Colorado Peak Bagging, Mts. Evans and Bierstadt, 9-30-90

This was the third of three weekend trips I took in 1990 to the Colorado Rockies. At the time I thought it possible for me to climb all the Colorado Fourteeners, given enough time in the area. To accomplish this, I would later take week-long vacations to Colorado in 1991 and 1992, and would eventually climb about half of the 53 fourteeners before moving back east in 1993.

I made the Evans/Bierstadt trip with my friend Karl when we both worked for Homestake Mining in the Black Hills. We drove down on Friday night to Bergan Park, CO, where Karl’s parents had just moved into a new home. Normally Mt Evans can be a very easy ascent, but the road (billed as the highest paved road in North America) to the top was closed for the winter. Instead, we were planning to tackle the infamous Guanella Pass route on the west side of Mt. Bierstadt, and then follow the Sawtooth Ridge over to Mt Evans.

We were up at 5:15 and took two hours to drive to Guanella Pass. There was no formal trail from the Pass, instead hikers tried to follow any existing herd paths down into, and up out of, a marshy stream valley covered with a dense grove of brushy willows. The first mile through the willows was once one of the most feared obstacles facing would-be fourteener climbers. Now, according to the 14ers.com website, a trail with bridges has been constructed through the marsh.

From the trailhead we started down an old road that was soon lost in swamp of low willows. I had expected a grove of trees, not shrubs and a bog. We battled the brush for an hour trying to follow short lines through the willows, and fighting unsuccessfully to keep our feet dry. Our hourlong battle only got us to snow line (~12,000’) and about a mile in. We struggled through about 6” of snow for another hour and two miles, before we got to the top of Bierstadt. Most of the climb was on rounded slopes, but the top was steeper and would have been tough skiing.

The next challenge of the day was the Sawtooth Peak on the ridgeline between Bierstadt and Evans. Our Boreneman guidebook described it ”Despite its fearsome look, it is a relatively moderate scramble, if free of ice and snow”, and noted that the ridge was a good warmup for the tougher 14er ridges. The descent off Bierstadt was tough with loose rock and slippery snow. Luckily the snow was softening from its early morning 25F powder to a slush that was walkable. It took 45 minutes to reach the col. We sat there and argued about the route a bit, and eventually traversed the right (east) side below the Sawtooth. I checked out some cairns on the left (west) side, but didn’t find an easy route. So I just followed Karl, not catching him until we reached the summit of Evans.

The ridge traverse wasn’t bad, just slippery, and not as technical as the descent to the col. The traverse led us to an easy chute which we used to get us back on the ridge, where there were tracks from another hiker. The easy walking proved short lived and soon we were back rock hopping and snow sliding up the northwest ridge of Evans. By this time the altitude was starting to bother me, and I was a little sick. The disappointment of reaching a 14,250’+ false peak was tempered by the realization that this would be a really long day.

I joined Karl for lunch at the summit but could only down a single fig newton. But like our descent of Darton Peak in the Bighorns earlier in the month, we were lucky to find a much easier descent route. Often it just is easier to spy a route from above. On the return we scrambled around the false peak and then had an easy walk down across the northeast shoulder of Evans. We were lucky that there was an easy way into the gully due east of Guanella. We followed this gully into a pretty little cirque with a level dry bottom and great views of the Sawtooth. We rested there after about 75 minutes of descending. I was feeling better with the altitude, but was tiring fast after buzzing along all day. Karl again got out ahead of me and I ended up on a higher route, eventually finding some paths that led to a good trail through the willows. Karl stayed on route and found the main trail sooner than I. Apparently the willow trails split apart to confuse outbound hikers, but merge together to help returning hikers. Outbound the key would have been to start by a USFS sign near the start of the parking lot, and then skirt the south shore of the lake east of the pass. We would have avoided a half hour of thrashing had we found the trail in the morning.

