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| Kataka Mountain |
I didn’t research this hike as much as I should have, and in
doing so set myself up for failure. I
knew the weather was going to be crap, so I wanted to do something close to
town. I decided on Kataka Mountain and
Spearhead Mountain. Although we got a
long hike in, Brian and I didn’t end up summiting either one of them.
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| Ptarmigan |
Kataka and Spearhead can be accessed from Threemile Creek
Trail in the Mount Evans Wilderness.
From Denver take 285 to Grant.
Grant is a very small town with a handful of structures, look for Al’s
Pits BBQ on the north side of the road.
Take the one road, County 62 that heads north towards Guanella
Pass. A few miles down this road is the
Threemile Creek TH. Any operational vehicle
can make it to the TH, but there is limited space and no restrooms.
We took off on the trail sometime around 7am. The main section of the trail is about
2.5-3miles and follows along a creek.
This section is mostly covered in the trees and there are some 15 bridge
crossings back and forth as you make your way up the trail. After a good 2.5 miles the surroundings open
up a bit and Kataka will be to the north and Spearhead to the south. We decided to follow the length of the trail
to the saddle in-between Kataka and Deer Creek. The upper section of the trail
is much less used and heads up to the saddle of Kataka and Deer Creek, it runs an
additional 3 miles. I don’t suggest this
for a climb of Kataka, since we hit 6miles around point 12075 which is probably
a good mile from the summit of Kataka. I’m
sure there are more efficient ways to the summit, and I will let you know when
I actually get there.
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| Mount Bierstadt |
As I alluded to before we called it quits prior to summiting
Kataka. We settled on point 12075, which
was about 6 miles and about 3,000ft into the hike. This wasn’t a bad spot, since the views were
quite impressive. This spot gives you a unique
view of Mount Bierstadt. From here
Bierstadt looks like a tough mountain to climb, not like the view from Guanella
Pass. We didn’t have too long to take in
the views since we could see rain heading our way. We decided for the direct descent down the north
fork of Threemile Creek. This way went
pretty well, there was some navigating in the willows but nothing too
difficult. Brian even found a camera
towards the lower section, so if you have lost one let me know.
Once back on the main trail the rain started in pretty good
and kept up for most of the day. My foot
was killing me, so it was a slow painful process on the hike down. Today I got diagnosed with Plantar Fascitis,
so at least nothing is broken. I guess I
can keep hiking, which is a good thing. After re-examining Google Earth and some other
maps I think the next time I head for Kataka I will take the southwest ridge
that starts where Threemile Creek starts heading to the east. Either way we got a long hike in and a lot of
time on the trail. I’m hoping to head
out to Geneva Mountain tomorrow, so with any luck you will have a real trip
report to look at pretty soon.
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| GPS Track |
Date: 7/29/2013
Starting Elevation: 8,985ft
Point 12075: 12,075ft
Total Gained Elevation: 3,190ft
Class: 1 (ascent) 2 (descent)
Distance: 11.2 miles
Time: 6:14 moving, 1:20 stopped.
Climbing Partner: Brian
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