wait for next summer, but on this day I still had a whole afternoon to check out the scenery around Lake City which is what I proceeded to do.