Mt. Owen (13,340 ft) and Cotton Lake at the top of the Cotton Creek drainage in the northern-Sangre de Cristos, seen from UN 13,490. Click all photos to enlarge.
On Monday I was able to pull off a big loop in the northern-Sangres that had been on the short list for a few summers. The loop collects seven 13ers around Cotton Lake between Mt. Owen and De Anza Peak just north of the Rito Alto group. Armed with a near-perfect weather forecast and a day off work, I finally decided to pull the trigger. Things went pretty smoothly overall and it turned out to be the big, satisfying day I was hoping for.
First up on the agenda, Mt. Owen, which had a new register and several recorded summits in 2018.
The northern-Sangres are perfect for multi-peak linkups thanks to a consistent network of high, rolling ridge lines and generally good access in the area. Red Mountain to Galena, Cottonwood to Electric, and Spread Eagle to Eureka are some other similar days to be had up there. The particular loop I was going for starts on Mt. Owen (which sits between the Cotton Creek and Wild Cherry Creek drainages) and heads south to pick up two unnamed peaks before turning northeast to the summit of “Silver Peak”, then onto Mt. Marcy, Gibbs, and De Anza peaks. From there a use trail which descends from the De Anza/Electric saddle through Horsethief Basin connects easily back up with the Cotton Creek trail.
The route worked out well overall, apart from the less-than-desirable bushwhack directly up Mt. Owen from the Cotton Creek trail, and a short delay at the Gibbs/De Anza saddle to wait for a rain cell to pass by. Thanks to the generally solid trail system and the 90% cruiser ridge line, I was able to complete the loop in just over 11 hours from the car (stats came out to be 24.4 miles with 9,222 ft of gain).
Views south from Mt. Owen towards UN 13,122 (aka “Wild Cherry Peak”) and UN 13,490 (left).
Looking back at the south ridge on Mt. Owen with the Cotton Creek drainage visible below.
UN 13,490 seen from “Wild Cherry Peak”.
Summit of “Silver Peak” looking north towards Mt. Marcy, Gibbs, and De Anza peaks.
View of De Anza Peak (right) from Gibbs, with Mt. Owen back left.
De Anza Peak summit with Mt. Owen in back, and the Unnamed peaks back left.
…and lastly, the “relive” video based off my GPX track. These are always fun:
On a final note, for anyone contemplating this loop who might be wondering, I’m convinced the CCW direction is the way to go. Getting the bushwhack over with early is always a plus, and the ridges connecting the southern trio of peaks are slightly more tedious than those of the northern peaks. I found it nice to have the really cruiser sections saved for later in the day. And having the descent trail at the end was nice too. That said, I bypassed a hundred or so feet of class 3 scrambling on the east side of UN 13,490 that would be more fun going the other direction. Just didn’t seem worth it overall given all the factors.
Fall is almost here. Go get those summits!
Stout and very cool loop, Ben. Nice work! Definitely on my To Do list now. Thanks for sharing.
Hey John, for sure. I bet you’d like it!