Drift Peak

Drift Peak

Overview

Drift Peak is part of the Tenmile Range in Colorado. This is a less prominent peak in comparison to its neighbors of Fletcher Mountain, Atlantic Peak and Quandary Peak. I would assume Drift would see far less visitors to its summit, compared to its neighbors, making this a desirable climb for myself. With this peak having a lower and upper trailhead, it opens this climb into an all-season mountain. Where in the winter months ascents would begin from the lower trailhead and dry season attempts would begin from the upper trailhead. Previously Cole and I attempted Drift from the east during our climb of Fletcher Peak. The route from that direction is more intense with a class 3 rating. We chose to attempt it from the west which we felt more comfortable with. This is a beautiful area, that gets a fair amount of activity. Near the trailhead are some historic mine buildings you can explore if you don’t desire the summit. The basin offers amazing views of the high peaks and is worth the hike in if you are up for it. I hope you enjoy this trip report and find it helpful in planning your next adventure in the hills.

Directions/Trailhead Information

Cole on the ridge

The upper Drift Peak Trailhead, also known as Mayflower Gulch is located at—latitude 39.414153°, longitude -106.148485°. There is a small parking area for about 6 vehicles at the end of the road. Alternative parking is at the lower Drift Peak Trailhead, on a roadside pullout on the south side of CO-91 S that will accommodate approximately 50 vehicles. The distance from the lower to upper trailheads is approximately 1.5 miles. The lower trailhead is where low clearance vehicles should park, and higher clearance vehicles can proceed to the upper trailhead. The use of 4WD is dependent on the time of year, when we drove the road, 4WD in my Chevy Blazer was not required. There are no restrooms at either parking area. From the Denver area make your way along I-70 W to exit 195 onto CO-91 S. Head south following CO-91 S for about 6 miles to the lower Drift Peak Trailhead, continue 1.5 miles on the rough dirt road to the upper Drift Peak Trailhead.

The Climb

Some people aspire to knock off all of the Colorado 14ers, but for me I’d rather focus my time in a range that I truly love, and explore as much as it has to offer. This has been my obsession with the Tenmile Range for years now, where each year I summit a few of its high mountain peaks. Drift Peak is part of this journey for me, this trip report will describe our climb from the west. This area is also known as Mayflower Gulch, but I will refer to it as the Drift Peak Trailhead.

Climber route on the ridge

The upper Drift Peak Trailhead is in the area of the historic Boston Mine. A closed off road will start ascending to the south and that is the start of the climb. This road will switchback a few times before connecting to the west-northwest ridge of Drift Peak. Once on the ridge there is a climber’s trail that you can follow. Sometimes its pretty faint, but for the most part it’s a clear trail that will lead you all the way to the summit.

This is a route that is short in mileage, but makes up for it with elevation gain. I knew I wouldn’t be in great shape for this one, but it clearly kicked my ass. A day later I was down with the flu so I will blame my poor performance on this climb to being sick. My younger brother Nate was with us, a fresh Colorado transplant from Connecticut, and he had no problem kicking my butt to the summit.

The ridge was a lot of fun, providing great views to fend off the suffering in my mind. After what seemed like an eternity, we made the summit. We all had a few summit beers as we took in the amazing views. I assume this summit sees its fare share of visitors due to the shortness of the climb, but not nearly as many as the surrounding peaks like Quandary.

Nick, Cole, and Nate on the summit of Drift Peak

Instead of making this a yo-yo route back to the trailhead, we took a route down into the basin which you can see on the GPS Track picture below. The upper portion was a solid climbers/miners trail and it slowly degraded as we lost elevation. After dropping to about 12,500 feet the valley opened up a bit and we could follow a solid trail again. There was a lot of evidence of mining back here, where there were some large craters which I suppose were blown out with a little dynamite and some back breaking work of the hearty miners. As we continued down the valley, we eventually met up with the old road we used on our ascent. From there is was less than a quarter mile back to the trailhead. This was a nice loop way to do this route, though I assume people yo-yo the ridge.

Parting Notes

I really enjoyed climbing this peak from the western side. This was the first Tenmile Range summit I have climbed from the west. I would still rank the Pacific/Atlantic Peaks as my favorite in the range, but this was a great smaller climb that most people could accomplish in half a day. I think this area gets a lot of activity, so if you plan to drive to the upper trailhead in the summer months, I wouldn’t be shocked if you had trouble parking, so keep that in mind when you make your trip plans. Until next time, cheers!

GPS Track

Date: August 17, 2018

Trailhead Elevation: 11,521 feet

Drift Peak: 13,802 feet

Total Elevation Gain: 2,326 feet

Class: 2

Distance: 3.6 miles

Moving Time: 3 hr 43 min

Stopped Time: 2 hr 11 min

Climbing Partner: Nate and Cole

GAIA GPS Link: Drift Peak (2018-08-17)