Twining Peak-4115 trail head at Independence Pass.
| Twining Peak-4115 from
Independence Pass Twining Peak-4115 |
| Estimated net time | 2-2½ hours | ||
| Difficulty | No difficulties, except for the high altitude. | ||
| Drinking water | No stable access to running water. | ||
| GSM coverage | No coverage (July 2013). | ||
| Parking | Room for many cars at car park at Independence Pass. | ||
| Start height | 3688 metres | ||
| Vertical metres | 435 metres for the roundtrip. | ||
| Trip distance | 4.3 km | ||
| GPS-file | X | ||
| Map |
|
||
| Route photo |
| ||
From the town Leadville, in Colorado, drive road 24 approximately 23.5 km (14.6 mi) south and turn right onto road 82. Follow this road 38.6 km (24.0 mi) up to Independence Pass. Park at the large car park on the left hand side of the road.
Start your hike by crossing the road and follow the path that starts just right (east) of a pond. Follow this path north up to approximately 4000 metres, where the path fades away. Continue off-path in a northern direction all the way to the summit. The summit is a small top not marked in any way.
Descend by reversing your ascent route.
With a miserable weather forecast for this Sunday Elisabeth and me decided to do a short morning hike without the boys. As we drove out of Leadville at 06:30 it was pouring down, but we had brought proper rain clothes and were determined to at least have a go at Twining Peak's subsidiary top, at 4115 metres. The plan was to include the main summit, but a decision was to be made at the lower summit.
When we set out from Independence Pass the rain was a little lighter, but the visibility was poor, so it was soon clear that the main top would have to wait for some other time (but probably never). Despite poor conditions I was happy to be able to handle the altitude OK, in particular seen in light of my very negative experience at Pikes Peak three days earlier. But that was without any acclimatisation, which I had had plenty of since then, and in particular the last 12 hours in Leadville at 3000 metres.
After our hike we had a quick breakfast before we spent several hours at the shopping outlet at Silverthorn, and then driving across to Mount Elbert's north trail head when coming back, just to be prepared for a potential hike to Elbert the following morning if the weather would be OK.