Peak(s):	Redskin Mountain - 8783 8659 8494
Date Posted:	12/19/2010
Modified:	05/19/2012
Date Climbed:	12/19/2010
Author:	Derek
Additional Members:	somethingrandom

Retirement Range 8ers
Redskin Mountain (8,783') UN 8659 UN 8494 December 19th, 2010 Overall Distance: 6 miles Overall elevation: 1700 ft Looking to make use of some finds on my LOJ "Retirement Range" custom list as well as avoid the weather higher up, I decided to check out a few 8ers near the Wellington Lake area. I hadn't hiked with Brian since Quandary over a month ago, and because our attempts to meet up at the climbing gym had not been working out he decided to join me for some "sub-alpine" fun. I debated on taking my truck to make sure I didn't get stopped by snow on the Forest Service roads in the area, but I finally decided to take the car. This ended up being a good decision, the roads were pretty much bare and dry the entire day. After meeting at The Fort, we drove to Bailey and south on Wellington Rd. After around 4 miles, we turned left onto 549. This led us through some private property/ranch areas before meeting 553. We followed the signs for Miller Gulch TH along 553 and found a nice large and empty parking lot at the TH, complete with a full deer carcass and a port-a-john! Redskin Mountain First in our sights was Redskin Mountain. From the car, we headed SE aiming for the saddle between the two summit areas of Redskin. This area contained about the only snow that we saw all day. We were able to follow a couple deer trails that led us almost directly to the saddle. From the saddle, we ascended straight north into some rocky sections that made for a lot of fun. We dropped our packs and climbed around the boulders for quite a while before finally headed to the true summit. We almost gave up searching for the register before finally locating it in a plastic bag stashed underneath a large rock. I was surprised at the amount of entries, quite a popular little mountain. After returning to our packs, we climbed around a bit more before returning to the car. Lots of fun to be had on Redskin, definitely worth returning. Easy going at the start of the ascent towards Redskin. Opportunities for scrambling west of Redskin's summit. Brian scrambling up. Summit rocks of Redskin. UN8659 From the car, we headed the opposite direction of Redskin towards UN8659. The mountain was nice and simple, we just followed the SE ridge all the way to the summit. The east side of the mountain has been cleared out due to fire, so we followed the burn border most of the way up. Nice views to the east during the ascent. We didn't spend too much time on 8659, as we wanted to head south closer to Wellington Lake. Wide open slopes of 8659. Looking back at Redskin from the slopes of 8659. Looking SE towards The Castle from 8659. Tracks for Redskin and 8659. UN8494 After returning to the car, we drove west back out to Wellington Rd and headed south. As we neared the lake, the view of UN8494 really caught my eye. I knew from maps and previous research, the entire west and south side of 8494 was on private property. Therefore, I planned to find a way up from the east. After passing the Wellington Lake facilities, we turned left and stayed on 543. (Buffalo Creek Rd.) I drove until we were almost due east of the summit of 8494 (just before the road starts to descend) and parked in a nice large pullout. After verifying with the GPS and map that we were on public land, we began to ascend the steep east slope of 8494. Although steep, we encountered no difficulties until 150 feet below the summit. It turned out that we actually hit the south ridge of the peak rather than the true summit. We could have turned north and found a nice easy slope to the summit, but we decided to play around again on the ridge and get some more scrambling in. Following the ridge involved plenty of class 3 and 4 moves with decent exposure to both sides. The views of The Castle from here were incredible. This was a fun little peak, although care must be given due to some loose rocks. We made sure and moved with caution to prevent knocking anything down the slope. Once again we spent much more time than we needed to just messing around on the rocks. I had planned to head over to UN8484 and UN8660A next, but all our extra-curricular activities on the first 3 mountains had caused us to run out of time. Scramble time. Angled left here avoiding as much brush as possible. Mainly class 3 moves. Brian taking a pause from the scramble on a nice overlook a couple hundred feet below UN8494. Castle Peak towering above Wellington Lake from the summit of 8494. Googleearth track of our route up 8494. Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

Retirement Range 8ers

Redskin Mountain (8,783')
UN 8659
UN 8494

December 19th, 2010
Overall Distance: 6 miles
Overall elevation: 1700 ft

Looking to make use of some finds on my LOJ "Retirement Range" custom list as well as avoid the weather higher up, I decided to check out a few 8ers near the Wellington Lake area. I hadn't hiked with Brian since Quandary over a month ago, and because our attempts to meet up at the climbing gym had not been working out he decided to join me for some "sub-alpine" fun. I debated on taking my truck to make sure I didn't get stopped by snow on the Forest Service roads in the area, but I finally decided to take the car. This ended up being a good decision, the roads were pretty much bare and dry the entire day.

After meeting at The Fort, we drove to Bailey and south on Wellington Rd. After around 4 miles, we turned left onto 549. This led us through some private property/ranch areas before meeting 553. We followed the signs for Miller Gulch TH along 553 and found a nice large and empty parking lot at the TH, complete with a full deer carcass and a port-a-john!

Redskin Mountain

First in our sights was Redskin Mountain. From the car, we headed SE aiming for the saddle between the two summit areas of Redskin. This area contained about the only snow that we saw all day. We were able to follow a couple deer trails that led us almost directly to the saddle. From the saddle, we ascended straight north into some rocky sections that made for a lot of fun. We dropped our packs and climbed around the boulders for quite a while before finally headed to the true summit. We almost gave up searching for the register before finally locating it in a plastic bag stashed underneath a large rock. I was surprised at the amount of entries, quite a popular little mountain. After returning to our packs, we climbed around a bit more before returning to the car. Lots of fun to be had on Redskin, definitely worth returning.

Easy going at the start of the ascent towards Redskin.

Opportunities for scrambling west of Redskin's summit.

UN8659

From the car, we headed the opposite direction of Redskin towards UN8659. The mountain was nice and simple, we just followed the SE ridge all the way to the summit. The east side of the mountain has been cleared out due to fire, so we followed the burn border most of the way up. Nice views to the east during the ascent. We didn't spend too much time on 8659, as we wanted to head south closer to Wellington Lake.

Looking back at Redskin from the slopes of 8659.

Looking SE towards The Castle from 8659.

UN8494

After returning to the car, we drove west back out to Wellington Rd and headed south. As we neared the lake, the view of UN8494 really caught my eye. I knew from maps and previous research, the entire west and south side of 8494 was on private property. Therefore, I planned to find a way up from the east. After passing the Wellington Lake facilities, we turned left and stayed on 543. (Buffalo Creek Rd.) I drove until we were almost due east of the summit of 8494 (just before the road starts to descend) and parked in a nice large pullout. After verifying with the GPS and map that we were on public land, we began to ascend the steep east slope of 8494. Although steep, we encountered no difficulties until 150 feet below the summit. It turned out that we actually hit the south ridge of the peak rather than the true summit. We could have turned north and found a nice easy slope to the summit, but we decided to play around again on the ridge and get some more scrambling in. Following the ridge involved plenty of class 3 and 4 moves with decent exposure to both sides. The views of The Castle from here were incredible. This was a fun little peak, although care must be given due to some loose rocks. We made sure and moved with caution to prevent knocking anything down the slope. Once again we spent much more time than we needed to just messing around on the rocks. I had planned to head over to UN8484 and UN8660A next, but all our extra-curricular activities on the first 3 mountains had caused us to run out of time.

Angled left here avoiding as much brush as possible. Mainly class 3 moves.

Brian taking a pause from the scramble on a nice overlook a couple hundred feet below UN8494.

Castle Peak towering above Wellington Lake from the summit of 8494.

Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

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