So today my roommate Nic and I set out to tackle Sunshine and Redcloud Peaks. We had never been here before and wanted to scope the area before winter set in and the commitment level rises.
We had left the apartment this morning about 5am and headed south. This was great to get started early and pulled into what we thought was the trailhead as the sun rose. Were we wrong. After searching around for a path we decided to drive down a little farther where I saw some trail signs and got us into the right place. Driving up the road to Silverton where it forks with the road to Sherman, we quickly found a recent landslide which had been cleared out and the road very rough, the Impreza was not going to make this journey. It was sad seeing as how we were so pumped for this hike.
Driving back down, deflated, we decided to check out another trail-head which lead to 2, 13ers but had a much lower trail-head. We hit Cataract Gulch Trail and proceeded to fly up the first 1,500'. This trail was as scenic as any trail that I had hiked in the past and had waterfall views, wildlife and the sounds were amazing. This was a great welcome to Colorado for Nic, who had yet to get a great trail. The scenery was reminiscent of hiking out of Skyscraper Glacier up at Indian Peaks Wilderness.... Only better. Would I recommend this for a person who is on there first hike? No, but the trail is simple enough and so scenic that I believe pretty much anybody could do it.
Here are a couple links to 360 degree shots:
From just above treeline:
http://360.io/FaYKq
Even though we were not able to complete or even begin for that matter our primary objective, we got a great hike in and found some great zones for the winter if the snow comes.
What lesson did I learn from this trip: GET A DAMN 4X4 TRUCK OR SUV. I need more clearance.
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