Jenkins Mountain

Jenkins Mountain Overview

Jenkins Mountain is mostly recognized by it's false summit and occasionally mistaken as Grizzly Peak E, its neighbor. It is also considered to be an "unknown" Colorado 13er, but many people disagree. It is best seen down the road from Taylor Park, but it is also seen at a different view from the Winfield side; it looks like a completely different mountain compared to the view from the Winfield side. It rises 13,432 feet above sea level and looks extremely prominent compared to the flat field to it's northwest. Even though it is more of an unpopular mountain, it is climbed by at least five people weekly and is often combined with Grizzly Peak E and other variations. Anyone attempting to summit Jenkins Mountain should consider looking at a highly detailed topo to get the best route because the mountain is made up of all sharp and dangerously falling boulders above tree line. A route is explained below this in the page.

In-depth Details

Here are more details:

Elevation: 13,432 ft.
CO Peak Rank: 298

Range: Sawatch
Counties: Gunnison

Quadrangle: Pieplant
Coordinates: 38.96508, -106.54292

Prominence: 692'
Saddle: 12,740 ft.

Proximate Parent: Sayres Benchmark
Line Parent: Sayres Benchmark
Isolation: 3.89

YDS Class Rating: 2+

Climbers Log

Routes/Getting There

Wilderness Route via Timberline no. 414 Trail

From Buena Vista go onto West Main Street and go straight onto Chaffee County Road 306 road (paved) and accent Cottonwood Pass. from there, continue down the pass on a very easy/basic 2WD road (dirt) until you get to a junction down by Taylor Reservoir. At the junction make a right turn and continue down another 2WD (dirt) road until you see a sign to your right that says Timberline no. 414 and/or Pieplant. Make that right turn and go on an easy road to Pieplant. One at Pieplant, make a right until you see the Trailhead that says Timberline no. 414.
You will hike up a ATV/Dirtbike road until you see a gate and to the right of the gate, you will see the real trailhead for Timberline no. 414. DO NOT take that trail, instead go straight and take a side trip past the gate into the National Forest Wilderness to accent the mountain. The trail mysteriously ends in a boulder basin, before it ends, cross the boulder field and follow a crevice where water used to run down, all the way to the saddle at 12,740ft. From there make a left and it should be a very easy hike to the summit, but does require some class 2+ or so of scrabbling.

-OR-

You can make a left and instead of crossing the boulders, you scramble up to its false summit then from there the summit is in view and go across the ridge to the summit. I'd say that route is a hard class 3 but the YDS rating is based on the 1st route and a few others.

Red Tape

No permits required, but however you are in the National Forest Wilderness so be cautious and protect the area.

Camping

You have many options to camp. You could camp in some dispersed sites along the Pieplant road, or you can camp outside of Pieplant in some dispersed sites in the valley or paid/designated campsites that are also in the valley such as Rivers End, Dinner Station, or Dorchester.

External Links

http://www.listsofjohn.com/PeakStats/Climbers.php?Id=370

Images

View Jenkins Mountain Image Gallery - 12 Images