Redcloud Peak

Date to Climb: July 14, 2009

Date Climbed: June 23, 2009

Elevation: 14,034

Range: San Juan

Latitude: 37.94090, Longitude: -107.42170

Route: Northeast Ridge ll, Class 2

Sunshine Peak

Date to Climb: July 14, 2009

Date Climbed: June 23, 2009

Elevation: 14,001

Range: San Juan

Latitude: 37.92268, Longitude: -107.42548

Route: From Redcloud ll, Class 2

Pre-Climb Comments

If we have any early morning starts left in our tired bodies, we would need to use on this duo. These peaks are notorious for thunderstorms. We will try to climb early and quickly. One advantage is that we can trailhead camp two night in the same location. It will be nice to rest near the car.

Post-Climb Comments

We adjusted the climb date up for these peaks. In general we clustered all the San Juan Peaks climbs in the same time frame of June 22 through July 1. By grouping the peaks we hope to reduce driving time and gas consumption.

After a long day of getting to San Luis and going from San Luis to the Handies Group we were ready for some needed rest. We found a place to park and went to bed. No time was wasted.

Redcloud and Sunshine are noted for their storms making us want to start early but all we could muster was a six-fifteen departure. We seemed very disorganized.

The trail followed a creek all the way around both mountains. The route was long and we were moving slow. We still were not feeling good, much like the way we felt on San Luis, the day before. Moving was about the best that you could say about our efforts. We were not walking fast, just moving.

Jake joined us on the hike and he was enjoying every motion. He chased sticks, water, chipmunks, marmots, and pika (he was on a six foot leash). He really enjoys mountain hikes but his paws take a battering.

Many breaths later brought us to the summit of Redcloud. It was a summit of red dirt and rocks, less than spectacular. It only took a few minutes to see all that we could see and we were off for the mile and a half traverse to Sunshine.

We followed the rolling ridge line to the summit. It was not hard, but our breathing made one think a locomotive was coming. Another hiker had beat us to the summit - Chad from Colorado. He was traveling around doing all the remaining Fourteeners on his list. He asked how we were descending and we said that, with the dog, we better just reverse ort path. He, instead, was going to take a beeline down a very steep scree slope - what a wild man!

Further down the trail we met again. We discussed our next days climbs and both were talking about doing Mount Handies. Maybe we would walk together.

We returned to the trailhead with feet that felt as if they had climbed a couple of fourteeners. Still, we needed to make preparations for the next day. Amy headed to the creek with Jake to filter water while I set up the car for the evening. Not long after, it started raining. It rained for the remainder of the day, which made prepping for the climb difficult.

The climb of the two peaks was surrounded by spectacular scenery - we highly recommend them for beauty, but the hike itself was just mediocre.