Sunshine Peak

  • Sunshine Peak
  • 4268 m.
  • Primary factor 153 m.
  • 53rd in Colorado
  • Location: North 37:55.367, West 107:25.500
  • Climbed July 6, 2001

Information:

How to get there: Lake City is the natural reference location. Go south on Hwy. 149 approximately 3.5 km, then turn right onto the road to Lake San Cristobal. Drive around the lake and continue up the valley on a good dirt road. A little more than 19 km from Hwy. 149, the road forks and there are signs saying Silverton, Cinnamon Pass, etc. This is the right fork that heads uphill. Continue about 6.5 km on this road. The Silver Creek trailhead will be obvious, there is a separate parking area on the right hand side of the road as well as an outhouse (on the left hand side). The trail to Redcloud and Sunshine heads directly off to the right (east).
Route description: We climbed this peak directly after the ascent of Redcloud Peak. See the description of the first part of the route there. From the summit of Redcloud Peak one can easily see Sunshine Peak and a very distinct trail that connects the two peaks. The trail stays mostly on the west side of the ridge crest. The traverse takes about half an hour and is an easy walk.
Comments: I did this hike with Pål Jørgen, age 12. We started at the trailhead around 0700, hit the summit of Redcloud at 0915 (with Pål Jørgen about 5 minutes ahead!). After about 10 minutes rest we hiked over to Sunshine Peak (in beautiful sunshine!), resting there from around 1000 to about 1030. We made a "garnd tour de Sunshine" by traversing the ridge to Sundog and connecting back to the main trail via the descending ridge. Back at the Jeep around 1245, making the complete tour in a bit less than 6 hours.

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