― St. Augustine of Hippo
Miles: 5.5 miles
Elevation Gain: 2500 ft.
Myself - Jones Mountain A (13,860 ft), American Peak (13,806 ft), Handies Peak (14,048 ft)
Miles: ~9.4 miles (8.75 hrs with about 45 min of breaks)
Elevation Gain: 4675 ft
We started at 8 am sharp. Beautiful morning, sun just topping over the summit shining on the high cliffs of American Peak ahead. We had our coffee and breakfast and were ready to roll. We had a great time strolling up the nice, easy trail to Sloan Lake. A family with a baby in their backpack passed us. We also met a guy coming down who spent the night on the summit of Handies! Wow! What a night to do so.
My goal for the day was Jones Mountain A and Handies Peak. Since I never get to venture down here, I thought I would take advantage and hike a few extra peaks. I have a sort of soft goal in the back of my mind to hike all 100 highest peaks in Colorado. After this weekend, I am up to 65 of 100.
I went up the normal Handies trail to Sloan Lake with Jarred and Michaela before breaking off towards Jones Mountain A. I hope Jarred and Michaela had a good time hiking together. I must admit, I felt a somewhat selfish to wander off to hike my own goals for the day to then meet up with them in the end. I knew if I were to hike Jones Mountain A today, I would need to do it first because I'd need my energy to hike this route because it doesn't have a nice defined trail and takes more focus. Bonus peak would be to hike American Peak as well. The jaunt west below American Peak to the steep incline to the low point in the ridge that gives access to Jones Mnt. A was pretty straight forward. Talus and boulder hopping all the way, then a short steep dirt incline up to the ridge.
Made the summit at 10:55 am, considering I left Sloan Lake at 9:25 am. Not bad.
Next, descend the ascent route and go to American Peak. I figured American Peak would be a bonus. The descent off the summit of Jones and the ridge went much smoother. I could see the better route through the loose scree on the slopes. I was glad to be back to the low point between American Peak and Jones. Enough loose talus for me.
In looking at American Peak. It was a bit daunting at first because it looked far away compared to Jones. I was reluctant because of the distance. However, I figured I'd see how the trail to American Peak starts out as I could always turn around. Thankfully, this trail was a fantastic hikers trail. And, the best part is it was very well made naturally. It crossed the talus at a constant elevation basically all the way to American Peak. This lifted my spirits tremendously and allowed me to bust it across to American Peak. I made it to the summit in 20 minutes from the saddle with Jones. That is how good this trail was as long as you stayed on it. My confidence rose. I made the summit just shy of 11:45 am. I snarfed down my sandwich, an apple, some sausage, a fruit snack, reapplied sunscreen, and was heading back at 12:05 pm. I wanted to make quick time to get back to Sloan lake to meet Jarred and Michaela. I certainly did make fast time. I made it back to the saddle in 20 minutes, jump skied the loose dirt slope from the saddle to the talus in American Basin, then crossed to Sloan Lake by 12:55. This jump scree down was glorious. So quick on soft dirt. Very nice to make fast time.
I split off with them at 1:15 pm to head to the final summit of the day. Handies. I did well today to make Handies a tough climb, even though it is the easiest route of all the 14ers due to its short distance and nice trail.
Cheers, until next time. I'm sure this fall will see a few more adventures.