Little Giant Peak is in a stunning collection of mountains east of Silverton. Kendall Mountain and Kendall Peaks are just to the west. The area is part of the Silverton Caldera Group, known in geological circles as one of the grandest examples of recent volcanic actvity in Colorado. As "recent" as 65 million years ago, this place was a volcanic plateau filled with huge cauldrons of lava. These mountains are the remnants of a much larger massif of fire and ash that was raging as dinosaurs walked nearby in lands that are now the state of Colorado. Because of this geologic cataclysm, the western San Juans were to become a mining mecca yielding gold, silver, zinc, lead and a host of other valuable minerals and ores.

Due to the heated volcanic activity and following rapid cooling from recent ice ages, Little Giant, like most of the San Juan range, is rapidly crumbling. The mountain is characterized by very steep tundra and unstable talus slopes, dotted with crumbling cliffs and gaping chasms. Avalanche activity in the winter is routine and often violent. This mountain falls apart faster than most following heavy periods of rain and snow. In geologic terms, this mountain will crumble to nothing long before the Sangre De Cristos get started with their erosion process. When climbing Little Giant, keep these factors in mind.

The two routes to Little Giant mountain are located in the heart of the Silverton Caldera. The Dives Basin Route from Cunningham Gulch passes through many abandoned mines, and some recently closed that were working as late as the 1980s. Evidence of mining activity is apparent almost to the top of the mountain. These mining areas are hazardous, dotted with crumbling mining remains and ominous sinkholes.

The Silver Lake route is very interesting, although longer. The route passes by the intriguing ghost town of Silver Lake (see special section below), which is worth a brief side visit if you intend to climb Little Giant's west slopes. Silver Lake also makes a great destination on its own.

Getting There

CUNNINGHAM GULCH OPTION
Take HWY 550 to Silverton. From Silverton take county road 110 due northeast about 4 miles. Take a right up Cunningham gulch. Stay to the right at a fork, and then stay right again at the fork for Stony Pass. Drive from this fork 1.6 miles to a marker discussing rehabilitating the creek and park out of the way. With a good eye you can see a miner's trail ascending up the west valley slope. See the Dives Basin Route in the ROUTES section (upper left).

SILVER LAKE OPTION
Take HWY 550 to Silverton. From Silverton take county road 110 due northeast 2 miles. Pass a turn out with plaques about the mining activities in the area (an interesting stop). Just beyond is a right turn that takes you down toward the Animas River. Follow this road as it climbs up Arrastra Gulch. On the other side of the river, the road gets rocky and passenger cars may need to find parking soon after.

4WD can proceed up the narrowing road through the trees. Once out of the trees and in Arrastra Gulch, parking is available or you can proceed further up the loose talus covered road. 4WD experience is recommended. The road steepens to the next switchback, which is sharp but passable with careful maneuvering. The road ends at the portal (now sealed) to the Mayflower Mine, where mining remnants have been thoughtlessly bladed away to make room for ample parking.

LITTLE GIANT BASIN OPTION
Follow instructions for the Silver Lake option, but once on the way up Arrastra Gulch, keep an eye out for a sharp left turn. This road leads to Little Giant Basin to the east. The mountain can be accessed from there as well, probably best by a ridge between it and King Solomon Mountain. A pack trail seems the best option to gain the ridge between the two peaks.

LOOP OPTION
This option is a long day due to driving requirements and placement of a shuttle vehicle in the Arrastra Gulch area. Bring a copy of the Howardsville 7.5min quad for navigation purposes.

Take the Kendall Mountain jeep road east out of Silverton. A crossing of the Animas River in a wide, shallow spot is necessary. Do not attempt in swollen waters. Staying right , proceed up the road to the Deer Park area. Keep alert for a large clearing that extends up the slopes of the Kendall mountains to your left. Park off the road in this vicinity. The road is relatively flat as it goes through this clearing.

Route Options

These routes follow old trails the miners once used a hundred years ago. They may be sketchy, so routefinding and navigation skills will be helpful.

DIVES BASIN OPTION Class 2 4 miles round trip, 3,040 feet
From Cunningham Gulch there is an old mining trail that can be hard to find that goes up to Dives Basin. From the basin hike up on an old trail bearing right towards an opening in the cliffs above you. Timberline is gained after climbing back left through some trees that breach the cliffs. The trail is steep but well sustained with many switchbacks and occasional cairns. See the Dives Basin Route for further details.

