Columbia from Three Elk Creek

[BB732]

Did that route (or one next to it) yesterday 7/12. We went past 3 Elk Creek to hit the ridge to the north of the creek. Route finding was easy as you just keep going up until you get to tree line. From there you can pretty much see your route. We started at the intersection of the Colorado Trail and FSR 365. It was 8 miles to the summit. We screwed up and decided to return via the standard route to Horn Fork Basin in a major rain storm. Probably the worst descend I have ever done.

[2 left ft]

I hiked this July 3rd. I considered 3 Elk Creek but opted for Frenchman Creek trail. Should you decide Frenchman Creek, there's a tan house on the corner of CR 386 & Hwy 24 (missed it 2 times). If you have large truck or suv you might want to fold your side mirrors in (noticed a lot of nicked trees at mirror height). There's several camping spots at the trailhead. The Frenchman Creek trail is pretty straight forward. Watch the junctions for the return trip. The only people I saw all day were a group of teens coming down from a 4 day backpacking trip and they only did Harvard. They said a microburst made the trail in last group of trees almost impossible to hike and to go around. There's an opening/meadow on the left and it's at the last group of trees just before tree-line. I went to the left and stayed on the left side of the valley and as I approached Columbia I decided to go straight up the boulder field instead of gaining the left ridge (between 3 Elk & Frenchman) due to the snow field. The boulders weren't real stable and I ended up making my way toward the right side and caught the right saddle, following close to the traverse trail between Harvard & Columbia. Once on the summit I could see the snow field was not bad and could have gained the left saddle to summit. With 2 more weeks of snow melt it should not be a problem at all. But it was a fun scramble. Watch the left side as you're going up to pick a descent route should you decided to get the unnamed 13er and come down differently than the ascent.
Steve

[rockchalker]

Has anyone been up Columbia via Three Elks recently? A group of us are planning to do it the first week of September.

[SKYE_HI]

I went up Columbia from 3Elk Creek on July 4th this year...once the trail opened into the valley the mosquitoes were horrendous..no real discernable trail from the valley up onto the ridge line (least not that I saw) but several options to hike up onto the ridge and follow from there. Let me know if you have any particular questions about the route. (I did miss the sign for the FS road to the TH on first pass, and almost walked past the sign to the trail, it was leaning at an odd angle)