Treasury Mountain, 13,462', Raggeds Wilderness

Essence: Treasurer and Treasury mountains are the two highest peaks in the Raggeds Wilderness northwest of Crested Butte. While strong hikers may climb both in one long day, this description is confined to Treasury Mountain. Approach the southeast ridge on the historic (and exposed) Yule Pass Trail. The two-mile-long, ultra-broad ridgecrest, surprises with every curve and rise. Marvel at its uniform chipped-stone surface. The ridge is free of obstacles but has some steep pitches. The shy mountain waits for the final flat to reveal its summit block and true nature. Having saved its best for last, climb the last 240 feet of vertical on a slim ridge composed of slick slabs of dazzling quartzite. The hike is on land straddling both the Gunnison and White River national forests. It is on the eastern boundary of the 65,443-acre Raggeds Wilderness, designated in 1980. LiDAR has raised Treasury's elevation to 13,469 feet with a rise of 510 feet. 

Travel: Measure distance from the four-way stop in Crested Butte at the Visitor Center. Drive north on Gunnison CR 317. Cross the Slate River. You can get to the trailhead by way of Slate River Road but it is a more technical 4WD road. Turn left at 1.7 miles onto Washington Gulch Road, CR 811. Pavement ends at 4.0 miles. Enter Gunnison National Forest at 5.5 miles. Transition to FSR 811. There are 48 designated campsites off FSR 811. At 8.1 miles, the road is posted "4WD only." The hamlet of Elkton at 8.9 miles is private. The road has deep ruts and steep pitches. Pass Washington Gulch Trail #403 at 9.6 miles. Sturdy tires are recommended for the rocky sections. FSR 734 joins from the Slate at 10.5 miles. The shelf road hangs above the Slate River trench. We met a vehicle on the shelf. Even with backing into a wide spot it was a tight squeeze. Park near a reflection pond and the sign for Paradise Divide at 11.7 miles. Allow 45 minutes from Crested Butte. On the return, 1.2 miles from the trailhead the road splits. Go left, uphill, to stay on Washington Gulch Road. The right branch descends on Slate River Road. 
Distance and Elevation Gain: 6.8 miles; 2,240 feet
Total Time: 4:00 to 6:00
Difficulty: Trail, off-trail; navigation easy; moderate exposure on Yule Pass Trail and summit block.
Maps: Oh-Be-Joyful; Snowmass Mtn., Colorado 7.5' USGS Quads
Latest Date Hiked: June 19, 2026

Personal Note: I lived in Crested Butte during the 1990s. In 1991, I busted up Treasury in two hours, Yule Pass Trail was in great shape, and the hike was "easy." In 1994, I approached through North Pole Basin, tagged Point 13,407', went over Treasury, and returned to Schofield Park over Galena Mountain. In 1998, Treasury was my eight-year-old son's first 13er. I have an intimate affection and deep familiarity with the mountains surrounding Crested Butte. 
Quote: Annapurna, to which we had gone empty-handed, was a treasure on which we should live the rest of our days. With this realization we turn the page: a new life begins. There are other Annapurnas in the lives of men. Maurice Herzog

 

In the center of this telephoto image shot from Gothic Mountain, a social trail can be seen winding up Treasury's southeast ridge to a flat. The cool factor of the hike is Treasury's dark summit block. Subsidiary peak, Point 13,407', is just to the right of the summit. Treasurer Mountain, 13,535' (LiDAR), rise 2,818 feet, is image-left, and Cinnamon Mountain is low and in front. (Thomas Holt Ward, photo) 

Route: Hike northwest on the relatively flat Yule Pass Trail flanking Cinnamon Mountain on the west. Jog north to the Cinnamon-Treasury saddle. Bear northwest on the curving ridgetop to a flat at 13,220 feet. Finish the climb on the narrow southeast spine. 

The hike in effect begins with the drive up Washington Gulch, a tributary of the Slate River. Treasurer and Treasury are inextricably paired by name and position, horizon-center in this image. I suffered a camera malfunction at the start of this hike. Generally my partner, Thomas Holt Ward, takes the artistic and flower shots for Earthline and I concentrate on photos that keep the reader oriented in the landscape. Every photo in this post was graciously taken by Thomas.

Paradise Basin is exquisitely beautiful and by early morning there were campers buzzing about and people setting up a wedding shoot. However, once we got on the Yule Pass Trail it was a hike of solitude. Our parking location adjacent to a silent and still reflection pool was simply divine. 

