7/4/07 – UN 12,088, UN 12,567 & Whale Peak – Jefferson Lake loop

9.0 miles, 3630'


Erin and I were leaving for Mexico the next day, so we sought a nearby peak for our Fourth of July climb. A trip report of Layne Bracey's from last year inspired us to climb Whale Peak and a few of its neighbors and follow his and John Kirk's route. Erin's grandfather said that the road up to Jefferson Lake used to be an extremely rough ride, but in recent years, a paving project along its steeper sections means it's now one of the nicer drives in the Front Range. We parked near the boat launch area, and we began bushwhacking west up a steep, forested slope. At treeline we caught our bearings and saw we were right on track, heading toward UN 12,088's grassy summit. The mosquitoes were out with a vengeance, and we were disappointed to discover they were still on the prowl even at the summit of this low 12er. I don't believe we've dealt with mosquitoes at such a high elevation in four years! A blessed wind picked up during our traverse to the second unnamed 12er of the day, UN 12,567, and thankfully the breeze drove away the bloodthirsty incests. We cruised up and over the unranked Point 12,733, and then we followed a hiker's trail to Whale Peak's expansive summit plateau. Glacier Peak was a quick jaunt away, but we did need our map to correctly determine that the peak's western summit is the tallest.

We returned to Glacier's eastern summit and began the descent back to Jefferson Lake, which completes a satisfying loop. On another day, there perhaps wouldn't be another thing to report about this pleasant tundra traipse, but as we neared a small notch at a bend in the ridge, I heard Erin shout, "Oh my God!" I raced over to her without the slightest clue as to what had gotten her so excited. Then she pointed out the herd of elk below us. Herd may not be an adequate word to describe this incredible assemblage of ungulates. We must have retrieved the binoculars four times to observe them. It was almost impossible to pull away and to keep hiking. There were scores of calves nestled in the grasses and willows, and we noticed a pair of tremendous bulls, either one potentially the alpha-male. At one point something might have spooked them because the resting half of the group arose en masse, and the herd moved uphill such that nearly every one of them was now standing on a small snowfield. The zoomed image I took as they did provided the perfect photo for elk-counting. At home we used Photoshop to mark off the elk, one by one, and arrived at an astonishing tally. No less than 210 elk were in the Lake Fork valley of Jefferson Creek on this Fourth of July morning!

More than once have I heard Erin's granddad remark on how many elk roam the Kenosha Pass area. It's a great privilege to have been witness to this mighty herd! Later in July I saw on FourteenerWorld that Brett and Deb Atkinson, during a climb of Glacier Peak, had also seen abundant elk in the same valley. If you're seeking to view some elk, Jefferson Lake and its surroundings wouldn't be a bad place to start!

Jefferson Lake
Glacier & Whale Peaks
Mount Guyot
Blue River Range
UN 12,567 & UN 12,088
sunflowers & moth
tremendous elk herd
Whale Peak and the herd
elk on snow
columbine outcrop