Flat Tops: Derby Peak
White River National Forest
Routt National Forest
DAY 1 | DAY 2 | DAY 3 | DAY 4 | DAY 5 | DAY 6
Dawn breaks through a blanket of clouds after another mild night. There is no excuse that I am at a lower elevation this time, this is my highest camp of the trip. The ponds seem decidedly sterile and there have been no mosquitoes up here. It sure is nice.
Today should be an easy day, but it might be a little long. I want to get down to the last water shown on the map before the long dry section on the ridge to the trailhead. That should leave just six miles downhill for tomorrow so that it will be super easy to be out by noon. Just have to wander around the bit of rock and ponds and onto the good trail to follow it on down. At least until it is no longer good trail.
The trail does not last all that long. It runs into Stillwater Trail and ends. That is what I am expecting. The day hikers turn left and keep that trail looking good. My route actually looks even worse than the rest. There is not even a notion of a trail ahead. I just go for it anyway. Gradually, it seems like there might be a bit of trail off to my left and investigating turns up another very nice trail. It actually jogs to the left and no one thought it might be a good idea to indicate that on the sign. That is no excuse for my map. USGS shows it correctly, but National Geographic thought, what, the map would look more artistic if it all met at a simple junction?
Deer Lake Trail looks like a good launch point for a run on Derby Peak, but I forbade myself to think about doing that when stopping a little early yesterday. I have been going back and forth about it through the morning. This end of the trail is well marked and even looks well used for a few paces before it crosses a creek and vanishes. What is an extra four miles, anyway? (Warning: it is five.) The map indicates that if I stick to the ridge, it is a fairly straight and consistently upward walk. (Warning: 80 foot contours can hide a lot.) It still feels early in the morning and I figure I can get up there and back before noon. (This is true.) Going for it wins out so I drop the heavies again and take off.
I make my way along the ridge, heading a bit to my left to try to avoid too much of the drop into the basin around Deer Lake. There is a spot along the peak that looks particularly like an easy walk up, and I am aiming at it. I drift onto deer trails, then off again as they get going somewhere else. There are many to choose from faintly in the grass. The small valley between the peak and the bulk of the mountains is covered in shallow ponds and a few streams. After navigating the minor water hazards, there is the one mildly serious climb. The greatest difficulty is getting through the willows. There are many trails through these, too. As I start off, it looks like there might not be much to push through, but the initial bit is quite high, to the left while the right holds much more winding through willows that are much lower. I am uncertain of the left and go right. There really are a lot of willows to wind through, but eventually they yield. The last section of climb looks a lot like a people trail, but not a built one.
The top of the mountain is a vastness of flat, just like Flat Top Mountain. However, this one is mostly the tough turf of the area instead of broken up basalt. It is difficult to tell where the high point might be, but easy to wander higher. I do so and eventually spot a small collection of black rocks that do look like they could be the high point. At least they are a reasonable landmark to call it. Down under one are the remains of a glass jar register and a new jar. Opening it, it was placed just two weeks ago and has not been signed since then.
There are a couple of peaks sticking out from the main bulk of peak. Besides the cairn at this rock pile, someone has put one at the top of the second peak out. That peak is probably the hat like protrusion that can be seen from below. It seems a reasonable thing to scramble up, but I decide to save it for the unlikely second trip up. USGS puts the high point on the main bulk. Instead, I start the long stroll required to really enjoy all the views from this high point.
After walking to the edges at the two big divots in the side of the peak, I head back again. There is a small cairn to mark the point I entered the peak area, so I find it again before climbing back down. I try to keep a little away from the trail that has formed as the footing on it is quite bad. Again, I chose right to get through the willows, but since I have turned around, this is the short route through the taller ones. It works out well. Then I stride back across the flatness.
Back to the trail and packed up, I head out once again. I still have a long way to go with more mountains to tempt me. Hopefully they are not too tempting. Along the way, there is a pair of hikers with their unleashed dogs. I recognize them from the crowd hiking up the North Derby Trail while I hiked down to Stillwater Reservoir two days ago. Actually, I recognize the dogs first even though one of the hikers, a rather big guy with a hat proclaiming "YETI", stands out a bit. The hat is not quite so bright and new now. They really do have their dogs under immediate voice control and like before, they step off the trail and call the dogs over and the dogs actually go over and sit by their feet. It is a little less impressive now that the dogs have been going a few more miles and take the opportunity to get as much rest as they can get.
The trail becomes very distinct as it comes to another rocky level change. It is finally time to drop below 11,500 feet. Below are a couple of ponds. The general route past the ponds seems to be more used when they are lower, but following the trail markers a little more closely keeps my feet dry. Climbing up again, there is a faint cutoff that I skip. It is hard enough to find the next trail next to the sign, but it is there and there is a post to help out. It leads out to some much more defined ponds.
Shingle Peak looms ever closer and it still seems an odd name to give something. Getting lower means getting into some much more lush growth and even a few trees. This includes a few trees to jump over. I got soft going through Routt. They seem to have done some recent work to remove all the trees and there was nothing to jump over. Back in White River, I am back to jumping trees, sometimes quite a few. As I exit the little bit of trees, I have startled a bunch of elk. The first group distracts me a moment, but as they vanish into the next line of trees, I notice even more out in the meadows.
My "film" runs out on the elk, but I have another card secreted away. As I come to the edge of the second little bit of forest, the elk are again out on the grasses and willows. Their number is astonishing. I start to wonder if Colorado has caribou since I did not know that elk will gather in such numbers.
The elk are a bit of excitement, but once they have settled into wherever they feel safe, I settle again into taking the long way around Shingle Peak.
As I come around more to the south side of the peak, the name starts to make a lot of sense. Shingle Peak looks a bit like it has a ragged bit of shingling all over it on this side. It still looks hard to climb, but if I had another day, the way would not be too hard.
The land drys out for a little bit as advertised on my map, but then ponds start showing up that it does not indicate. Still, I am not tempted to stop by one. There is the promise of creek water up ahead. The lakes have been surprisingly nice, but creek water is always better. As I pass through one slight valley, there seems to be two trails heading out of it. The trail I am on curves decidedly for the one heading south and eventually I notice the tiny sign out in the middle that marks the missed junction.
The first creek also does not tempt me. Past it, there should be a trail that cuts in from Rim Lake and the Sweetwater Trail. That looks like it might be a picturesque way to go, but is a little longer, so I let it be. There is a sign that confirms I am on the Shingle Peak Trail, but not really any sign of the rest of the junction.
The second creek, the one I want to stop at, looks nicer. Just up the hill looks like a likely place to find an established site, and sure enough it is. There is one of the rare glimpses of Turret Peak from here and it looks imposing for the short section to the top. It is only a half mile or so to it. I could probably take a couple hours for it tomorrow. Not for today. Tonight is a good night to deploy mosquito barriers. They are particularly annoying while having my supper.
Continue reading: day 6
©2016 Valerie Norton
Posted 14 August 2016
Liked this? Interesting? Click the three bars at the top left for the menu to read more or subscribe!
Comments