Haystack Mountain
Haystack Mountain sits on the Continental Divide west of Parkview Mountain. View of its South side from Troublesome Creek area.
8/8/2020
Haystack Mountian Northeast Ridge
3 miles round trip (out and back)
1563 feet elevation gain
Trailhead: We headed out of Tabernash, west on route 40, through the town of Granby, to CO route 125, which is directly across from the Windy Gap Wildlife Viewing Area. We drove north on 125 over Willow Creek Pass and down the north side to Forest Service road 106, which is also route 52. We drove west on 106 which is a nice well maintained dirt road until it dead ended into a T intersection with Forest Service road 730. If you head in this way, you will benefit from a high clearance vehicle on 730. We took a left on 730 and after climbing 2 miles it took a sharp left turn. Looking into the drainage on the right at this curve we could see an obvious trail.
Route: I have had Haystack Mountain on my bucket list since I backpacked in the Troublesome Creek Roadless Area years ago where it is a prominent sight. I finally got a chance to summit it this week. This year there are two wild fires burning west of Grand County. A 35,000 acre fire near Grand Junction over 200 miles away and a smaller fire near Glenwood Springs. We got up early for our ascent and our usually view of the continental divide was obscured by smoke. This trail is now part of the Continental Divide Trail but there is no signage and it does not show up on many maps.
Trailhead for Haystack Mountain at the two mile mark on 730. Enough room to park several vehicles off the road.
We headed up the well maintained trail for 0.2 miles where the scree field that forms the northeast side of Haystack Mountain came into view. The trail continues around the base of Haystack Mountain on the south side of the mountain. We left the trail and avoided the scree by hiking up the vegetated area between the scree and the forest on the left, which brought us to the northeast ridge, at which point we were forced to start climbing the scree field.
View of route where it leaves the Continental Divide Trail. The vegetated area where we started our route is on the left of the scree field.
There is no apparent trail going up the ridge. The scree field was steep but relatively stable and the views of the surrounding area began to open up. We climbed the scree field until we got to a small saddle where the forest came up from the south side at approximately 10,800 feet. We climbed up through the steep forest for a short section and then back out onto the scree. We could see a small cairn above us that appeared to be the top, but it turned out that the scree field rounded off at the cairn and it was a short distance more to the summit.
Smoke from the fires hundreds of miles away made for a surreal view.
Cairn near the summit with Bugaboo on the summit.
The summit at 11,495 feet is spectacular with 360 degree views of North Park, Never Summer Range, Rocky Mountain National Park, Indian Peaks Wilderness, Eagles Nest Wilderness, Gore Range and more.
View into North Park
The tentative plan of the day had been to climb Haystack and then descend the western slope that makes up the continental divide to the ridge line below. Possible following the ridge line to Troublesome Pass and on to Sheep Mountain. We peered down the steep slope. Emily felt we should descend a ridge to the south that appeared less steep. However it would take us away from the ridge line. I saw a grassy depression on the south slope and wanted to keep to our plan.
I should have listened to Emily.
We started down the steep grass slope that was quite stable and I started to feel good about my choice. The grass slope ended on scree which initially was relatively stable. This changed quickly as we continued our descent. The slope became steeper and the scree got looser. We picked our way down through the loose rocks and saw a gully with dirt and few rocks and headed to it. The reason there were few rocks in the gully, was that it was too steep to hold rocks. Our German Shepherd, Mocha, dislodged a large rock above me and it bounced down mindlessly past me. We retreated back onto the scree slope. The scree slope ends above a cliff band about 20 feet high. We carefully traversed the loose and shifting rock above the cliff band and finally down onto the ridge line below where the slope leveled out.
At this point we decided to abandon our original plans and hike down to the Continental Divide Trail that appeared on our map below us. Using the GPS on our phone we bushwhacked down and located the trail. It is an excellently maintained trail that wanders through the forest and through some of the biggest aspen trees I have seen. Someone has spent a lot time maintaining the trail. Near the saddle where the trail meets the ridge line on the east side of Haystack, there was an avalanche path that had taken down a dozen trees. The trail would have been impassible but fortunately someone has spent a lotto time with a chainsaw and the trail is open. Thank you to who ever worked so diligently on this trail. At the saddle, the trail spilt and the right path continued up the ridge to the east towards Parkview Mountain. We headed left and down, a short walk back to our truck.
If you are looking for a climb with great views and solitude, this is a hike for you. we did not see another soul the entire day. The best route would be to climb to the summit and then reverse the route back to your vehicle. A nice three mile round trip. Do not head down the west face whatever you do, I will never repeat that descent and I’m glad we made it without a serious injury, just a few scratches. .