Travel: The hike begins on the Colorado Trail at Little Molas Lake. On US 550, Molas Pass is at mile marker 64. The sign for Little Molas Lake is 0.4 mile north of the pass. Turn west and drive 1.1 miles on a good dirt road. Pass an established campground and park at the Colorado Trail Trailhead in a large lot. Pit toilet, no water.
Distance and Elevation Gain: 16.1 miles; 3,800 feet of climbing
Total Time: 8:00 to 10:00
Difficulty: Trail, off-trail; navigation moderate; Class 2; no exposure
Maps: Snowdon Peak; Silverton; Ophir, Colorado 7.5' USGS Quads
Date Hiked: September 2, 2020
Poem:
Tell me a story.
In this century, and moment, of mania,
Tell me a story.
Make it a story of great distances, and starlight.
The name of the story will be time,
But you must not speak its name.
Tell me a story of deep delight.
Robert Penn Warren
Putnam Basin is enthralling and all-encompassing with rings of rock creating multiple terraces. Two of the mountains on this circuit enclose the basin on the south and west. (Thomas Holt Ward, photo)
Route: Hike west and north on the Colorado Trail to the Lime Creek-Bear Creek divide. Trails on the loop are unmaintained from here. Walk north on the Bear Creek Pack Trail and then west into Putnam Basin. Circle south to a saddle between Peak 12,764' and V7. Climb Peak 12,764', then V7. Descend west to the Lime Creek-Cataract Creek divide and climb Peak 12,601'. Drop south through a cleft into the Lime Creek drainage and intersect the Colorado Trail. Walk east and south back to the start.
Colorado Trail to Lime Creek-Bear Creek Divide
The hike begins on a popular segment of the Colorado Trail frequented by backpackers, mountain bikers, and day hikers. Hit the trail on the west side of the parking lot and enter a shady forest for a short distance. Climbing lazily, step up limestone bands and cross a stream at 0.7 mile. The exposed Paleozoic limestone found throughout this area is a sedimentary layer tilted by the San Juan uplift.
Gain the southwest ridge of Peak 12,849' ("West Turkshead Peak") at 1.3 miles, 11,300 feet. In 1879, the Lime Creek Fire burned 26,000 acres of forest. A stalwart scorched tree has stood over 140 years. Here, the cross-state trail hooks north. Linger for a captivating view of Potato Hill (Spud Mountain), the La Plata Mountains, and Engineer Mountain.
As you walk north, Peak 12,601' (image-left) and Peak 12,764' (image-center), remain visible for a long distance. Far right is Bear Mountain.
At 2.0 miles, 11,620 feet, the trail leaves the ridge and flanks West Turkshead on the west. The track makes a mellow descent through a thriving Colorado blue spruce wood before turning west to cross a divide with a serious bog on the tabletop. Here, the North Fork of Lime Creek surrenders to the south and Bear Creek rolls north to its confluence with the South Fork of Mineral Creek. This hike highlights two geologic formations, Telluride Conglomerate and the red Cutler Formation. The contact line between them is clearly visible on the east slope of Point 12,613', shown.
Putnam Basin
Cross the divide, go uphill a few paces and locate the unsigned Bear Creek Pack Trail on the right at about 3.3 miles, 11,540 feet, shown. This is a quarter mile before the trail depicted on the Silverton quad. This is the beginning of the 9.5-mile loop. If you omit the three mountains, the distance is 6.0 miles.
The one-mile segment to the Putnam Basin trail was obscure and difficult to follow in 2015. In 2020, there was clear passage through the willows on the west side of the marsh. There were mountain bike tracks, presumably following the old pack trail down Bear Creek to Mineral Creek at US 550 just north of Silverton. This is a technical ride on a thin, dirt trail suspended above a big drop to Bear Creek. Descend through an Engelmann spruce forest and cross crystalline water flowing over polished bedrock sheets at the Putnam Basin outlet, 4.3 miles, 11,400 feet. (THW, photo)
In a few paces, watch for a T intersection. Leave the Bear Creek Trail and turn left onto an unmaintained track. The trail into Putnam Basin is not shown on the Silverton topo but it is indicated on a few maps and, judging from the crushed rock on the platform, it was purposefully engineered. The footpath traverses Putnam Basin, goes over the south ridge of V7, and west to the South Fork of Mineral Creek at the Bandora Mine.
A series of curvilinear cliff bands ring the basin forming rising terraces. The trail stays north of the creek until it has picked up 700 feet and takes aim on the saddle between Peak 12,764' and V7, shown.
It seems lamentable to be doing a one-way trek through this crazy, massive expanse. Flower fields have gone to seed, highlighting the circles of stone. The track takes advantage of a weakness in the Telluride Conglomerate and punches up through the rock band at 5.1 miles. Cross a dry ravine plummeting from the east ridge of V7. The trail disappears in the tundra as you approach the saddle at 5.8 miles, 12,380 feet.
