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Base Camp
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- Statistics:
- Date Hiked: October 9, 2007
- Miles Hiked: 10.5
- Elevation Gain: 4,600'
- Hiking Partner(s): None
- Description:
- This particular trip ended up being a very pleasant surprise for me.
I had some time off and decided to try some peaks in the Ten
Mile/Mosquito Range. The brief research that I did indicated that
most people linked Clinton, McNamee, and Traver as a single hike with a
few adding Wheeler from the south ridge. After a quick look at the
topographic map, I noticed that North Star Mountain could also be hiked
with virtually no added distance and only a nominal amount of vertical.
So my plan was set to do a loop hike around Wheeler Lake north of Mount
Lincoln and collect five named peaks along the way.
- I left Denver at 4:30 am, but got tired on the drive and took a 30
minute nap on Kenosha Pass before finally starting my hike at 7:15 am
from the Montgomery Reservoir Trailhead. Initially it was just
steep hiking before gaining the relentless east slopes of North Star
Mountain. The grade eased, but the ridge seemed to go on forever.
I finally made the east summit and knew it was only about one mile along
the gentle ridge to my first summit of the day. When I finally
reached the true summit of North Star Mountain, I realized why this peak
isn't generally added to the normal hike of the Centennial Peaks of
Clinton and Traver. The ridge between North Star and Wheeler
looked moderately difficult. It was at this point in time that I
vaguely remembered something about North Star Mountain in Dave Cooper's
"Colorado Scrambles" book.
- I decided to try the ridge and if things got too hairy, I'd either
bail down to Wheeler Lake if possible or retrace my steps back over
North Star Mountain. The descent to the low point of the saddle
wasn't too difficult. Although I felt comfortable, as I started
back up towards Wheeler Mountain, things definitely got more sketchy.
It was very fun third and fourth class scrambling with an occasional
fifth class move thrown in for good measure. I tried to stay on
the ridge as much as possible, but there were a couple of towers that I
had to skirt and down-climb around. The major obstacles were
avoided on the south side towards Wheeler Lake. After gaining
Wheeler's south ridge, there was a short scramble you had to do on the
west side of the ridge in order to gain the actual summit.
- I took a quick break and started the slog over to Clinton Peak.
There were actually two false summits before reaching the top, but in
viewing the peaks all day, I had anticipated them so they weren't
morally defeating. After reaching Clinton, the ridge between it
and McNamee and Traver looked pretty Carmelo, so I knew the hard part of
the day was over. Once on top of Traver, my climbing for the day
was over and I just had to work my way back down to the four wheel drive
road and the Montgomery Reservoir. I didn't record all of my
splits, but it took six hours to reach Clinton Peak because the North
Star/Wheeler traverse slowed me down quite a bit. As I approached
the trailhead, I took some photos of Lincoln Falls in anticipation of
pulling out the crampons and ice tools for ice climbing season.
The falls actually looked pretty good for early October. My round
trip time ended up being 9 hours and 10 minutes. When I got home,
I read Cooper's North Star to Lincoln Traverse route. Although I
didn't complete the entire traverse from North Star Mountain to Mount
Lincoln, at least I did the crux.
- Maps:
-
Click here to view a
2D map of
the area where this hike is located.
- Photographs:
- An early look at Traver, McNamee, Clinton, and
North Star from the east slopes of North Star Mountain.
- Quandary Peak and the Cristo Couloir which
I had climbed earlier in the Spring of 2007.
- Another early photo of Traver, McNamee, Clinton, North Star,
and also Wheeler Mountain.
- The north face of Mount Lincoln which I
thought looked like it had a couple of great lines on it.
- The northeast face of Democrat which also
looked like it had a couple of snow climbing routes on.
- The traverse from North Star Mountain to
Wheeler Mountain.
- Wheeler Lake in the foreground of Traver,
McNamee, and Clinton Peaks.
- My very serious North Star Mountain summit
photo.
- The views to the north of Wheeler Mountain
towards Drift, Fletcher, Atlantic, Pacific, and Crystal Peak.
- Quandary Peak and it's rugged southwest
face.
- A look at the North Star/Wheeler traverse
from Wheeler Mountain.
- Mount Lincoln and Wheeler Lake form
Wheeler Mountain.
- Mount Democrat, Traver Peak, and Clinton
Peak from Wheeler Mountain. (McNamee Peak is hidden.)
- Traver and McNamee Peaks from Clinton
Peak.
- My McNamee Peak summit photo.
- A photo of the crux of the North Star/Wheeler
traverse from the basin below near Wheeler Lake.
- The northwest face of Mount Lincoln.
- Another photo of the north face of Mount
Democrat.
- Lincoln Falls starting to form up.
- Another photo of Lincoln Falls.
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