Redcloud/Sunshine/Handies

[DoctorBreaks]

Hey everyone thinking of doing these three sometime this summer. My question is after looking at the topo map, Is the Silver Creek-Grizzly Gulch TH the best way to do all three in one day? I would think doing RC/Sunshine then heading back to the TH then doing Handies would be best. Anyone done all three in one day and any advice?
Thanks everyone!

[kircher]

I've done all 3 in 1 day from Grizzly Gulch. It took the majority of the day. I think we started right around 6 am and took a few drops of rain the last mile back to the truck around 3:30...It's probably a 25 mile day. We did Sunshine and Redcloud 1st, then Handies. Not sure if it really matters which you do 1st. The Handies route may offer better bail outs/coverage in case of an afternoon storm.

Other than that, my only advice would be to not get fancy on the Sunshine decent; just suck it up and go back over Redcloud.

[ThuChad]

Hey everyone thinking of doing these three sometime this summer. My question is after looking at the topo map, Is the Silver Creek-Grizzly Gulch TH the best way to do all three in one day? I would think doing RC/Sunshine then heading back to the TH then doing Handies would be best. Anyone done all three in one day and any advice?
Thanks everyone!

That is my plan for August. I thought it would 18-20 miles. Are you sure on the 25 miles kircher? From the research I've done, driving around to American Basin saves you some miles and vert gain but not any time factoring in the drive. It's going to be a long day.

[kircher]

I just went and check my actual mileage. It was 22.5 miles... We did take a 'sporting' route down Handies though.

[geojed]

Hey everyone thinking of doing these three sometime this summer. My question is after looking at the topo map, Is the Silver Creek-Grizzly Gulch TH the best way to do all three in one day? I would think doing RC/Sunshine then heading back to the TH then doing Handies would be best. Anyone done all three in one day and any advice?
Thanks everyone!

I did all 3 in a day plus 2 nearby Centennials. I calculated about 20mi and 7700' elevation gain for the day. I descended the W ridge on Sunshine which saved a lot of time. I then drove up to American Basin to do Handies. TR is here. http://14ers.com/php14ers/tripreport.php?trip=12964" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Steve Nicholls]

We did the three last year from American Basin. Did the SW slopes route to Handies, down through Grizzly Gulch to the TH then up the standard Redcloud/Sunshine route and back. Once back at the TH we hiked up the road back to American Basin. Long day, but fun. It was right in the 25 mile-ish range.

[huffy13]

I guess you could be able to do all three in one day, it would be a long, hard day though just from an overall roundtrip mileage perspective. If you are going to try all three Grizzly Gulch is the best place to do it....however doing them in two days would be better, in my opinion, just so you could really enjoy the hikes instead of feeling like you were rushing through them. When we did Handies a few years ago for my daughter's first 14er, we started at Grizzly Gulch for the ascent and then descended down through American Basin. From there we just hiked the road that wraps around Whitecross Mountain right back to Grizzly Gulch. Great loop route, we were able to see how cool Handies looked on the ascent (it doesn't look all that great from AB) and we still got to enjoy how awesome American Basin was, Sloan Lake and some wildflowers, although we were a few weeks too late to catch them at their peak. We had a few folks driving the road offer us a ride (I believe the road is part of the Alpine Loop Scenic Byway) but we were enjoying the hike, so we politely turned down the offers, but there is always that option if you choose also. Either way, that is one of the most amazing parts of the state I have gotten to visit and I look forward to going back so I can bag Sunshine and Redcloud.

[ezabielski]

Did all three last weekend. Did RC/Sunshine from Grizzly Gulch, and the weather was holding off that day so we went up to the American Basin TH and did Handies real fast. I've heard the Silver Creek route, while longer, is significantly more beautiful. But no one would say the American Basin isn't stunning. It's all the San Juans after all!

[DoctorBreaks]

Thanks for the response guys, I would like to drive to AM Basin because of the scenery.

[DoctorBreaks]

Just read throught the other comments. I posted that last comment before I saw others posted lol. Nice trip report! I think everyone is right. It's going to be a long day lol. I'm really trying to do as many as I can. I only have one day a weekend usually Saturday and my goal was 27 by the end of the summer. Sadly a couple of back to back weekends of bad weather really set me back, but I am hoping to get at least 20 by the end of summer. Want to do these in a couple weeks or so and the Chicago Basin 14er circuit for my last week of the summer.

Thanks again everyone!

[aweskamp]

I guess you could be able to do all three in one day, it would be a long, hard day though just from an overall roundtrip mileage perspective. If you are going to try all three Grizzly Gulch is the best place to do it....however doing them in two days would be better, in my opinion, just so you could really enjoy the hikes instead of feeling like you were rushing through them. When we did Handies a few years ago for my daughter's first 14er, we started at Grizzly Gulch for the ascent and then descended down through American Basin. From there we just hiked the road that wraps around Whitecross Mountain right back to Grizzly Gulch. Great loop route, we were able to see how cool Handies looked on the ascent (it doesn't look all that great from AB) and we still got to enjoy how awesome American Basin was, Sloan Lake and some wildflowers, although we were a few weeks too late to catch them at their peak. We had a few folks driving the road offer us a ride (I believe the road is part of the Alpine Loop Scenic Byway) but we were enjoying the hike, so we politely turned down the offers, but there is always that option if you choose also. Either way, that is one of the most amazing parts of the state I have gotten to visit and I look forward to going back so I can bag Sunshine and Redcloud.

What was the RT mileage on this route?

[huffy13]

I guess you could be able to do all three in one day, it would be a long, hard day though just from an overall roundtrip mileage perspective. If you are going to try all three Grizzly Gulch is the best place to do it....however doing them in two days would be better, in my opinion, just so you could really enjoy the hikes instead of feeling like you were rushing through them. When we did Handies a few years ago for my daughter's first 14er, we started at Grizzly Gulch for the ascent and then descended down through American Basin. From there we just hiked the road that wraps around Whitecross Mountain right back to Grizzly Gulch. Great loop route, we were able to see how cool Handies looked on the ascent (it doesn't look all that great from AB) and we still got to enjoy how awesome American Basin was, Sloan Lake and some wildflowers, although we were a few weeks too late to catch them at their peak. We had a few folks driving the road offer us a ride (I believe the road is part of the Alpine Loop Scenic Byway) but we were enjoying the hike, so we politely turned down the offers, but there is always that option if you choose also. Either way, that is one of the most amazing parts of the state I have gotten to visit and I look forward to going back so I can bag Sunshine and Redcloud.

What was the RT mileage on this route?

Doing the loop added about 2 miles to the Grizzly Gulch Route described on the site, so right around 10 total, but those extra miles were easy, just road walking. It was so worth it just to see how great Handies looked from GG and we also didn't want to miss out on American Basin...one of my favorite hikes and really the most secluded 14er I've done so far. We only came across 8 people the whole day that were hiking.