11/8/03 – Buffalo Peak – Northeast Slopes

5.2 miles, 3027 feet


John Kirk had been talking to us about Buffalo Peak all the way back in August, but this was before he came down with tendonitis in his knee. John persevered through his rehab, though, and he's already been hiking strong again after a few months off. He took advantage of his downtime, bagging numerous county highpoints around the state to the point that Jefferson County was one of few Denver area highpoints that he hadn't yet summitted. Jefferson being John's home county, it was high time for him to have a home blog.

Erin and I really just shouldn't sleep before we hike, and I honestly don't know how we get to work sometimes. Again, we missed an early alarm and slept through Kurt's urgent knocks and calls. Finally we woke, an hour late. We fortunately had packed most our gear the night before, so we called Kurt and filled the 4Runner. Kurt arrived soon after, and we tore off for John's place. We called John on the way there. He was dutifully waiting and had begun to wonder if we were even showing up. We got to John's at 6:00 a.m., and Erin drove us four to Stony Pass, outside of Bailey and past Wellington Lake and The Castle. Stony Pass abuts a corner of the Lost Creek Wilderness Boundary, so our entire hike would be within the wonderful Lost Creek Wilderness. This would be Erin's and my first successful bushwhack, having been deceived by our surroundings on Little Bear Peak's southwest slopes a month earlier. Unlike on Little Bear, a compass on this hike is a must. There's very little opportunity to catch a view of and distinguish your surroundings, and while you're in the midst of Buffalo's slopes, you can get turned in the wrong direction easily. Accordingly, Kurt, Erin, and I had met the night before for drinks and to watch Kurt plot compass bearings on my TOPO! map with his new CMC WTS skills. We own a compass, and I thought I had a decent grip on the process, but it really helps to see someone with experience go through it fully. I think we're now ready for map and compass adventures of our own (one hike of Mount Thorodin is coming to mind), but back to the trip.

We began our hike from this unmarked but obvious pass at 7:30 a.m. The short drive on this hike was astounding. Our last trip was to Wilson Peak, essentially a 7-hour drive, so being in the woods 90 minutes after picking up our last hiking partner is almost surreal. Kurt led the way, following the bearings he plotted the night before. The beginning of the bushwhack went very well as there was very little deadfall to avoid, but the hike soon steepened with more debris in our way. It was very enjoyable, though, as we wended our way around thickets and scrambled on and around a pile of boulders.

The initial 1400' is kind of similar, but we reached our first objective, a granite outcrop – UR 9857 on the Green Mountain quadrangle – that marks the highpoint of a small flat area on the slopes, after only an hour. We climbed some rock to our right, and our new position revealed granite rock poking out among the trees all throughout our surroundings. We also had a good view of our next key point, a broad shoulder south of UR 10,778.

We encountered snow at around the 10,000' level, but it was nothing more than a dusting. Despite the universal presence of rabbit tracks, we only saw one rabbit that day. We also noticed bear tracks in the snow more than once. A 900' climb brought us to the shoulder, and then we had one more steep section before the summit area. I looked back and saw that we hadn't noticed the awesome true summit of UR 9857, which was an incredible boulder with overhang on all its visible sides. I noted to my party that we had to make a detour on the way back. Kurt continued to keep us on track with regular compass readings. Near the top of these last steep slopes, we encountered a dramatic headwall. Since climbing it was not an option, we skirted it on its left. The views from atop this wall were spectacular, to say the least, and we had to stop for a moment to soak it in. The Castle and Wellington Lake were the prime attractions, but there was much more to see. Prominent Green Mountain, which has a saddle with Buffalo Peak at Stony Pass, filled our view northeast, and just beyond it was Little Scraggy Peak.

We hadn't much work ahead of us, so we got started again, reaching a sunny, treeless shoulder just below Buffalo's twin summits. At the false summit, John and Erin stayed behind to take pictures of Kurt and I making the final ascent. You can't help but notice a cool, natural, rock totem that marks the saddle between Buffalo's summits. Even with the coating of snow, the scrambling to Buffalo's summit was easy. John and Erin joined us, and we marveled at our views. Bison Peak, McCurdy Mountain, and the Lake Park summits were the highlights to the southwest. We could also pick out Sheeprock, Cheeseman Reservoir, and the Hayman Fire burn area. Windy Peak stood to the northwest, as did some cool rock monoliths on Buffalo's northwest ridge. Kurt brought along fried chicken, just like the last time the four of us climbed together on the Maroon Bells. Clouds covered the Evans group and the Continental Divide reaching towards Mount Silverheels, and it even looked like it was snowing nearby on the Platte River Mountains and more northerly of the Kenosha Mountains. It was chilly on our summit, but we had the advantage of nonstop sunshine, so our stay on the top of Jefferson County was a long one.

We followed our footprints all the way back down to around 10,000', and then we aimed for the overhanging summit of UR 9857, which was more amazing up close. We scrambled around all sides of this remarkable feature, but there were no weaknesses. Kurt scrambled about on its heights, but he saw nothing he'd be comfortable on without pro. It was to be admired this day, nothing more. We kept on finding more outcrops on the way down, taking a descent more to the north than our ascent route. Not only was this route more exciting with the bonus outcrops, but it was also on easier terrain. One of the outcrops had a nice ramp that circled around to its top, where there were a number of rounded holes holding ice. Kurt and I ran over to another outcrop nearby. Reaching the top would have been a tough climb, but someone had placed some deadfall as a ladder, so we shot to the apex, which revealed gorgeous afternoon light all over The Castle. Kurt took some time to explain The Castle's interesting standard route.

We left to descend the final 1000' on terrain that, like I said, was easier than our ascent route. Kurt kept on leading the way, compass in hand, and before we knew it, we were walking directly into the 4Runner, a nice feat of orienteering on Kurt's part. We packed up, and Erin drove us to Bailey, where John stopped to take a picture of the humorous Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms store. We laughed hard about the prospect of adding "more sin" to such a store, and John followed through by digitally modifying their sign slightly. Then we drove on to Sphinx Park for burgers and pitchers at the rustic Bucksnort Salon. If you wanted to read all the writing on the walls (and the ceilings and the floors) at the saloon, you'd have to work there or something. It had plenty of character and an iron stove for Erin to happily warm herself next to. Thanks for inviting us along, John. It was a great hike, and Erin and I loved getting back into Lost Creek for the first time in six months (!)