Castle Peak Trip Report 08/31/2015

Peak(s):	Castle Peak - 14,274 feet
Date Posted:	08/31/2015
Date Climbed:	08/31/2015
Author:	micknugs

Castle Peak - Montezuma Rd
If you do not have a HIGH CLEARANCE 4WD vehicle, plan to hike to the TH from further down the road (Montezuma Rd), and add that mileage to your trip. From Aspen, if you take Castle Creek Rd west, it will be paved for about 12 miles and then you hit a road closed sign, and head to the right on a dirt path. There are several marked camping sites up that road (I think 8 of them), and then you hit a bridge and a creek, which you will have to drive over and up the left to continue up Pearl Pass Rd. I was able to make it over that in a Toyota Rav4 (AWD) with no problems. From there, there are more designated camp sites, which are unmarked. Leave early, because almost all of the campsites were taken by the time I got there (around 7:00 p.m. on a Saturday). BUT, I luckily noticed one on the left side of the road a ways up, which was not very obvious (probably the only reason it wasn't taken). The next morning, I discovered there were a few more campsites that were even further than that one, and they were occupied since they were more visible from the road. My plan was to drive up Montezuma Rd to the TH before starting the hike to Castle Peak (and Conundrum Peak), but realized about 30 minutes into the drive, that a Toyota Rav4 doesn't really have the clearance for that road. We drove up quite a ways from the campsites, we even made it to the fork where you can go left on Pearl Pass Rd, or right up Montezuma Rd (it's not marked--but turn right, that's how you get to the TH). To be honest, at that point, I was driving so slow, it was barely faster than people can hike, so we eventually gave up and parked it out of the way, abandoned the car and hiked up to the trailhead. This was right before a point in the road where water is literally running down the road over some medium-sized rocks. I don't think my Rav could have made it up there, so it's a good thing we abandoned it when we did. There is one designated campsite just before the road/creek, which someone had backpacked up to. There is one last campsite right after that, which was really nice and no one was there--so if you have a Jeep (or other high clearance 4WD vehicle), I suggest you go all the way there, it may be available. Past that, by vehicle, it's probably another 20 minutes to the TH, if you can make it. This part of the road goes back and forth from being very passable, to being very impassable. I saw a van up there--they somehow made it, but otherwise only a Jeep and a Park Ranger and a Toyota Tundra which gave up at one point. Most people opted to hike up to the TH. I think I got to the TH at about 9 a.m. and then started up towards Castle Peak. The trail starts (from the TH) to the right of it and then immediately switches back to the left, I would say stay to the left and follow the cairns. I tried going up the snowfield to the right, but it was so icy, I didn't have microspikes and kept falling, so I'm sure it ended up being slower. Once you get over the boulder/scree field, there's a slight narrow descent right before you get to a slightly more defined path of finer sediment and smaller rocks. Those are tight switchbacks and it's a steep incline. Once that's done, you're closer to the ridge, where you just head up to the right towards the peak. The path is pretty clearly defined for a while and it's just a straight shoot towards the summit. At one point, it starts to get really rocky and you really need to look for the cairns. Avoid the temptation to stay to the right of the ridge--trust me, it's better to climb in a few places and go over the top of the ridge. There's one point up there where there is a clear stack of rocks which is meant to redirect you from going to the right, instead go to the left (you have to use your arms to climb a bit), it won't seem intuitive, but going to the right would be a mistake. From here, it's about 20 minutes to the summit. There's quite a bit of climbing involved, but it's not terribly treacherous and it's doable for someone who can't even make it to the top of a rock wall at the gym (me). You won't even realize it when you're at the summit, it happens so fast at the end. I went back the same way I went up, which seemed better than trying to descend in the saddleback--but you do you. I did not decide to do Conundrum, since we started a lot later than planned (9 a.m. at the TH). On the descent, there are two snowfields which have defined "butt slides". The first one looks really steep and treacherous--I would not recommend it. However, if you stay to the right, there's another snowfield towards the bottom of the descent that has a "butt slide" indent in the snow--if you don't mind getting wet, do it. It's fun, but also make sure to dig your heels in to slow yourself down, or you may hit a rock at a speed that will make it very unpleasant. That's all! To display your photos (uploaded below) in the final trip report, type the image number (i.e., 1, 2, 3), highlight it with your cursor, and click on the Image button on the right. Example: Image #1 (not yet uploaded) More image format examples: Float image right: Image #3 (not yet uploaded) Float image right, width of 300 pixels: Image #3 (not yet uploaded) Float image left, width of 175 pixels: Image #3 (not yet uploaded) External image: Float external image right, width of 600 pixels:

Castle Peak - Montezuma Rd

If you do not have a HIGH CLEARANCE 4WD vehicle, plan to hike to the TH from further down the road (Montezuma Rd), and add that mileage to your trip.

