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Vallecito Trail Update
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We have recently visited the Vallecito Trail in the Weminuche Wilderness from the trailhead near Kite Lake, across Hunchback Pass, down to where Sunlight Creek comes in, then up the Sunlight drainage. New and/or revised information has been posted for the Kite Lake/Hunchback trailhead and the associated approach segments including field-verified GPS waypoints for key campsites and the stream crossings to reach the upper basin of Sunlight Creek and Sunlight Lake.
#144 / 13,705' Peak Six "Sceptor"
Range ›
San Juan Range
Quadrangle ›
Storm King Peak
Summit Location ›
N 37° 39' 37.23", W 107° 35' 06.63"
(Not Field Checked)
N 37° 39' 37.23", W 107° 35' 06.63"
(Not Field Checked)
Neighboring Peaks ›
Jagged Mountain
Leviathan Peak
Peak Five
Peak Four
Vallecito Mountain
Jagged Mountain
Leviathan Peak
Peak Five
Peak Four
Vallecito Mountain
Peak Summary
Peak Six offers several possible routes for climbing. Our route brings you in from the basin just north of Jagged Mountain, but it makes equal or even better sense to include Peak Six with a trip up Noname and combine with Peaks Five and Four. Peak Six by our route is a Class 2 ascent that takes you by a beautifully colored high altitude lake. There is no close vehicle access. If you approach it from Noname Creek, you will likely need to pay fare for the Durango-Silverton Narrow Gauge railroad. The nearest vehicle access is the Beartown/Kite Lake trailhead north of Hunchback Pass. 4WD with good clearance is required as is a multi-day backpack trip that will likely include numerous other 13ers in the area.
Peak Six SW Ridge Route
Class 2
Backpack + Medium Day
RT From Bear Creek/Hunchback Pass/Kite Lake:
28.7 mi / 9,325'
RT From Sunlight Creek Campsite @ 11,550:
6.5 mi /
3,100'
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Bear Creek/Hunchback Pass/Kite Lake Trailhead
WARNING: This trail head approach REQUIRES 4WD with good ground clearance. The drive as described below from Silverton may take up to 2.5 hours.
From the Town of Silverton, and where the main road splits at the NE end of town, drive 4.2 miles NE up along the Animas River on blue-signed County Road 2 to Howardsville. Turn right onto FR589 up Cunningham Gulch and stay right at the turn for the "Old Mine Tour" (4.4 miles) but do take the left fork toward Stony Pass (FR737) at 5.9miles. Once on the Stony Pass Road, expect 4W conditions. The road climbs steeply to the pass. Abundant wildflowers as you approach the pass may delay you. Once across the pass, the road becomes FR520 and eventually leads to Rio Grande Reservoir, but you will not drive that far. The road eventually descends down the valley to a low water crossing of Pole Creek. There are several primitive campsites on both sides of the Pole Creek crossing. Watch out for the steep embankment climb out on the east side if the road is wet from rains. You could easily slip off the edge. After the crossing, continue south for under a mile to another fork where you'll turn right (west). Another long, low water crossing is found here across the Rio Grande River. This crossing is usually more shallow than the Pole Creek, but the closer you are to runoff season, the more difficult these crossings will be.
It is also possible to come into this area from either Creede or Lake City over Slumgullion and Spring Pass to Rio Grande Reservoir. From state highway 149 either about 20.5 miles from Creede or 32 miles from Lake City, turn west onto FS520 and drive all the way to the reservoir on the well-signed, graded dirt road. Passenger cars can make it all the way to the "Lost Trail Campground" at the far west end of the reservoir. Beyond that point, FR520 continues west and crosses some rugged sections before connecting with the other section of FR520 coming down from Stony Pass and the low-water crossing of the Rio Grande. We have never driven in all the way on this section and from those we know who have, they have complained about one particularly difficult stretch.
From the Rio Grande crossing, continue up what is now, the Beartown Road for a slow 4 miles (mainly because of potholes) to the former location of Beartown. (There's really nothing left to see there, but just before the road crosses Bear Creek, beyond the old townsite, there is some good camping. The road goes all the way to Kite Lake at about 12,100 ft., but the Hunchback Pass trailhead is about 1/2 mile below the lake. There's a trail sign there and some very limited parking is available. Road Notes as of 2018: About half the distance toward Beartown, the road crosses an unnamed creek and at that spot, there are some difficult mud/potholes that have really been dug out. Longer bed vehicles may have some difficulty getting through. Take it slow. Closer to Beartown, the road passes through a fence line. At that point, the road conditions will begin to deteriorate and become more rocky as it begins to gain some elevation.
