Redcloud Peak 14034' and Sunshine Peak 14001' - 1986
Trip Report
By Alan Silverstein
Sunday, July 20, 1986
The Silver Creek trailhead is between Ouray (west) and Lake City
(east), closer to the latter. There were many people camped at
the trailhead, in flowery, grassy meadows, including a large
Outward Bound group.
Saturday night a distraught-looking fellow drove up to the
trailhead with a sheriff's truck behind him. The guy had
dropped a friend at Silver Creek and was to pick him up about
six hours later at Mill Creek, which is about 1000' lower and
five miles down the valley. The friend was overdue after a solo
climb of the two peaks.
It didn't take long to find the person who'd last seen him. The
lost hiker had continued up Redcloud at about 1230, the last
person up for the day, after passing a group that had barreled
off the summit when lightning hit nearby. Everyone made the
dismal assumption that he'd been hit by lightning.
At 2200 a Hinsdale County Search and Rescue party of three went
up the trail with whistles and a dog. At 0230 they returned
with nothing to report.
At 0600 Dave and I started up the Silver Creek trail. Like many
trails in the area the first 1/2 mile or so is a closed 4WD
road. It takes you a long ways NE, quite comfortably, except of
course it was cold, overcast, and gloomy due to the continuing
monsoon weather. At 0700 at the South Fork junction we split
up. Dave preferred to go an extra 1.5 miles around to the north
on the trail, while the west gulch up to Redcloud looked
appealing to me (very "direct").
I climbed through trees, then up hard snow, in old steps, with
an axe. When the snow ran out I had to struggle up some of the
most rotten sedimentary scree and dirt I've ever seen. The
whole mountain (that side, anyway) appears to be decaying red
rock, with no real ribs or boulders, and precious little tundra
either.
I caught up with a party of three that went up the left side of
the gulch (north, away from the peak). I continued on a more
direct route south to a flat ridge, then suffered up the last
700' east. To my surprise, Dave beat me to the top by ten
minutes, along with a Search and Rescue party. I arrived at
0920 (3:20 for 3630'), pushing very hard. There's nothing like
uncertainty (about where the rest of your party is) to give you
incentive! On this peak, I recommend the trail.
The top of Redcloud is remarkably orange-red in color. It's
quite unique in color, if not in form. The shape is typical, a
rounded mound which is the high point of a long ridge. It's
more symmetrical and pointy than some.
The S&R guys, then Dave, departed the summit ahead of me, bound
for Sunshine Peak on a 1.5 mile traverse south. I stayed a
while watching low, billowy clouds blowing in and around the
nearby peaks, then followed at 0945. We all really expected to
find the lost hiker dead of a lightning hit somewhere on the
ridge, and were surprised that we didn't. He signed in on the
Redcloud summit register, and we discovered later that he'd also
made the top of Sunshine. That was eerie, seeing his name
penciled in.
The traverse is long but easy, on a good trail most of the way.
You drop as low as 13480' and then have to gain the 520' back in
a steep haul up Sunshine. The clouds were partial enough that
we'd gotten good looks at and knew the route. I pushed pretty
hard because of the uncertain weather, making the traverse in
only 40 minutes (arriving 1025), half of it up from the saddle.
Sunshine is the lowest of the Colorado Fourteeners. I couldn't
figure out which one foot of rock puts it into the elite club.
The top is rounded and has a 3' high, rock-wall wind shelter on
it. At the time it also had on top of it a party of about five
S&R guys with walkie talkies. They were in touch with their HQ
at Mill Creek, but hadn't found the missing person anywhere
above timberline, in between clouds drifting past...
Dave didn't stay long, but I recuperated and observed for 45
minutes, and gave half my lunch to a very hungry would-be
rescuer. The group was waiting for a CAP (Civil Air Patrol)
plane from Montrose that was also overdue. It didn't show up
until about 1400; I found out later that it had taken off and
aborted three times due to weather. And it didn't do any good
when it arrived.
One "boom" from an approaching cloud motivated me to depart at
1110. I followed Dave down into the South Fork gulch, a huge
basin with snow and scree walls -- quick but treacherous, and
very orange. I met him (caught up, in fact) at the Silver Creek
trail junction at 1215. After a long lunch waiting for rain to
stop, we hiked out in 35 minutes, until 1345. There was still
no word of the lost hiker.
The comment in my journal is: "A longer pair of Fourteeners,
and tough climbing, but we did them well. Too bad the weather
is so crummy. Sunshine was Colorado Fourteener #40 for me!"
At 1530 we left the trailhead. I went down to Mill Creek to see
what was up and if I could do any good -- nope. They called
Fort Carson for a chopper, which we heard the next day from
Handies Peak. Apparently it found the hiker dead of heart
failure (NOT lightning or a fall) below timberline, off the
trail.
By 1800 I was camped with Dave at some meadows a mile down from
American Basin, 2.5 miles past Silver Creek. We debated a
sunset climb of Handies Peak -- but wisely called it a (long)
day.
Used here with permission of the author.
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