Redcloud alternate routes?

[SikYou]

I'll be heading down to Lake City for the fall gathering and I'm looking at hiking Redcloud & Sunshine. I've been trying to find info on alternate routes to "spice" the hike up a bit, shorter wouldn't be bad either. Roach writes about 4 routes, the standard route and 3 snow routes; Middlebrook only has 1 route listed on this site and I haven't really found anything anywhere else. Are there any other good routes up Redcloud? I've never been to the area so I'm not sure what to expect but a class 3 ridge route wouldn't be terrible I'm looking to end the season with a 2fer, that's why I'm not looking at other area peaks. Thanks!

[San Juan Ron]

1. Mill Creek TH to Sunshine and over to Redcloud. Short & steep. The TH is across the road from the Fall Gathering.
2. Silver Creek TH to south Silver Creek. Up the NW face of Sunshine and over to Redcloud. No trail on final ascent and it's steep!
3. Silver Creek TH to near south Silver Creek. Up Sundog and over to Sunshine and then over to Redcloud. Goggle trip reports.
4. This one I have NOT tried, but it certainly looks doable and I am sure a few 14er members have completed this approach. Silver Creek TH to south Silver Creek. As you near tree line, go west up the rocky face of Redcloud.
5. This alternative is a long hike. Williams Creek TH to 12195 to 13811 to 13632 to 13832 and over to Redcloud. Lots of miles, but a nice hike.
6. Cooper Creek TH up Cooper Creek trail and several 13ers and south to Redcloud. I haven't done this route in many years. Route finding can be challenging and its a steep ascent out of the valley (to 13681 or 13688 or other 13ers to choose from). But, it's fun!

SJ Ron

[SikYou]

Thanks Ron! I'll get out a map tonight and start looking at these alts.

[MountainSlayer]

I cannot speak to what ascending Sunshine's NW Face is like, but I can attest to the sheer suck of descending it. Had it not been for weather, my wife and I would have crossed over to "Sundog"/13,432 and desecended via its N Ridge.

[DeTour]

Brian, we ascended Sunshine's NW face from the Silver Creek trailhead, following Silver Creek and 14ers.com "route #3." Then from Sunshine over to Redcloud and down the standard Redcloud route for a "tour d'Sunshine-Redcloud." (Sound familiar?) The ascent differs from SJ Ron's second suggestion in that you bear basically straight south all the way to the ridge of Sunshine. Don't go up that steep NW face of Sunshine - I've read numerous warnings that it's steep, loose and downright dangerous.

Our route wasn't a bad ascent up Sunshine. The gully in photos 8-9-10 was a bit tougher than it looks in the photos - a bit steep, your choice of loose sand/scree or badly fractured rock. From there the rest of the way to the West Ridge of Sunshine wasn't bad. We took the "right side of face" option as described on this site. It was a nice (and easy) ridge walk to Sunshine's summit.

If I were to do it again, however, I would seriously consider SJ Ron's third suggestion, incorporating a ridge run of Sundog into the ascent. I've read that it's not difficult, and it doesn't add very much mileage or elevation gain. I found info on it on this site, don't recall if they were TRs or forum posts. That east face of Sundog is impressive.

[SikYou]

Thanks Thorn! I can't believe I didn't consider asking you, the master of alt routes. I'll look at the route and talk to my group. Thanks!

[Sean Nunn]

#1 on San Juan Ron's list is a great hike, especially if you don't mind a little sketchiness on the descent. It is a class 2 route I believe, but you can always get lucky like I did a few years back, get off-route, and end up with a class 3 descent!!!! On top of that there had been reports of a bear in the area within the last few weeks, which made the climb and descent even more exciting.

Sean Nunn
Raytown MO

[SikYou]

Sundog's north ridge looks great on my map. Looks like I'll plan for silver creek trail to the north ridge of sundog then up and over Sundog, Sunshine, Redcloud, down the standard route. Thanks for all of the input.

Looks like this trip should come in at ~9.5 miles RT and ~4,300 ft of gain