LoJ: #461 (Pre-LiDAR #463) / 13,228' Greenhalgh Mountain
N 37° 47' 05.63", W 107° 30' 14.67"
(Not Field Checked)
Canby Mountain
Sheep Mountain [Sheep Mountain A]
"Stony Pass Peak" [Formerly UN 13165]
Peak Summary
Greenhalgh Mountain is a Class 2 hike by itself from the Stony Pass Road or a Class 2+ if connected with Sheep Mountain A. Vehicle access is by 4WD with good ground clearance regardless of the vehicle approach taken. This summits pairs nicely with Sheep Mountain A but there's one tricky, steep and loose ridge section to deal with. A hike in this area offers an opportunity to visit the expansive tundra terrain that lies above Silverton and to see the many wildflowers at the seasonal peak. Lidar added 8 feet of elevation.
Greenhalgh Mtn West Ridge Route
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Stony Pass TH
From the Town of Silverton, drive east to where the paved road splits one block past the courthouse and veer right onto blue-signed County Road 2 (set odometer here) for 4.2 miles of nicely graded dirt road to Howardsville. (On Trails Illustrated map #141, this road is labeled #110. Pavement ends after 2 miles.) Turn right onto BLM/FS Road 589 for Cunningham Gulch and Stony Pass. At 4.4 miles, stay right and avoid going up to the "Old Mine Tour." At 5.9 miles driving south, take the left fork for Stony Pass and begin the climb out of Cunningham Gulch. The Stony Pass road is BLM/FS 737. Once you leave Cunningham Gulch, the road will begin to degrade to a 4WD/high clearance status. In 1998, when we made this trip, vehicles like Subaru wagons could have made it to the summit of Stony Pass. In subsequent years, the road has experienced enough traffic and weathering to have some rough spots where a higher clearance vehicle is the safer bet. This road is also quite steep for its short duration of about 3 miles to the summit. Once at the top of the pass, park at a small turnout on the south side of the road.
Camping
Best place for overnight camping would be back down in Cunningham Gulch, south of the turnoff for Stony Pass. There are a few at-large campsites before the road in Cunningham ends. Otherwise, it's possible to park and car or tent camp at the pass. We do not recall any camp spots on along the 3 mile drive up to Stony Pass.
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From Sheep Mountain
Open This Route in a New WindowYou can use the summit of Stony Pass as the trailhead start for this hike, but if you want to reduce round-trip mileage a little, drive on down SE from the pass summit for just over one mile to where a short road turns off to the left (east) and park. During summer months, there is often a shepherds tent set up here and a large sheep herd may be grazing somewhere in the vast areas of surrounding tundra. Coordinates are: N 37° 47' 15.78" W 107° 32' 13.83". Put on your packs and head out, first descending east to cross the minor creek that comes in the the NE. It is a little marshy here, even in the fall, so during the summer months, you may get boots a little wet. Even as we began hiking up, there were still a few marsh areas. Once through the marsh, hike generally east over lush tundra and grass heading for the north ridge of Sheep Mtn. A direct path to the ridge will encounter more rock. To avoid that rockier terrain, swing a little north to find a minor gully with more tundra. We joined this ridge about 300 feet below the summit and continued to the top of the large, flat area, covered mostly with smaller, scree-type rock and talus. This is the best place for a lunch break if it times out that way. The entire hike up will be laced with sheep trails. This large, flat area is not the official summit, however, Google Earth shows it as having the same elevation as the marked summit. To get to the designated summit, you must continue hiking east, following the ridge as it narrows with steep drop-offs on either side with rocky ribs and talus slopes. Progress will slow, but there are no serious obstacles to overcome. It may be difficult to determine the true summit if no cairn is present. If you continue on to Greenhalgh via this ridge, at some point you will have crossed the true summit.
Return as you came, or continue to Greenhalgh. For some better photos of this peak and Greenhalgh, see reports for Sheep and Greenhalgh on Lists of John.
Click thumbnail to view full-size photo + captionRoute Description
Year Climbed: 1998Greenhalgh Mountain is sequenced with Sheep Mountain A. One-way mileage and elevation gain are measured from the summit of Sheep Mtn. Round-trip mileage and elevatio gain assume completion of the sequence. Greenhalgh can also be completed alone from the eastern section of the Stony Pass Road. Like Sheep Mountain, overall mileage may be shortened by about 2 miles RT by driving east down the Stony Pass Road from the summit to the parking spot we suggest. See Sheep Mountain A for coordinates.
From the official summit of Sheep Mountain, continue east along the narrow ridge, then ENE still on the ridge crest to where the ridge begins to drop to the Sheep-Greenhalgh saddle. A short, steep and rocky section of ridge forced us a little to the south and down a steep section filled with loose rock until we cleared the talus and contoured back over to the ridge. Once you regain the ridge you'll be back on tundra and can more easily hike on pleasant terrain to the top of Greenhalgh. This summit is mostly tundra, strewn with boulders. From this summit, there's a lot of terrain to scan for elk, but during the summer months, you'll most likely see domestic sheep instead.
After a summit break, we hiked back down to the Greenhalgh-Sheep saddle. Instead of climbing over the summit of Sheep (a contour around to the south was out of the question), we descended northwest from the saddle into a vast basin filled with a distinct rock glacier formed by the rubble falling off the north face of Sheep Mtn. To avoid hiking over all this rock, we headed a little out of the way down and to the north so that we could skirt the major part. On this lower end, we found a passage through the rock glacier which did not involve too much rock hopping. Then we began the hike up a tundra and rock slope to the saddle north of Sheep at 12,800 ft. Continue hiking west and WSW, down the tundra-covered slope until you have rejoined your route from earlier and the ascent up Sheep Mtn. Cross back over the stream and marshy area to get back to your vehicle.
Additional BETA
Links to other information, routes & trip reports for this peak that may be helpful. -