Peak 12,764'
The first peak on the circuit has 384 feet of prominence; roundtrip is 0.9 mile. It's uniform tundra walking up the gentle roller to the flat, expansive crest. There aren't many mountaintops this smooth. You can't even pull up a sitting rock to take in the striking panorama swinging through the Weminuche Wilderness and the La Plata Mountains.
The summit falls off sharply on the south. The ponds pictured are on a bench beside the Colorado Trail. You will see them up close miles further into the hike. (THW, photo)
Northwest is the array of thirteeners ringing the Ice Lake Basin. To my knowledge, this is one of the few vantage points where you can see the twin summits of Golden Horn, a cloven peak. In the foreground is V7.
Return to the saddle, 6.7 miles. The trail avoids the imposing cliffs on the south side by climbing the ridge toward V7 for 0.4 mile. The track is periodic from here on so if you can't find the trail just head up the ridgeline. At 12,700 feet, the obscure trail turns west and plunges down toward Cataract Basin. V7 is 0.8 mile roundtrip from here on a one-pika width social trail. If you intend to climb just one peak on the loop, choose V7.
There simply aren't sufficient superlatives to describe the wondrous view from the summit. It was truly exceptional to see the world of mountains laid out before us, including a host of fourteeners. V7 is amongst the peaks on the old Vermilion 15 minute quadrangle that were given alpha-numeric designations. V6 (Peak 12,442') is the soft dome to the right of my partner and V5 (Peak 13,156') is the highpoint on the ridge to his left.
This image takes in the Grenadier Range, West Needle Mountains, Peak 12,764', and V7. (THW, photo)
In 2008, I climbed V7 with some friends, descended the east ridge to Point 12,695', and went on to Bear Mountain. A word of caution--the ridge was so risky that some in the group did a nasty bail into Putnam Basin. In 2020, as we arrived on V7, we scared up a full-grown mountain lion who silently skimmed over the east ridge in mere moments. It was an auspicious and thrilling sight. (THW, photo)
Directly west of V7 is Cataract Basin. The south end is framed by Peak 12,601'. (THW, photo)
Peak 12,601'
From V7, backtrack down the south ridge to the trail--if you can find it. We cut west at 12,740 feet and intersected the trail, losing it time and again despite occasional cairns. No matter; just head down the west slope toward the divide separating Cataract Creek on the north from Lime Creek on the south, 8.5 miles, 12,100 feet. Below, my partner is on the divide and Peak 12,601' is pictured at skyline. The third peak is 1.8 miles roundtrip with 500 feet of climbing. Simply follow the contours of the land to the east ridge and stroll on up to the summit.
Peak 12,601' is another big, soft summit. The route up Twin Sisters flanks the mountain on the north but you could certainly roll right off the crest to the base of the climbing ridge up East Sister.
Cleft to Colorado Trail
Return to the small divide, 10.3 miles, and locate a faint trail penetrating the Telluride Conglomerate and Cutler Formation at the apex of the Lime Creek drainage. A fault break created a cleft allowing passage through the otherwise impenetrable rock band. Footing is loose and slick in the upper reaches. The path weaves between boulders scattered down the sides of the beautiful bowl.
The social trail bears south, tracking along the east side of the basin. Even if you lose the slender path you will inevitably run into the Colorado trail. (THW, photo)
This image looks back to the cleft. Twice in this location I have encountered substantial herds of sheep and barking white guard dogs. In 2020, the scene was peaceful with three bucks crossing the trail.
If you happen to be going in the opposite direction, the junction for the footpath going up and through the cleft is not obvious. The unsigned branch is 5.0 miles east of the trailhead at Little Molas Lake and roughly 0.2 mile before the Colorado Trail crosses Lime Creek. We built a cairn to mark this location.
Turn east and make time on Colorado's buff pathway. There are a few segments of gradual uphill but the miles clip by quickly, minds holding images of a folding landscape, high basins separated by even higher ridges inclining to peaks, linear streams of rock, and sweeping views of the home front. Walk through woods thick with elder spruce and, in late summer, splashes of beet-red fireweed. (THW, photo)
Sprigs of bottle gentian bloom beside the path. (THW, photo)
The previous week, we saw a ptarmigan family puttering around the boulder garden, shown. I am intrigued by Telluride Conglomerate because the "pebbles" are an ageless mix of very hard sedimentary rocks, schists, granites, and quartzites. (THW, photo)
Close the loop at 12.8 miles. We are back in familiar territory and yet the sun angle has changed and with it, the appearance of the land. This hillside floats out ripples of green. Everything is worth seeing twice. (THW, photo)
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