Three roads come together at the head of Paradise Basin. The road we came in on, FSR 734, ends there. We were parked on a rise off FSR 317, Schofield Pass Road, yet another access option for this trailhead. This image was snapped looking back as we walked toward the Yule Pass Trail. At 11,280 feet, we were in spruce world exclusively. An abundance of glacier lilies were an indication that snow had melted recently. 

I noted only 21 species of wildflowers on this hike, most likely because it had been yet another below average snow year. Walk on a 4WD road north out of Paradise Basin toward Cinnamon Mountain. Some slopes were covered in a mantle of green but the mountain's stone matched its name.

 

Walk by a second pond at 0.2 mile, the last opportunity to park. The Yule Pass Trail begins at 0.3 mile. The trail was once a burro road that served a mine on the far side of Yule Pass. The road pretty much holds the contour for two miles to the pass. The Eureka Mine was located on the precipitous west face of Treasury Mountain at 13,440 feet. Miners accessed the mine by rope. Silver ore from the mine was brought down by burro teams over "terrifying" Yule Pass and then down the Slate River to the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad spur at Anthracite. The mine began operation in 1879 and continued sporadically until 1950.  

 

In the 1990s the two-track was a solid walking platform. In 2026, the Yule Pass Trail was a mix of two-track, singletrack, shown, and very near obliteration.  

 

Natural erosion and sloughing, as well as debris flows on the west slope of Cinnamon Mountain have compromised and overrun sections of the track. Shown, is a typical slide path wreaking havoc on the road.  

Slope angle is about 45 degrees. The washouts don't last terribly long but as seen below, I'm not getting much purchase power with my boot steps. I'm deliberately digging in my downhill trekking pole. I mention this hazard because some hikers won't think much of it while others will judge it treacherous.

A 600 foot roaring cascade plunged down the opposite wall into the Slate River trench. 

In 1998, I walked down the bench midway between Purple Mountain's southeast ridge and the Slate. My field notes speak in wonder of "gorgeous bands of marble with white crystals, limestone outcrops, wetlands, reflecting ponds, streambed armoring, fanny falls over marbleized rock beds, and glacial polish." Plus, "diverse, fascinating arrays of lush flowers along the road to Yule Pass."  

The trail is one-boot wide for a long stretch. I patiently anchored each step. The scree was at the angle of repose and each footstep created a mini slide above and below my boot.

Shot on our return, this image is an accurate portrayal of the slope angle. Self arrest might prove difficult.

The sketchy bit doesn't last long. At 0.85 mile the trail broadened to a two-track with integrity. We began looking for an appealing route to the Cinnamon-Treasury saddle. 

We left the road at 1.0 mile on a social trail and did a quick little jog up to the saddle at 11,600 feet. The navigation is simple from there. Simply follow the southeast ridge of Treasury to the summit. 

At 11,600 feet, we were already above tree limit. One of our favorite alpine environments is the  krummholz, "elfin timber" zone. Typically, the trees are shrubby and dense, becoming ever more twisted and contorted with altitude. The five evenly spaced erect trees seen below are exceptional. 

 

Gnarled trunks and intertwined branches form impenetrable masses. 

 

Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory placed a weather station on the ridge at 1.5 miles. Located in Gothic, RMBL was founded in 1928 as a center for scientific research and education. On the drive and at the beginning of the hike we passed by several study sites, identified with flagging and mesh pods. 

The ridge functions as the headwall of two significant basins on the east side of the divide, Rock Creek and North Pole. Rock Creek Basin held fingers of snow in every drainage and indentation. A thunderous careening waterfall echoed off metamorphosed sheets of pale pink stone. 

 

Beyond the station, lose a few feet and then gear down for the steepest pitch of the entire hike. It is in-your-face but mercifully short.

  

The ridge undulates in waves, moderate to steep, with a few flat pauses. Catch your breath and haul yourself up the second short pitch. 

This vantage point offers a rare opportunity to look clear down into the Slate River gorge. Spend a moment. There is so much to see from this overlook at 12,200 feet.

We walked between the last island of ancient krummholz and a linear cornice. We were actually pushing the season by hiking in mid-June but managed to get away with it. Perhaps you've been thinking you were looking at the summit all this time. But no! This image depicts the southwest ridge of Galena intersecting at 13,060 feet.

I have never been on a ridge this massive and free of gendarmes or obstacles of any sort. One might expect tundra on the wide-open slopes but soil hasn't developed sufficiently and the surface is uniform chiprock with isolated patches of plants. The social trails visible in constricted areas completely disappear on the broad swaths. Elk and deer prints are evident but scattered. 

