Rain all day Thursday and Friday in Golden meant snow up in the high country and caused the cancellation or modification of two different Colorado Mountain Club trips. So at the last minute I decided to do an “easy” loop hike to visit a few new 13′ers.
I left town early Saturday and drove up to Guanella Pass, from here most hikers would head east and try to reach the summits of Evans or Bierstadt – both popular 14′ers. I headed the opposite direction and followed in the footsteps of two hunters who I soon caught and passed. They’d be the only people I’d see all day until I returned to regular roads.
The snow completely blanketed the slopes all around and the conditions felt more like winter than the end of summer. Soon I reached one of the Square Top Lakes and admired the sun hitting the peak above.
Hiking further uphill I eventually met the sun and admired its rise over the 14ers behind me.
I followed the southeast ridge above the lakes and tried to find wind blown areas of the ridge where the snow wasn’t very deep. Unfortunately, those were the areas where the wind was still blowing and keeping me from warming up.
When I couldn’t find windblown terrain, the snow was piled a few inches to nearly a foot deep. The going was slow, but snow shoes wouldn’t have helped very much. After a two hour climb I arrived at Square Top’s summit and took a 10 minute break near some rime iced rocks.
From the summit I had a wonderful view toward Quandary Peak and all its neighbors.
From Square Top I had a steep descent down partly snow-covered rocks to the saddle between it and Argentine Peak.
Off to my right I kept an eye on Mount Wilcox, which I hoped to make my third summit of the day.
As I moved along the ridge and past the windy saddle I looked back and could appreciate how Square Top acquired its name.
To my left I could see the snow line played out on the slopes of Peru Creek drainage.
On my way to Argentine I passed some power transmission towers, they weren’t immune to the rime ice either.
Less than an hour after leaving Square Top I arrived at Argentine Peak and sat down for another break of hot tea.
I looked ahead at completing this loop by backtracking a bit to the connecting ridge with Mount Wilcox.
On the way to Wilcox I had to pass another one of the towers, but this one hadn’t been iced up.
Some interesting rock formations adorned the north side of the ridge and proved more scenic than the man-made structures.
From the summit of Wilcox, I decided to drop down grassy slopes covered with wet snow and head toward Naylor Lake.
I found a trail on the north side of the lake and followed it back to a road.
While walking the road I suddenly noticed all the “No Trespassing” signs and realized I had missed the fact that Naylor Lake was private property. I hurried through as quickly as possible.
Back on the main road I had a couple mile walk back to my starting trailhead. At least the views of Evans and Bierstadt once I broke above treeline made up for the 30 minute hike on pavement.
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