2462 Hits
79.78% Score
11 Votes
Page Type:
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Trip Report |
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Lat/Lon:
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39.67031°N / 106.24344°W |
Date Climbed/Hiked:
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Sep 6, 2020 |
Activities:
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Hiking, Scrambling |
Season:
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Summer, Fall |
Mileage: 12.5 miles RT
Vertical: 6,300 ft
Time: 8 hours (moving); 10 hours (total)
What better way to salute that most fundamental cog of the American economy—labor!—than to ditch the office, punch west on I-70, and put in “work” of an alpine variety on the Gore Range’s Grand Traverse? My Labor Day weekend thus planned, I outfitted the back of my 2010 Honda CR-V with a slab of plywood slung snugly on top of the car’s side grooves and added camping pads, memory foam, and blankets for maximum coziness. No more 3 A.M. wakeups on the Front Range for 5 A.M. alpine starts in the Rockies! Feeling liberated, I cruised into the Gore Creek Trailhead parking area as the daylight faded. I met up with a new friend, Luke, with whom I’d tackled the Tenmile Traverse the weekend prior.
Tip: Gore Creek Campground is an option here if you like to pay $26 a night to be stacked on top of your neighbors. It’s not glamorous and I-70 traffic noise will be a constant all night, but a free option is to park your vehicle somewhere in the trailhead’s vicinity and hunker down.
We arose to the bleep of the alarm and the aroma of car exhaust from below, pounded breakfast, and drove one car to the Bighorn Creek Trailhead two miles west, leaving the other at the Deluge Creek Trailhead as a shuttle.
Amid our fussing, fidgeting, and general grogginess, our “alpine start” slid to 7:30 A.M. I wasn’t worried, confident in our hiking pace.
A mountain morning always enchants. We hiked for two hours up the Bighorn Creek basin, marveling at the creeping golds and auburns of the imminent autumn. There’s a lonely quality to the changing of seasons; we were reminded that impermanence is the law up here—that summer decays shortly after its apex. Smoke from the Williams Fork and Grizzly Creek wildfires had choked the Gores for weeks, but the air was remarkably clear this morning.
View of Keller Mtn-North Traverse Peak saddle (right of distant point) after ascent past cabin.
One of the many plants lending its fall pigments to the subalpine meadow. Plants enthusiasts, what's this one called?
After passing a well-maintained cabin around 11,000 ft, the trail continues into the higher reaches of the drainage and pitters out through a marshy zone. We skirted a series of small, shallow ponds, and entered a cirque with slopes carpeted in grass and talus. There are many options to ascend the saddle here. We chose a route due north (pictured) that looked like the easiest way up. We crested the saddle to the right of a small notch after ten minutes of steep Class 2 hiking over grass. This turned out to have been a small miscalculation, as we now contended with a steep easterly traverse to gain the true saddle between Keller Mountain-North Traverse Peak. I'd say our route added 45 mins to the day...a better option would be to ascend a more direct line to the saddle over Class 2/3 grass and rock ledges.
Our ascent route, visible as a small notch in the ridge (center).
The more ideal location to ascend the ridge—save yourself the extra half hour of traversing.
Views of North Grand Traverse Peak and saddle. You can't yet see the Grand Traverse ridgeline.
From the saddle, it's a straight shot up North Grand Traverse Peak. We followed the ridgeline closely and got our first taste of the Class 3/4 scrambling that would define the true traverse, arriving at the summit just shy of 5 hours since takeoff. The gnar-gnar Grand Traverse wasn't visible until we summited North Grand, which made its first sighting all the more thrilling:
The way forward is clear, if intimidating. The fun begins in earnest!
Progress involved mostly Class 3 scrambling over solid granite with some spicier sections to keep the brain off autopilot. At several points, a large gendarme (pronounced "john-darm", not "jen-dar-may", as I had assumed—oops!) proved impassable without dropping down and around. In my opinion, these were the hardest manuevers: carefully descending loose scree gullies.
Towards the end of the traverse, we approached yet another gendarme that looked impassable without some big Class 5 moves. A hundred-foot downclimb seemed unavoidable. That option was incredibly unappealing, so we decided to try our luck at an open slot close to the pinnacle (pictured below). Like a doorway to Narnia, this feature provided passage to the magical world beyond.
In the doorway and the brief Class 4 downclimb on the other side.
After 1.5 hrs of negotiating the ridge, the summit loomed. This last rocky section (above) had some of the best scrambling of the entire route, including my first error. I scampered up a promising ledge of rock, found that it spilled over a cliff, and had to back-track. Otherwise, route-finding was never an issue. A helicopter flew overhead as we climbed within shouting range of the summit. Luke and I expressed our deep desire to hitch a ride with the pilot back down to the trailhead. Instead, we began the knee-busting descent of Deluge basin around 2:30pm. Did I mention I'm 11 months post-ACL reconstruction on my left knee?
Views from the summit of Grand Traverse Peak.
Deluge Lake beckons far (far, FAR) below.
We traversed the talus slope to the left until it gave way to steep grass down to a saddle. From the saddle, it's steep, loose, and choose-your-own-adventure until you hit the lake. I summoned my inner billy goat and charged across the larger rocks, preferring this style of descent to the controlled slide of pebbles. I redeemed my swift rock-hopping with a cat-nap at Deluge Lake.
Of course, we needed to jump in the lake to gain membership in the exclusive Polar Bear Club (requirement: submerge in an alpine lake with snow still present on its edge). Then we hauled our weary knees the 4.5 miles back to the Gore Creek TH, spurred on by hallucinations of pizza and ice cream. We were back at the car by 5:30pm as the golden afternoon raged in full force and autumn's first downed aspen leaves shuddered across the parking lot.
A parting glance at Deluge Lake.
Approximate route.
Gorgeous. Thanks for sharing.
Haha :) Thank you!
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