As the road begins climbing more steeply toward Kite Lake and the Hunchback trailhead, after crossing Bear Creek, it becomes quite a bit more rocky in that stretch as well. For a long section, the road is deeply entrenched in the middle because of runoff and the trench tends to fill with loose rocks. If you have driven in here to do the Ute Ridge group of summits, camp in the vicinity of where the road crosses Bear Creek just past the old Beartown site. See coordinates below. From that creek crossing, it's not quite .3 mile to the trailhead for Ute Ridge, which is a jeep track that turns off to the left and drops down to cross another lesser fork of Bear Creek. Park somewhere along this track if heading for Ute Ridge. On the Caltopo map, this trail is called the "Bear Town Trail" and designated FR869. On trails Illustrated Map #140, it does not appear to have a designation. Coordinates for this road & trailhead are: N 37° 42' 54.53" W 107° 30' 35.00". You can find a good camp spot here as well. You can also find some additional camp spots within a few hundred yards of the Hunchback Pass trailhead. One of those spots goes off to the south to an old mining area.
Camping
You can find some very limited camping spots in the immediate vicinity of the Hunchback trailhead. There's one particularly good spot back down the road a fairly short distance on the south side. There's also some good camping back toward the Beartown site. See coordinates provided.
Campsite Locations
Beartown Campsite › N 37° 43' 05.02", W 107° 30' 35.47"
Route Description
Year Climbed: 1994This route description will begin at the suggested campsite at the last trees along Sunlight Creek at 11,550 ft, below Sunlight Lake. Mileage and elevation gain are measured from there. On the return trip, you'll have an additional 500 feet of elevation gain.
From that campsite, head WNW on the trail to Sunlight Lake for less than a half mile. Where the trail takes a decided turn to the SW, watch for a fainter trail that turns off to the north around these coordinates: N37° 38' 19.31" W 107° 34' 44.56". Follow this trail through flowering vegetation and willows up and over to the stream that drains the basin between Jagged and Leviathan. Head up the watercourse. When it splits, you can take the left fork which leads first through a short boulder field and then up tundra/embedded rock slopes and more rocks & boulders into the basin below Jagged and the small, crescent-shaped lake at 12,700 ft. Alternately, where the drainage splits, you can also go up right to a saddle and turn left to follow a tundra and rock outcrop ridge over to the same crescent lake. This route is perhaps steeper initially, but has less boulder talus to deal with. For stronger groups, you can backpack up to this location and find good camping around the unnamed, crescent lake or 50 - 100 yards SW of the lake near the foot of Jagged's north face. We found a nice area of low, cushy grass and small gravel there that could accommodate a few tents.
From the basin north of Jagged and/or the unnamed, crescent lake, head west to a pass located just north of Jagged. Ascend a steep, grassy slope to the pass. Descend a couloir on the other side a good 300 feet in elevation on mostly scree & gravel to where it begins to widen out. In 1994, we found a well-worn path through here. Begin contouring out of the main couloir to the NW, at first on a lot of boulder rubble. After about a quarter mile, you'll get to better footing. The goal is to contour over to the unnamed lake at 12,552 ft. that sits at the foot of Peaks Five and Six. You will likely come out east of and above the lake outlet. Descend to the outlet and then work your way north along the western shore of the stunningly beautiful lake. If you have the time and a fishing pole, you may want to try your luck at this seldom visited lake. There are excellent pockets of wildflowers along this shore. The eastern shore is mostly a boulder-hop, most will want to avoid.
Once on the north side of the lake, head north to the Peak Five-Six saddle over a mix of tundra and broken rock. At the saddle, it drops off steeply to the north for the first couple hundred feet, but it would be possible to descend/ascend at this location to gain access into or from the Tenmile Creek drainage and Balsam Lake. We never had the chance to visit it, but a source identified the unnamed lake at 12,264 ft. SW of Balsam Lake as "primo" camping spot.
Finish the ascent to Peak Six heading NE and following either along the ridge line or just off it on the south side, hiking mostly on rubble that's not too loose. Peak Six has two summits of nearly equal height. We hiked to both just to be safe. The saddle between the two summits becomes a deeply slotted couloir on the north side. From the summit, you'll enjoy great views of the backside of the Grenadier Range. You may want to include Peak Five in your day and even Peak Four, if camped in the Noname drainage, but if coming from the Sunlight side, including both and making the return trip back to Sunlight Creek would make for a very long day. Including just Peak Five would be more reasonable. For the return trip, basically go back as you came. The hike back up the couloir to the saddle north of Jagged is difficult on the scree and gravel, especially with full pack.
Additional BETA
Links to other information, routes & trip reports for this peak that may be helpful. -
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