8/5/02 – Mount of the Holy Cross & Holy Cross Ridge – North Ridge, descent via Tuhare Lakes and Fall Creek Trail

13.4 miles, 5036'


No new mountains to be had this week because I got sick. Summer colds suck! :P I thought it was high time, however, that I posted trip reports from last week. There were lots of 14erWorld folks on Holy Cross this past week, it would seem, and though I can't say our trip had the wow factor of Greg's, Erin and I did have a lot of fun taking a non-standard descent.

We used another mid-night start hitting the standard trail up Halfmoon Pass at around 1 a.m. Nothing much to report on the trip to Holy Cross's North Ridge, though I have decided I don't much like talus hopping in the dark with just your headlamp. It makes for *slow* progress.

We got to within 800 ft. of Holy Cross's summit, and we were finally seeing some daylight. I wanted to catch some of that first light hitting Holy Cross's face, as I knew this was our only chance to get a view from this side. So we agreed to wait out the sunrise. I loved seeing the red light pouring onto Holy Cross's comparatively black face that morning. We weren't prepared, however, for what was looming behind us to the west when we stood up to head for the summit. Clouds were pouring in over Mt. Jackson and its accompanying ridge, and we could see the weather would soon be upon us. We worked it toward the top as quickly as we could, but the rain arrived while we were still around 500 ft. short of the summit. Not too happy with the shower at 5:30 in the morning!

No thunder or lightning, but it was a miserable half-hour sitting on a rock in my rain parka, trying to keep my hands warm. But after those 30 minutes, Erin noticed a clearing and we took off for the summit again. It stopped raining as we neared the top, but my hands were already destroyed. It took like 10 minutes for them to stop throbbing! After I could start feeling my hands more, we made a slow and careful descent to the saddle between Holy Cross and Ridge, due to the wet rock. By the time we summitted Holy Cross Ridge, the rock was already dry! I really love the rock in Holy Cross's area. Quite unlike anything else in the Sawatch! Would any of our resident geology lovers like to elaborate on the formations in the area?

The fun for us that day truly began after our two summits. We descended on talus to the head of Upper Tuhare Lake which is *huge* for being so far above treeline (12,365'). Then we were treated to a waterfall as we made our way down to Lower Tuhare Lake. There were a pair of fishermen camping near the lower lake and we stopped and chatted with the first people we had seen all day.

The waterfall leading from Lower Tuhare is the most spectacular waterfall I've laid eyes on. So lush, so much vertical drop. I was wondering though: why is this creek called Fall Creek?

By the way, there is a cairned trail from the east end of Upper Tuhare all the way until it meets with the Fall Creek Trail. This junction would be hard to miss since you can see the Fall Creek Trail meandering up to Fall Creek Pass from a distance.

The rest of the hike was an uneventful haul back to the trailhead. I like taking loop trips because you usually never know when you're about to make it back to parking lot. The last mile or so always seems to go by faster because you don't know when it's going to end :)