8/12/07 – UN 13,132 & Darley Mountain – East Ridge & South Ridge

8.3 miles, 5610'


Erin's and my hike up the Bear Creek Trail was the main event for our weekend in Ouray. This old mining trail came recommended by Aaron Johnson, and I also spoke with someone last winter at Ouray Mountain Sports who said we should make it a priority the next time we were in town. Erin and I left our motel room and started up the trail at around 5:30. An earlier start may have been prudent, but most of the excitement on the Bear Creek Trail comes early. We wished to have some sunlight so we could take in the sights. We parked at the empty trailhead off of US-550 just south of Ouray. We signed in at the register with our stated destination: "As far as we can go!" The trail immediately crossed over the top of a highway tunnel and then began to switchback steeply up slopes of The Amphitheater's southern arm. After gaining about a thousand feet, we finally turned east toward the creek. Our timing was perfect. The sun poured over the western Sneffels Range as we started hiking along the trail's defining segment. In an amazing feat of engineering, the route clings to unbelievable shelves and ledges on cliffs hundreds of feet above the roaring creek. Try to imagine the shelf sections of the Yankee Boy Basin road – but instead of there being a road, it's just a small trail – and you've got the right idea. Erin and I tried to imagine what it must have been like to have been a miner lugging supplies up to the Grizzly Bear Mine, or worse, working to build this amazing path! Climbing higher, the trail crossed a bridge and traversed several more ledges, some of which had been blasted out for easier passage. The Bear Creek Trail had astonished and delighted us, but our day was just beginning.

Soon, we were on more typical terrain, hiking through meadows and groves of aspen higher up the valley. We got a little confused at some falls. We weren't sure where the trail went next amidst all the gravel (my, how this creek must rage at times!), but we eventually found the right outlet and continued on our way. In a clearing at around 10,400' we were treated to our first view of UN 13,132, one of our goals for the day. Previously, we had imagined a more ambitious day climbing Cow Benchmark via the Bear Creek Trail, but in town the night before, we learned that if you hike the Horsethief Trail, you get to experience something called the Bridge of Heaven. I'm not quite sure what this is, but the name is plenty evocative! Cow lies just 2 miles away from there, so we filed that route away for a future trip. Our plans for today now focused on 13,132 and Darley Mountain.

We kept looking back toward the Sneffels Range as we hiked higher. We could see Potosi Peak, our goal for tomorrow, almost continuously. Our trail led to a second mine, Yellow Jacket Mine, and here, we had some routefinding trouble. All our maps indicated that the trail splits at Yellow Jacket, one route heading along the South Fork of Bear Creek to Engineer Pass and one route ascending the North Fork. The North Fork made the most sense, but we simply couldn't find the trail. We hiked along the South Fork trail toward a second cluster of old mining buildings before we turned back. We returned to Yellow Jacket and bushwhacked up forested slopes and stayed to the north of the North Fork creek, eventually locating a little used trail. When we reached treeline, our trail became an old road, and it occurred to us that it had probably been easier to supply Yellow Jacket Mine via Engineer Pass and American Flats than it was to send a convoy all the way up Bear Creek.

We followed the road deep into the basin as we circled around 13,132's north slopes. It was then that we heard a bizarre cacaphony of shrill snarls and growls the likes of which we'd never heard. Where was that coming from? Our eyes were drawn toward the rocky piles south of the creek when we heard the more familiar chirp of a marmot, and finally we located two of them engaged in a territorial dispute. A leaner, presumably younger marmot was giving chase to a fatter one. When the elder dashed toward the creek, the younger stood his ground and issued a series of triumphant, rapid-fire chirps. It was hilarious! Marmot Wars!

Our road gently ascended to the rear of the basin, and we hiked to a rounded ridge crest on the west end of American Flats, nearly 5000' above the trailhead. I'd often dreamed of this place, seeing the spires of the Cimarrons jutting from the rolling tundra, but the views still astonished me now that we were here. It took a moment to catch our bearings. We thought we had identified Wildhorse Peak, but then we realized we were facing the wrong direction. What a surprise to realize that this peak with the dramatic spire of a summit was Darley Mountain! I had done no research on these peaks, and I suddenly found myself wondering if Darley was a tougher mountain than I had given it credit for. But first things first, we were much nearer to 13,132. We hiked the expansive ridge to 132's base. We came across some sandy terrain at the neck east of the peak and saw that it was literally covered in animal tracks. Must be a popular place? We hiked toward the peak's east face where we were met with a short scramble on its diminishing south side. From there it was easy talus-hopping to the summit, which offered outstanding views over to Darley and out to Wildhorse.

We looked at Darley long and hard. We felt that if we climbed the north ridge, we could probably skirt around the summit block on its west side, but we decided to see what the other side had to offer. We hiked game trails that criss-cross the eastern slopes of the peak and then ascended steep grass to a small saddle on its south ridge. Once we gained the summit ridge, we were relieved to see that Darley wouldn't be as tough as we were thinking. We climbed up and over the ridge's numerous bumps before laying eyes on the summit block, which from this side is rather trivial. After reaching our second summit, we turned around and ran the ridge south toward Engineer Pass.

We couldn't help but notice two things as we descended: thunderstorms were building rapidly above peaks near Silverton – today's weather clearly wasn't going to be a repeat of yesterday's – and there was a ton of traffic at the pass. A clever idea came upon us. We could hike the seven miles back down the Bear Creek Trail. Or... we could try to hitch a ride. The temptation was too great to resist when a truck arrived at the pass just as we did. The truck was filled with some friendly Texans who were summering in Lake City, and they said they'd give us a lift in their flatbed down to the trailhead. We hopped in the back of the truck, and petted their well-behaved dog, Rusty, as we sped away from the pass. The ride out would take about 90 minutes, and our decision was affirmed by the thunder and lightning that raged over the Silverton peaks while we descended. They dropped us off at the trailhead, and Erin and I returned to Ouray for sandwiches at La Papillon and a shower. I must admit, it was pretty satisfying to have climbed 5600 feet while only descending perhaps a thousand. Where we could have been worn out from a 15-mile day, our feet were instead refreshed and ready to tackle our third climb of the weekend tomorrow morning: Potosi Peak.