Mineral County Highpoint Trip Report
"Phoenix Peak" (13,895 ft)
Date: July 17, 2005
Author: Kevin Baker
route via south slopes
After getting a lucky break with the weather on Uncompahgre and
Wetterhorn the day before, I figured Phoenix was there for the taking
given it may be awhile before I am in this area again. After another
nice night at the Matterhorn Motel in Lake City, I set off at 4 am for
the historic mining town of Creede. After missing the proper turnoff
in town, I found FR-503 which heads up a narrow canyon which has been
heavily mined. I found the 2WD trailhead at a sign pointing the way
to Phoenix Park and decided to see if my Santa Fe could handle the road.
The beginning of the 4WD road is deeply rutted, so I didn't
want to chance it with my stock SUV.
I set off from the trailhead at 9,920 feet at 6:06 am. The trail meets up
again with the road after 1/4 mile to save additional elevation gain
by countouring above East Willow Creek. The road then gently climbs
to Phoenix Park where the routefinding began.
I didn't do a lot of homework for Phoenix since
I thought I wouldn't be able to climb it,
and I left the first page of my directions in the car.
After crossing the footbridge,
I left the road about 400 yards too early and missed
the intersection with Center Stock Driveway. I lost some time
bushwhacking through the maze of fallen trees created by some
aggressive beavers.
I generally took a bearing with my GPS towards my next waypoint,
and found the old trailhead sign about 20 minutes later.
The trail is very faint at first, then after a couple
crossings of Whited Creek it is heavily cairned and easy to follow.
It then climbs steeply on the south side of the creek, breaking out
of treeline at around 11,700 feet where I picked up a subsidiary ridge
heading for the southwest slopes. This ridge has some interesting hoodoo
conglomerate rock to gaze upon.
The route then climbs grassy slopes to the saddle
with point 13,780 at around 13,580 feet.
The ridge was more of an optical illusion for me as it was
much farther than it seemed.
Once you crest the false summit, the work is done and the huge summit
cairn pops into view. I topped out at 9:46 am with nice views of the San
Luis group to the northwest.
A small storm cell was to the west, but it slowly moved
out of the way to the southwest, so I spent near an hour on top.
There were quite a few names I recognized in the register.
This peak sees few visitors given that is a centennial (highest 100
Colorado peaks) as well as a county highpoint.
I headed back down at 10:36 am, happy to be done with the
climbing for the day. I overshot the small ridge to the right,
but quickly retraced my steps to the correct ridge. The trail was easy to
find again, and I made good time back to the car. There was a little
thunder and light rain here and there, but it was welcome to me.
The only person I saw all day was a ranger in Phoenix Park, who was
probably looking to hand out some wilderness destruction tickets to
the beavers. I made it back to the car at 1 pm, happy to experience a
day of solitude in the San Juans.
Climb statistics: 11.4 miles round-trip with 4,400 feet of elevation gain.