SILVER LAKE OPTION Class 2
From Arrastra Gulch to Little Giant: 2.5 miles, 3216 feet
From Mayflower Portal to Little Giant: 1.5 miles, 2016 feet
From Arrastra Gulch to Silver Lake: 2 Miles, 1824 feet
From Mayflower Portal to Silver Lake: 1 mile, 924 feet

Proceed up the trail which runs along the base of the towering cliffs that make up Little Giant's north ridge. The trail passes over great waves of rock that have crumbled over the centuries from the west slopes of Little Giant's north ridge. The trail is packed down and well worn, but rockslides are common and the trail's condition can change daily during a wet San Juan monsoon.

Switchbacks lead you out of the rock fall area into sparse fields of flowers as you approach a cliff band guarding access to Silver Lake Basin. Entering the cliff band, two options are presented. A direct climb up through a break in the rocks rejoins the trail, or stay on the trail as it winds up through the band. This is a spectacular place.

Beyond, the steepness relents as you forge higher into the long basin. Wild flowers become abundant. The ghost town of Silver Lake is then reached in about twenty minutes. Total mileage to Silver Lake from the Mayflower Portal is just under a mile.

Right before reaching the lake, you may notice a faint miner's trail breaking off to the east. The trail is indicated on the Howardsville Quad but may not be immediately evident. From this spot, climb directly east up steep tundra slopes followed by the inevitable loose rock and scree to Little Giant's summit. This is a 1400 foot gain in less than half a mile, so be ready for STEEP climbing.

Just beyond the mouth of the lake, the ruins of Silver Lake will be seen on the right. Explore this very special ghost town carefully and delight in its wonderful setting. This is one of Colorado's highest ghost towns, and it was built on a sand bar at 12,186 feet! Until recently, it was one of Colorado's best preserved ghost towns because it requires walking to get to it. As a result, the clothes, tools, plates and utensils of the miners litter the ruins, which at one time were spectacular to walk among.

Alas, the passage of time and the relentless San Juan winters of the last two decades took their toll on Silver Lake. The town is not as preserved as it used to be, but it's still a magnificent spot you won't forget. For more reading and photos, see the Silver Lake section below.

LOOP OPTION Class 2
From Deer Park to Mayflower Mine 3.5 miles, 2300 feet (ascent to saddle and Little Giant summit)

A faint use trail may be evident, but generally proceed up this broad tundra valley due east, then northeast as you approach the saddle between the Kendall summits. At the saddle, decide whether to proceed or return here, particularly in bad weather, since retreat to your vehicle in Deer Park would be quicker than proceeding.

Proceeding, drop down toward Silver Lake. Little Giant will be visible and you can contemplate your route up the mountain. If you wish, swing by the Silver Lake ghost town during your trip or contour around Silver Lake's east side.

Scramble up to Little Giant's summit and return dropping down the mountain's steep west slopes to just north of Silver Lake to intercept the Silver Lake trail. Route finding and loose rock experience will be helpful. Proceed down the trail to your shuttle vehicle.

See the map in this section. This route is not highlighted in the embellishments but can be seen at the bottom of the map. Kendall Peak (#4) has been labled.

Red Tape

Silver Lake was last reported to be owned by the ASARCO mining company. No issues of visiting Silver Lake have ever been raised, but keep in mind that this is not your spot to do with as you please. Leave everything in its place and do not enter any of the structures.

When To Climb

Summer through Fall are generally best, depending on the snow conditions. Arrastra and Cunningham Gulch have seen many violent avalanches and landslides (see MOUNTAIN CONDITIONS below).

Winter and early spring ascents are possible but not recommended. Late spring ascents may be safely executed under ideal conditions. Use your informed judgement before proceeding.

Camping

There are a few informal places to camp in the Cunningham Gulch.

Camping at Silver Lake is possible, but this is a high alpine environment and you will be exposed to potentially violent San Juan weather. See the TRIP REPORTS (upper left hand corner).

Camping in the Deer Park area would be a pleasant undertaking. Isolation and solitude are a good bet.

Fee camping is available in Silverton, along with a host of lodging opportunities.

Mountain Conditions

Telluride/Western San Juan Regional Weather

GOES Western Satellite Image

The area is prone to severe avalanche activity. The early miners constructed great triangular deflectors out of wood and stone to deflect and break up the avalanches that regularly ran back then. These structures still stand today, and during heavy winters, the avalanches still run. Winter ascents are not recommended. The area trails will be mostly clear of snow mid to late June.