From Aspen, if you take Castle Creek Rd west, it will be paved for about 12 miles and then you hit a road closed sign, and head to the right on a dirt path. There are several marked camping sites up that road (I think 8 of them), and then you hit a bridge and a creek, which you will have to drive over and up the left to continue up Pearl Pass Rd. I was able to make it over that in a Toyota Rav4 (AWD) with no problems. From there, there are more designated camp sites, which are unmarked. Leave early, because almost all of the campsites were taken by the time I got there (around 7:00 p.m. on a Saturday). BUT, I luckily noticed one on the left side of the road a ways up, which was not very obvious (probably the only reason it wasn't taken). The next morning, I discovered there were a few more campsites that were even further than that one, and they were occupied since they were more visible from the road.

My plan was to drive up Montezuma Rd to the TH before starting the hike to Castle Peak (and Conundrum Peak), but realized about 30 minutes into the drive, that a Toyota Rav4 doesn't really have the clearance for that road. We drove up quite a ways from the campsites, we even made it to the fork where you can go left on Pearl Pass Rd, or right up Montezuma Rd (it's not marked--but turn right, that's how you get to the TH). To be honest, at that point, I was driving so slow, it was barely faster than people can hike, so we eventually gave up and parked it out of the way, abandoned the car and hiked up to the trailhead. This was right before a point in the road where water is literally running down the road over some medium-sized rocks. I don't think my Rav could have made it up there, so it's a good thing we abandoned it when we did. There is one designated campsite just before the road/creek, which someone had backpacked up to. There is one last campsite right after that, which was really nice and no one was there--so if you have a Jeep (or other high clearance 4WD vehicle), I suggest you go all the way there, it may be available.

Past that, by vehicle, it's probably another 20 minutes to the TH, if you can make it. This part of the road goes back and forth from being very passable, to being very impassable. I saw a van up there--they somehow made it, but otherwise only a Jeep and a Park Ranger and a Toyota Tundra which gave up at one point. Most people opted to hike up to the TH. I think I got to the TH at about 9 a.m. and then started up towards Castle Peak. The trail starts (from the TH) to the right of it and then immediately switches back to the left, I would say stay to the left and follow the cairns. I tried going up the snowfield to the right, but it was so icy, I didn't have microspikes and kept falling, so I'm sure it ended up being slower.

Once you get over the boulder/scree field, there's a slight narrow descent right before you get to a slightly more defined path of finer sediment and smaller rocks. Those are tight switchbacks and it's a steep incline. Once that's done, you're closer to the ridge, where you just head up to the right towards the peak. The path is pretty clearly defined for a while and it's just a straight shoot towards the summit. At one point, it starts to get really rocky and you really need to look for the cairns. Avoid the temptation to stay to the right of the ridge--trust me, it's better to climb in a few places and go over the top of the ridge. There's one point up there where there is a clear stack of rocks which is meant to redirect you from going to the right, instead go to the left (you have to use your arms to climb a bit), it won't seem intuitive, but going to the right would be a mistake. From here, it's about 20 minutes to the summit. There's quite a bit of climbing involved, but it's not terribly treacherous and it's doable for someone who can't even make it to the top of a rock wall at the gym (me).

You won't even realize it when you're at the summit, it happens so fast at the end. I went back the same way I went up, which seemed better than trying to descend in the saddleback--but you do you.

I did not decide to do Conundrum, since we started a lot later than planned (9 a.m. at the TH).

On the descent, there are two snowfields which have defined "butt slides". The first one looks really steep and treacherous--I would not recommend it. However, if you stay to the right, there's another snowfield towards the bottom of the descent that has a "butt slide" indent in the snow--if you don't mind getting wet, do it. It's fun, but also make sure to dig your heels in to slow yourself down, or you may hit a rock at a speed that will make it very unpleasant.

That's all!

To display your photos (uploaded below) in the final trip report, type the image number (i.e., 1, 2, 3), highlight it with your cursor, and click on the Image button on the right. Example:

Image #1 (not uploaded yet) — Image #1 (not yet uploaded)

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Comments or Questions

PaliKona

Must have
8/31/2015 9:14pm

Been cloudy up there

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