As we began mounting up the next slope the ground was covered in dark-gray, thinly laminated Mancos shale. So thin it broke underfoot. The sharp-edged, fractured rock pictured was exceptional for its size.  

  

Extra large clumps of deep rooted spring beauty were the most plentiful alpine flower on the south facing slope.

Blue-violet sky pilot clashed with the cerulean Colorado sky. 

As we advanced up the slope the stone was so uniform it looked as though it had been poured through a cosmic sieve. The earth was reduced to two elements--a cloudless, ever-blue sky and two inch rock chips. 

  

We passed by the west ridge of Galena Mountain. At the contact with metamorphic rock, hikers have been funneled, creating a rudimentary social trail. 

We arrived on the oversized flat depicted on the topo at 2.9 miles, 13,220 feet. The summit block was finally revealed. A real mountain! How thrilling!

The flat was partially covered with a snow field so we walked over to the west side to get around it. 

From the bivouac we could see peaks on the far west boundary of the Raggeds Wilderness and Chair Mountain. 

 

Our timing was good. We easily skirted the dissipating snow field and cornice. 

All that remained was 240 vertical feet. There are not enough superlatives to give this insane ridge its due. Perhaps it says it all that this was my fourth time traversing this ridge. I only repeat mountains if I am in love with them. There are two kinds of rock on the block: Entrada sandstone metamorphosed to quartzite, and Morrison sandstone metamorphosed to hornfels, metaquartzite, and marble. (Geologic Map of the Snowmass Mtn. Quad by Felix E. Mutschler, 1970, USGS) I favor quartzite so fondly that I have climbed Snowdon Peak, the "Quartzite Dragon," in the San Juan Mountains of Colorado at least a dozen times.  

There is a social trail west of the ridgecrest but do yourself a favor and stay on the spine where all the joy is. Yes, it is narrow, but it is not a knife. I will admit the textureless friction slabs are a bit of a boot test. Stone sheets are sheer, shaved, sharp-edged, and smooth as glass. The rock is adorned in unusual shades of apricot and purple. Thank goodness it goes on and on past mini false summits. Not quite, not quite, not quite. It is so rewarding, truly one of the finest ridges ever.   

We topped out on the summit at 3.4 miles. It's a small crest, especially given its massive underpinnings. But it's comfortable and you'll be keeping company with dotted saxifrage and old man of the mountain.

We found Reference Marker No. 2 placed in 1953 but not the benchmark. 

 

I expect the benchmark is buried under the large summit cairn.

 

Northeast in the Maroon Bells-Snowmass Wilderness, in an exclusive regal purple world, reside the fourteeners North Maroon, Maroon, and Pyramid peaks. 

Northward is the audacious and stately Snowmass Group: Capitol Peak, Snowmass Mountain, Hagerman Peak, and Snowmass Peak.

 

Ultra strong hikers will be jonesing to tack more onto this hike, Treasurer Mountain, the most obvious choice. The direct ridge route is reportedly troubled by impassible cliffs west of Point 13,407'. An enthusiastic Ragged Treasures report made Treasury, Treasurer, and Cinnamon look easy in a mere 7:20. He recommends retracing your steps to where you can comfortably cut down to the Yule Pass Trail before making for Yule Pass. Of note: In 1994, I ascended west with a friend from Schofield Park into North Pole Basin. We gained the ridge (exposed) between Point 13,407' and Treasury. We tagged the sub peak, traversed to Treasury, and descended over Galena Mountain to complete the loop. (He called it a death march.) We observed a viable route into Bear Basin from North Pole. An alternative route to Treasurer, perhaps? We were young and powerful and it still took us nine hours to complete the loop. My apologies for this photo. It shows the sub peak but doesn't give you much perspective on the alt route I'm speculating about. 

This shot was taken on our return. The headwall of North Pole Basin is most imposing. This no-nonsense escarpment is on the east side of the flat. 

 

Gliding down the series of slopes was both effortless and startling for its uniformity. Not up for returning on the exposed Yule Pass Trail? You could choose to climb over Cinnamon Mountain, 12,999' (LiDAR). The lift from the saddle is 732 feet. I have climbed Cinnamon from the south but not the north. The gnarly "Raggeds Treasures" writer called it easy but admitted it was steep and loose. There is an abundance of landscape treasure accessed from the Yule Pass Trail. May it remain passable for future generations of seekers.