The Dives Basin option climbs and traverses slopes where avalanche potential is constant and immediate. This route is not recommended for winter or spring ascents. Late summer through fall will provide ideal, safe conditions.

The Silver Lake option crosses beneath Little Giant's crumbling north ridge. Erosion is highly accellerated in this area and rockfall is common. Avalanches are massive and deadly. These forces led to the ultimate destruction of man's mining toils, the evidence which is seen today in Arrastra Gulch. Giant steel tram towers crumpled up and tossed down the mountain like wads of paper! DO NOT attempt this access in the winter or early spring.

Silver Lake

The Ghost Town of Silver Lake

Photo by Aaron Johnson, Summer, 1983

At the height of mining activity in the area, Silver Lake was the king of the local mines. Silver Lake churned out valuable ores by the ton as many other mines shut down in the wake of the Silver Crash in the early 20th century. Silver Lake prospered well into the thirties, long after the gold rush had long since played out. The owners of Silver Lake, Ed and Lena Stoiber, became multimillionaires, and successors such as the Guggenheim steel family from Pittsburgh (who lost principles on the Titanic) also profited from the operation.

At the peak of its operation, Silver Lake reportedly yielded enough ore in a cart to make a man rich. Unlike other mines or towns of the area, Silver Lake's prosperity was evident in its own generated electricity, hot and cold running water and state of the art machinery for the time. The miner's bunk house towered four stories. The town had a mess hall with a large cafeteria, assay office and a massive stamp mill. The mill ran twenty four hours non-stop and no doubt made a hellacious racket as it crushed the ore that poured out of Kendall Peak and Round Mountain.

The nearby Iowa and Royal Tiger mines also dotted the shores of the lake and were prosperous as well. The operations merged into the Iowa-Tiger mine and ore from the Tiger was sent across the lake on a tram to the Iowa for shipment out via the Tiger's tram in Dives Basin. The cables were still present in the 80s, drooping into the water. During the 90s, the Iowa's massive building finally collapsed and the cables were sent to the icy depths of Silver Lake.

The irony of this bustling mining town was its location. The mine had been established and riches were immediate to facilitate its building in the years to follow. The tailings from the mine were so fine that it was essentially sand. This sand remnant was dumped into Silver Lake, forming a penninsula that would result in almost forming two lakes. The town of Silver lake was built on this sand bar, which is still there today. A walk down Silver Lake's sandy main street is an unforgettable experience.

Silver Lake, late 1800s, BLM Collection

Reduced ore was loaded on to the impressive bucket tram system. The tram hauled miners going to and from work (what a ride!) and the ore down Arrastra Gulch to the industrial railroad stop of Waldheim. Here, the massive Silver Lake Mill processed the ore to refined quantities to be shipped out on the Rainbow rail route (the same route used by the Durango Silverton Railroad today). The train used to crawl up the Animas Canyon all the way to Animas Forks. Silver Lake's Waldheim was the first stop north of Silverton. The Stoibers had their mansion and business office located here as well.

In 1940, many of the local mining structures were scrapped for the oncoming war effort. Steel plating and pipes in these structures were needed to build the mighty US Naval fleet. The Silver Lake Mill was totally scrapped after a fire, and the mansion was also torn down and scrapped.

But Silver Lake remained untouched and almost pristine for many years. Tougher than the folks that built it, Silver Lake has braved over one hundred harsh San Juan winters. The three story bunk house was lost to a fire early on, but the town stood intact well into the 70s. For ghost town entusiasts, Silver Lake was the ultimate experience. In the 90s, Silver Lake started showing signs that age was catching up with it, and a number of important buildings gave up the ghost and collapsed. As of 2002, most of the structures were down or ready to go. Only the stoutly built power house, perhaps the most important structure for obvious reasons, stands today with little suggesion of giving in. But as with all things man builds, it's just a matter of time.

A trip to Silver Lake isn't as fascinating as it was twenty years ago, but it's still worth a visit. Your imagination will be piqued. You'll get a real sense of what it was to live and work (hard) in the San Juans back at the turn of the 20th century. You'll marvel at what was left behind. Pneumatic drills, plates and bowls, tons of machinery, shoes and clothes. Despite the crumbling condition, Silver Lake is still an incredible place to see.

CAUTION: Tread carefully! Exploring old mines can be inherently dangerous. Always watch your step and do not enter any of the structures. They are not as strong as they were twenty years ago! The boiler house is just about ready to crumble. (Update-the boiler house was collapsed in 2006). Stay out of these ruins!

See the TRIP REPORT (upper left hand corner) and the pictures in this section.

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