Redcloud and Sunshine Peaks
14,034’ - 14,001’
54/54/26-27
August 15th, 2013
After finishing Handies Peak on the 14th, I drove down to
the Grizzly Creek trailhead to be ready to attempt Redcloud and Sunshine Peaks
the next day. I spent most of the day lying around the Xterra reading and
trying to nap a little. As I laid around
doubt once again began to seep into my mind.
Many of same thoughts that had been running thought my mind the night
prior to Hanides came back. I did not
have enough 14ers or big days under my belt this season to leave me doubt free.
So as the hours of waiting slowly passed, I tried to push my doubts deeper
inside of me. I meet BookMark from Ohio
as he made his way back to the trailhead from a successful solo summit of both
peaks. Talking to him about his summits
helped to build my confidence.
When my alarm went off just after 4:30 a.m. I felt the best
I had in several weeks. I hoped that
this was a good sign, even though the doubts were still swirling around in my
mind. I was headed up the trail within
30 minutes. Forgetting my regular pack was coming back to haunt me. As I headed up in the cold my main head lamp
would not stay on. The small spare that I kept in the car would have to light
my way until dawn broke. The trail
climbed steadily for the first mile and a half through forest. With each step I felt my doubts and fears
being pushed further and further out of my mind, and I began to truly enjoy the
experience.
At a mile and a half the trail begins to turn to the
northeast as it contours along the side of Silver Creek before hooking around the
backside of Redcloud Peak. The sound of
the creek was joined by its beauty as dawn began to chase away the night. As I climbed higher into the basin at the head
of I watched the sun slowly climb down its east
face, snapping away a dozen pictures of it progress. It was not until I reached the saddle between
Redcloud and Peak 16,561’ that I realized that I had only been seeing the false
summit far below Redcloud’s true summit.
With the disappointment I continued on one step at a time. The trail up to These social trails
were badly eroding in many places so I stayed on the main trail, to honor the
hard work of those who put in the work to make these great trails.
the creek I could see Redcloud’s summit come into view. 
The final push to the summit climbed up a section of serpentine
trail and I soon found myself alone on my first summit of the day at 9.a.m. Aptly named, the summit was covered in a red
colored rock. With one more new summit still lying ahead on me today, I only spent
a few minutes taking pictures before starting the ridge traverse over to
Sunshine Peak. My original plan for the day was to take the standard route up
then come down either the NW Ridge or down from Sundog Peak. However, as I traversed southward to Sunshine
I just did not see an easy line that would take me down either of these two
routes.
 |
| The traverse to Sunshine |
The traverse felt easy, after getting my second wind on
Redcloud’s summit. Even the final push
up to the summit felt easier that it looked from below. I was passed by a group of three coming back
from Sunshine, who had spent the night at the head of the lower basin, and claimed
the first summits of the day. I made
Sunshine’s summit just about an hour after leaving Redcloud’s. The summit was my own for 20 minutes before I
was joined by another solo climber. Talking with him he had decided to try to
reach the basin below and to the west of the summit. While I really liked the idea of making this into
a loop hike, rather than having to reascend Redcloud’s summit, I did not see a
good way to get down to the basin, especially by myself. After a good snack I
headed back across the traverse to Redcloud.
The challenge with heading back to Redcloud is that you have
to regain 500 feet of elevation. The trip back went much slower, and I found
myself stopping quite often. The worst
part was when I topped out on what I thought was going to be the summit, only
to find that I still had a ways to go, and still more elevation to gain.
Finally reaching Redcloud’s summit again, I was surprised to see over 15 people
sprawled out recovering from their 1st summit of the day. Not wanting to be caught in the mass of
people, I quickly made my way off of Redcloud.
 |
| Basin to the West of Sunshine Peak |
The descent back to the trailhead went smoothly. I did get to see all the spectacular views
that were hidden in the darkness of my ascent.
Just under 2 miles from the trailhead I ran into a family that I had
seen heading up Sunshine as I was heading down.
They had decided to try the basin descent on the way back. They said there was a lot of butt sliding to
make it down to the basin, but from there it was easy. Even after talking to them I felt like I had
made the right decision for me. If I would have been hiking with someone else I
would have gone for it, but solo, it was an easy choice.
Once back to the trailhead I was packed up and on the road
within 30 minutes. Despites my doubts,
it had been a good and successful trip, but I was anxious to get home to Karen
and Cade. Now with my summer break
almost over, and not many close 14ers left unclimbed, my 2013 14er season may
be at a close. After my earlier rained out attempt on Pikes Peak, I really like
to try to get back there to close out all the Front Range Summits, except Long’s
which I am saving for last. However,
with training for a trail half marathon at the end of September, I am not sure
if my schedule will allow me to get away for one more. But isn’t a 14er good training
for a trail race??
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