There is snow in Colorado in September – but if we want to hike twenty 14ers this season, we can’t let a little snow stop us, right? Sunshine and Redcloud Peaks, here we come!

This weekend we headed to Lake City, Co, a VERY tiny mountain town out in the middle of nowhere. Now, I do have to commend this town for its food. We had an excellent burger at Sportsman’s BBQ Station and we ate twice at Southern Vittles which did not disappoint (you have got to try their chicken-fried steak meal with some sweet tea!). 

I have to tell you a little story before we get into our 14er snow expedition. We arrived late Friday night (was a 5-hour drive for us after work) and the temperature is much colder in Lake City than Denver. We enter our “cabin” and Joe immediately starts looking for the temperature controller. I hear him ask, “Um, so where is the heater?”. I look over and we both spot a portable heater at the same time. 

I have to say, he isn’t thrilled at all. 

I then point to the other side of the room and tell him, “Well there is our air conditioner”. 

Let’s just say, he wasn’t amused. I am now banned from making hotel reservations.

---

So, we decide we want to clear a double the next day: Redcloud Peak and Sunshine Peak. This is a 12.25 mile hike with approximately 4,800’ elevation gain. It can’t be as difficult as our Shavano-Tabeguache double, right? That was 5,600’ elevation gain!

We know there may be some snow, but the weather otherwise is supposed to be clear: 5 – 10mph winds and in the 20 – 30’s at the peak. We got this. Heck, this time I pack my puffy jacket and thick gloves (I am not repeating a Mount Antero hike ever again!). 

The drive to the trailhead is very pretty and is rough only the last few miles. We decided to start our hike after sunrise to allow for warmer temperatures and we figured it would not take us longer than 8 hours to complete.

We arrive to the trailhead and find very easy parking. There are about 15 cars there and so we expect to see some hikers heading up the trail with us, but after hiking an hour or so, we realize there is no one behind us and wonder if the others decided to hike up to Handies Peak (they share trailheads at Grizzly Gulch/Silver Creek). 

It is a beautiful hike through the trees (a little steep in the beginning!) and we have the opportunity to hike next to a creek which is very soothing. After a few miles we enter into a wide basin and this is our first opportunity to see fellow hikers. We pass a large group of ladies who are working their way back to their cars and a handful of single and twosome hikers.

We work our way through the basin towards the first of several false summits that are covered in snow. We are not too worried because we packed layers and our microspikes. We slather on more sunblock to prepare for the snow. 

The scenery is some of the most beautiful we have seen which is good because the trail becomes steeper and a bit challenging at this time. We work our way up towards Redcloud and finally see the famous switchbacks that look amazing in the summer due to the “red” gravel and dirt. Of course we just see lots of snow!

We slowly continue up the mountainside and after what seems like forever, we reach the summit. We are all alone. The wind picks up and we have to add more layers. After a few quick pictures we make the decision that we should head over to Sunshine Peak as it is only about a mile away. 

Well, a mile is a lot further than you realize when you are fighting knee deep snow, wind, and more elevation gain. I thought I would never make it. I just had to start counting my steps and keep moving along otherwise Joe would have been on his own. It took about an hour, but we did reach the peak. Again, we were the only ones there! 

As we work our way back to Redcloud, I had a stop a few times and admire the beauty of the snow. At times it seemed like we were in a beautiful desert as the snow was so white. It was truly amazing. I couldn’t stop for long though, as the sun was overhead, starting to melt the snow into slush and we still had several miles to cover. We reach Redcloud and for the third time, we are all alone at the peak.

We trudge through the snow and slush towards our starting point, thankful we have trekking poles and microspikes because some of the descent is loose, slushy, and we are sliding down the mountainside even with the miscrospikes. We eventually exit the snow and enter the basin where we can rest for a moment, drink some LMNT and layer off. It is at this time we realize that the snow has really zapped our energy and we are getting dehydrated and sunburned. We had not prepared to be hiking 50% of our hike in snow, much less knee-deep at times. We gather our items and get moving because by now we only have about 2 hours of light left and we had not brought our headlamps (another lesson learned!).

We finish our hike just before the sun sets, 10 hours after we started. We are exhausted, ran out of water right at the last mile, and ready for dinner. It was an epic day and one we learned a lot. 

• Overprepare when there is or may be snow. This includes lots of sunscreen in areas you don’t think about (inside nostrils!), extra water (or filter if there is a water source), longer day.
• Even if you plan for a day hike, bring your headlamp just in case!
• Be sure to have snacks, electrolytes, etc. LMNT was a life-saver!

We loved the hike, the scenery, and the solitude as there were very few hikers the whole day but this was a hike we are not sure we will repeat as it was TOUGH!

12.25 miles
4800’ elevation gain
14,037 summit (Redcloud Peak)
14,004’ summit (Sunshine Peak)
10 hours roundtrip
Northeast Ridge Route
Class 2