Our weather that day was cool, clear, and crisp, but we saw no one else all day. Our only problems were with the snowy footing which extended our expected 5 hour trip to 8 hours. I should have worn gaiters, and ended up with sunburn and sore thighs. Once again I’d underestimated a big peak and paid the price. But I was proud to have finished the hike, especially as I felt better at the end than I had on top of Evans in the middle of the trip.

Bighorn and Darton Peaks from Lost Twin Lakes, Bighorn NF, WY, 9-15-90

Bighorn and Darton peaks dominate the southern core of Wyoming’s Bighorn Mountains. They are the southernmost twelve thousand footers in the range, and mark the southern limit of the Bighorn’s alpine terrain. I had climbed Darton from the east near Willow Lake in 1987 (Darton Peak link), following a natural ramp between the Oliver Creek and Chill Lakes basins. Karl and I planned an alternate route for this trip. We would launch from the West Tensleep Trailhead and camp at Lost Twin Lakes. From there we would try to circle the head of the rim of the Lost Twins cirque, while climbing both Bighorn and Darton. We had no prior information on this route, but it looked feasible from the USGS topo maps. Since we expected this trip to be hiking rather than climbing, Karl brought Nitro along.

We must have driven over the night before and slept in the West Tensleep Campground as we were under way at 7:50. We started out on the Lost Twins Trail (#65) reaching Mirror Lake about 9AM, and Lower Lost Twin Lake at 10:30 after about 6.5 miles of backpacking. It was good, easy trail all the way, but we saw no other people. There were trail signs at the wilderness boundary, Mirror Lake, and the now abandoned Yost Trail.

We had lunch at the lake and set up camp near the outlet. Our climb started by going around the west side of the lower lake and taking the first gully up. The gully was easy going, but we left it too early and ended up on top of the “El Capitan-like” nose between the two lakes, and were forced to work our way along a ledge just below peak 12,015’. All day long we would make minor detours around the sheer heads of the glacial cirques surrounding the peaks as we couldn’t see the cirques until we were right at their rims. I dropped and broke my camera near the nose, so there are no pictures from this trip.

From the top of the gully all our travel in the alpine zone was boulder hoping until our final descent. We had great views southwest to Meadowlark Lake, and over the Lake Creek drainage to the south. Neither Bighorn nor Darton is nearly as impressive from the west as they are from the east. I ended up climbing the sub peak to the south of Bighorn by mistake. We had just taken a break at the ramp located along the USGS quad boundary, and I headed up the highest looking peak without checking my map. Karl and Nitro had gone the correct way and got a chuckle out of my extra effort. Bighorn’s summit had a large cairn but no register. Karl speculated that both the east face couloir and east ridge of the mountain looked climbable, but we never got a chance to test either route.

From the top of Bighorn, it was a little easier to get our bearings as we headed north toward Darton. Again, we got a bit too far east and tangled with the couloirs that we needed to bypass as we headed toward the high saddle between the two peaks. At the saddle it was already 3:45 and our ambition was flagging. But it proved to be only another 30 minutes  to the top of Darton. Darton had a new register that was placed in 1988, so I signed that one as well. There were less than ten ascents in 1990, the last one on 8-13-90. In this era, it seemed that Cloud Peak was the only popular summit in the Bighorns. I don’t recall ever seeing another party or sign of travel on any other peak in the range.

By the top of Darton we were very tired and out of water, so it was a relief to spot our easy looking descent route. But the descent was still a tiring boulder hop down to a small knob at 11,600’. Beyond that point we were mostly on grassy slopes with a few rock bands down to the lower Lost Twin Lake. We pulled into camp at 5:45 after a full 9 hours of hiking. We were all tired, but only Nitro did not complain. I later guesstimated that we’d hiked an additional six miles after setting up camp.

Not surprisingly we slept well overnight, despite being woken up twice by small rain showers. We took an easy morning and long breakfast to recover. Karl fished a bit with moderate success. Just as we started the hike out another light rain began and lasted until Mirror Lake. We saw our only other hikers of the trip on the way out, reaching the trailhead in 2 ¼ hours.

The route to Bighorn and Darton Peaks.