Mt. Yale Hike - The Standard Route Via The Denny Creek Trail
This was my second hike of Mt. Yale and what an enjoyable day it was. For information on hiking Mt. Yale,
I suggest visiting the
14ers routes page. You can also see my photos from my previous hike of Mt. Yale here:
Mt. Yale - May 19, 2006.
I have found the
topographical maps of Chaffee County by TopoZone
to be extremely helpful in learning the terrain of the Collegiate Peaks Wilderness area, which includes this 14er.
Steve and Megan Hike Mt. Yale - Photos From July 1, 2007
I began snapping photos after hiking above
timberline around the point above, which shows the view of the canyon leading to Cottonwood Pass.
We started at the Denny Creek Trailhead at 5:36 a.m. and traveled upward
through the forest at a rapid pace. |
The sun rises in the east, which was right behind Mt. Yale's summit throughout much
of the early morning. Megan captured a shot of me posing on top of a patch of snow with Mt.
Yale behind me.
Note how dark it was being out of the sun's direction and even though it was July 1, I must admit it would
have been nice if I had carried gloves with me for this point of the hike. And for those of you who live outside of Colorado, yes folks, there are stil some patches of snow in the highest elevations of Colorado! ;) |
The main "grunt" on the trail is located just below the saddle to the left of Mt. Yale. It's quite an uphill stretch! At one point, I captured a photo of Megan looking out at the scenery as we rested. |
At the saddle, there is one final stretch to the summit that
requires some scrambling and use of one's hands. Note that you can not see the
summit from this photo; The peak above is a "false summit"
that obstructs the top point. |
At the Mt. Yale Summit - Altitude 14,196 Feet
The views up on top of Mt. Yale are truly stunning. This is the view facing south towards
Mt. Princeton, the tallest point in the top center of the screen.
(I snapped quite a few shots of Mt. Princeton from this vantage point that will definitely be going on my
Mt. Princeton Photo of the Day web site.)
14ers Mt. Antero, Mt. Shavano and Tabeguache Peak can also been seen way out there on the right. |
The view looking more to the southwest, which includes peak after peak after peak ... ;) |
Looking out to the west, it was so wonderful to see this grand
and beautiful area that I spend so much time in! Included above are upper
Cottonwood Canyon (which leads to Cottonwood Pass but is hidden),
the gulch leading to Ptarmigan Lake, Jones Mountain,
Turner Peak and Hartenstein Lake. |
A shot of Megan and I. This view towards the north-northwest was arguably the grandest on this mountain; The positioning of the sun also greatly helped! |
The view of 14ers Mt. Harvard (left) and Mt. Columbia (right). |
Looking out towards the east, I did my best to "fight off the sun" to capture the above picture.
That's the town of Buena Vista, Colorado with five "layers" of mountains and ridges
behind it. Starting from the top, that's Pikes Peak way out there,
followed by Wilkerson Pass, then Trout Creek Pass,
then an unknown ridge and then finally
Midland Hill directly behind (east) of Buena Vista. |
Megan and I reached the summit at 9:35 a.m. and we spent 55 minutes at the top. I celebrated by smoking my pipe, which was quite a doozy to keep lit with the mountain breezes. |
At one point, we spotted a small airplane ... FLYING BELOW US! |
Way down on the northeast side of the summit, we spotted three mountain goats. |
On the way down, there were quite a few marmots living among the large rocks. |
As we approached timberline as we headed back down, I turned back to capture one last shot
of Mt. Yale's summit. The sun had come out in full force by 11:30 a.m., and the lighting on the
mountain had changed. This was a wonderful hike and I am so grateful to have
done this mountain a second time. -Steve |
