Southeast Slopes

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Page Type: Route

Location: Colorado, United States, North America

Lat/Lon: 39.17920°N / 106.5071°W

Route Type: Hike

Time Required: Most of a day

Difficulty: Class 2

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Page By: Kane

Created/Edited: Oct 26, 2002 / Oct 26, 2002

Object ID: 157240

Hits: 992

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Table of Contents

Approach

Start hiking on FS 110 (4wd) dirt road and go west about a half mile to the start of the Halfmoon Creek Trail (10,500 ft.) This half-mile portion of the hike can be easily bypassed with a high-clearance vehicle. I wouldn’t try this in a passenger car. At any rate, start hiking northwest on a well-worn single-track trail. The trail gradually ascends with Halfmoon Creek up into the beautiful basin between Point 13,045 and Mt Massive. At 11,100 ft. you will reach a large meadow with good views of Deer Mountain to the west. From the meadow continue another .7 miles to 11,600 ft. At this point an altimeter is extremely useful because this is where you need to leave the comforts of the trail and cross Halfmoon Creek. Going forward, the remainder of the hike might challenge your route finding skills. The point at which you cross the creek is confusing, because looking across the creek you see trees, and not the mountain itself so it is hard to gage where you are in relation to the correct route. Just look for the spot where the creek and the trail finally meet up again. The creek is cascading down, almost like a waterfall. Make sure you do not go any higher than 11,680 ft. to cross. Once across, start an ascending northwest traverse up through the trees. After a quarter mile you will pop out onto a hill overlooking North Halfmoon Creek Drainage. At this point you can see Oklahoma’s lower east ridge. The East Ridge is the steep cliffs to your right and your route ascends the steep grassy ramp starting 200 ft. below. Yes, you will lose some elevation.

Route Description

After descending around 200 ft. start picking your way up the steep slope another half-mile and 1000 vertical ft. to a flat area at 12,700 ft. Start your ascent of Oklahoma’s southeast slope. The steep southeast slope will be directly to your right and it will lead you to Oklahoma’s broad, East Ridge and on to the summit. This slope is the crux of your hike for it is steep; I’m guessing a 40-degree pitch made up of loose scree and grass. This slope is relentlessly steep for about 800 ft., but like other mountains in this range this lower slope will yield to an easy stroll to the summit. The summit view is phenomenal, thus I will leave it at that. The summit register showed about 15 ascents a month during June, July and August, 6 in September and no ascents from Sept. 21st to October 20th.

Essential Gear

Be prepared for the unknown. Be prepared to stay a night at altitude and please let someone know about where you are!!

Miscellaneous Info

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