August 6, 2022
Mt. Adams 13,931'
Kit Carson Peak 14,167'
Columbia Pt. 13,986'
Kitty Kat Carson 13,980'
Challenger Pt. 14,080'
Sangres five pack of peaks from Willow Lake.
After work on Friday, Laura and I made the 3 hour drive to Crestone, CO and the Willow Lake trailhead. We planned to hike the 5 miles to the lake so we could have a very early start on Saturday as rain chances were 70% by 3pm.
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| Incredible sunset Friday night |
Not wanting to carry cooking gear and food, we ate ramen at the trailhead and chatted with a few hikers before heading out around 7 pm. The hike into the lake went smoothly and we were treated to a wonderful sunset to the west.
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| More of the beautiful sunset |
We crossed over the rushing creek using logs several times but were forced to walk through the water on the last crossing. Upon reaching Willow Lake, we encountered many tents set up in what seems to have become the standard camping area. The overuse of the area has led the forest service to close the area further west along the lake to camping. After scouting around for 10 minutes, we chose a small but flat campsite and set up our tent. Climbing into sleeping bags for the evening around 10 pm, we set an alarm for 3 hoping for at least a bit of good rest before setting off.
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| Justin navigating the last creek crossing before reaching Willow Lake |
3:15 am Saturday and were walking uphill toward Mt Adams using headlamps to illuminate the steep slopes and rocky cliffs to our right. Laura noticed eyes in the rocks in the distance. We stopped quickly and rerouted as far away as we could. We agreed that it was a mountain lion by the way it moved cautiously and how its eyes looked in the dark. For the next half our, I would turn around often and shine my light around behind us and make a lot of noise. We never saw the animal again and are happy to have only had a slight scare. Had we not seen the glowing eyes in the distance, we surely would have come much closer. As we continued, we worked our way around a small alpine lake and through a mess of willow trees, eventually reaching a drainage that led us to the ridge we would ascend to the summit of Mt. Adams. The ridge was wide and mostly easy scrambling and was enjoyable, even in the dark. We ascended the final headwall to the summit and enjoyed the red colored sky as the sun rose beyond the Crestones at 5:30 am.
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| Justin on the summit of Mt. Adams |
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| Justin and me on the summit of Mt. Adams with Crestone Peak, Columbia Point, Kit Carson, and Challenger Point right |
We discussed descent options and quickly descended back toward Willow Lake. After some traversing and rock hopping, we were on the standard trail leading toward Kit Carson at 7:30 am. We passed by several other hikers just getting their day going from Willow Lake and traversed across the tundra and loose rock past the north ridge of Kit Carson until we reached a point where we could ascend up and work our way back toward the actual ridge. Once we reached it, it was delightful scrambling and very exposed for about 1,000’.
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| Justin on the north ridge of Kit Carson |
After exiting off the ridge near 14,000', we continued along a loose path that led us to the summit of Kit Carson at 10:30 am.
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| Justin on the summit of Kit Carson |
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Justin and me on the summit of Kit Carson
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Knowing we still had a long way to go, we only spent a few minutes on the summit before descending down and toward Columbia Point. We chose a loose gulley on our left as we descended and ascended until we reached more solid rock which we traversed around on and eventually up to the summit. It was now about 11:30 am.
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| Justin and me on the summit of Columbia Point |
I decided to run over to Kitty Kat Carson, an unofficial 13er, which took me only 10 minutes round-trip.
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Justin on the summit of Kitty Kat Carson
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We quickly made our way off of Columbia and scrambled up toward the avenue, a broad flat path that traverses below Kit Carson. Upon reaching the end of the avenue, our last peak of the day, Challenger Point came into view. It only took us about 20 minutes to reach the summit. We took pictures of the plaque which was placed in memory of lost lives on the challenger space shuttle in 1980.
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Justin and me on the summit of Challenger Point
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The descent down the standard route of Challenger is loose and not much fun but after an hour and a half of careful hiking we were back to the lake and taking down our camp. After packing our backpacks with the tent and our sleeping bags we made a quick hike out over the five miles and because of our early start, were able to make it within just a few hundred yards of the car before the rain began. We were happy with our five summit day and happy that we missed the rain as well. If you don’t go you’ll never know and sometimes the best days are the ones that you probably would have bailed on.
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| Justin descending from Challenger Point |
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| Clouds started to build a little bit between us and Crestone Peak |
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| Cool cactus were everywhere |
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| View of the peaks we would later summit from Mt. Adams. From left to right, Kitty Kat Carson, Columbia Point, Kit Carson and Challenger Point is the broad ridge from center to right |
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| Geological survey marker on Mt. Adams |
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| Justin and the view of the peaks on the hike into Willow Lake |
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View of the sunrise from near the summit of Mt Adams
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| Lots of big horn sheep were making their homes on the road out |
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