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| Spruce Creek   | 
| Page Type: Route Location: Colorado, United States, North America Lat/Lon: 39.43440°N / 106.1139°W Route Type: Scramble Time Required: Most of a day Difficulty: Class 2
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| Page By: Aaron Johnson Created/Edited: Sep 12, 2004 / Jun 16, 2006 Object ID: 162126 Hits: 1364 Loading... Page Score: 0% - 0 Votes Loading... Vote: Log in to vote |
Getting ThereFrom Breckenridge, drive south on Colorado Highway 9 for approximately 2.5 miles. On your left will be a lake (Goose Pasture Tarn on topo maps). Just past the lake is a right turn onto Spruce Creek Drive (County Road 800). This road is marked with a blue, common sized street sign, so watch carefully for it. Take this road through a development. The road is maintained and smooth, but is somewhat winding and goes through a number of intersections. Stay on the road, and if in doubt, check the street signs as you proceed.
The road gets a tad rougher as it passes through a parking area for trailheads. Proceed through this area. The next stretch is covered in loose rock and gets rougher, but high clearance vehicles will do fine. A spur road to the right invites investigation, but it dead ends quickly. Stay to your left. The road drops down into a draw, and in some conditions, this stretch may require 4WD. The last stretch is rougher and 4WD or at least low gear is recommended. Climbing out of the draw, you’ll arrive at a water diversion facility, where you can park, or park just beyond at the trailhead. Distance from Highway 9 to the road’s end is 3 miles.
NOTE: 4WD or high clearance is recommended to get to the end of the road and the Spruce Creek trailhead. Depending on your vehicle’s abilities, you may have to park earlier and walk some of the road.
ApproachThe trailhead is just north of the absolute end of the road. A sign will indicate distances to the Mayflower and Mohawk Lakes. Take the Mohawk Lakes trail. This is a popular, unprotected area for casual hikers and their dogs. Many trails criss-cross, but they all lead in the same general direction. Some of these trails should be taken to view the spectacular waterfalls along the way. Ruins from Colorado’s mining era are also found along the trails and make for nice photo opportunities. Generally, you’ll want to head west and up a series of benches toward Spruce Creek Basin and tree line.
Above the falls, you bypass lower Mohawk Lake on the south and the trail will become a well defined singular route occasionally marked with cairns. Diversions will usually reroute you to the main trail. The trail veers south around a swamp to Upper Mohawk Lake. The higher you go, the more spectacular the basin becomes. Crystal Peak currently hides behind a ridge buttress.
The trail climbs due west, staying north of Upper Mohawk Lake, bypassing yet another lake on the south side. By now the massive openness of Spruce Creek Basin is upon you and the pointed spire of Pacific Peak is due west. The trail may begin to fade as you walk through the vast expanse of tundra toward yet another larger lake. Before the lake, angle northwest to cross the stream somewhere west of the lake’s outlet. This might be a soggy affair in spring and early summer. Crystal Peak, a light colored and friendly looking mountain finally appears on the right.
Bypass yet another larger lake on the northeast side through possibly soggy tundra. Contour northwest, staying high enough to avoid the marshy spots until you reach the flattened ruins of a mining cabin. From here, your straightforward climb of Crystal Peak begins.
Route DescriptionFrom the flattened cabin, climb directly north up scattered boulders intermingled with loose rock, angling left in about three hundred feet to gain some very steep tundra. Ascend the tundra directly north. Soon more rock will take over. A mostly stable mixture of scree, talus and boulders is climbed and the slope relents. Angle slightly left to avoid the steeper slopes beneath Crystal’s summit. Once on the ridge, follow it to the top.
Return the same route.
DISTANCE: 6.42 miles round trip
GAIN: 2,736 feet
Pacific PeakImpressive Pacific Peak can be climbed from the summit of Crystal Peak, with a loss of approximately 630 feet descending to the saddle connecting the two mountains. Descend Crystal Peak’s southwest ridge to this saddle (Class 2). Follow the North Ridge to Pacific Peak’s summit. For details concerning this climb, see this route.
Descent options from Pacific Peak back to Spruce Creek Basin involve loose rock and possibly challenging terrain (Class 3 or 4, depending on your route choices).
The most obvious and likely safest descent route would be to return to the saddle and descend into Spruce Creek Basin on scree and loose rock.
Another option would be to descend the east ridge of Pacific Peak, staying north of Pacific Tarn (America’s highest lake) and descending one of a number of possible couloirs at the east end of Pacific’s high basin. Experience with exposed climbing and loose rock is highly recommended.
Ascent of Pacific Peak via this route is possible (it would make a great snow climb in June), as well as executing the route between Pacific and Crystal in reverse.
Once back at the lakes, retrace your route back to your vehicle.
DISTANCES (With Crystal Peak)
CRYSTAL PEAK: 3.21 miles
PACIFIC PEAK: 4.2 miles
BACK TO TRAIL: 5.4 miles
ENTIRE TRIP: 7.82 miles
Essential GearTo minimize route finding difficulty and required equipment, the later in the year the better. For late summer and fall, standard day hike gear will do.
For snow and ice climbs, an ice axe and crampons are required. An ascent of Pacific Peak via the east ridge might require rope and gear as well. Snow shoes or skis would be essential for negotiating the massive snowfields encountered in Spruce Creek Basin.
Winter ascents in this area are possible with a tremendous amount of effort required to get into the basin area. Be advised that avalanche potential in this area is considerable.
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