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This report is mostly focused on Hayden Peak traverse since there isn't much info on it out there.
I started from Cathedral Lake trailhead and took Electric Pass up to the Electric Pass / Leahy Saddle. This is a great trail and there are a few junctions above treeline but I think they all make it up (or you can dive into 6 foot tall willows as needed).
I broke off the wonderful trail to Electric Pass and walked over the hilly bumps to enjoy a nice sunrise on legendary unranked Leahy Peak.
Sunrise walking up Leahy, you saw it before my Instagram did.
After shivering and making a phone call, I made my way back to Electric Pass on the wonderful trail. Nina texted me saying she had just summit La Plata and I was her ride so naturally I decided to waste her time and go over to Hayden.
I decided now was a great time to look up any trip reports I could find on Hayden before embarking and then set off. The traverse over starts off pretty uneventful and it's mostly class 2 with some uncairned trail segments. You'll encounter some basic class 3 downclimbs before long but the rock is stable. If you're rushing like I was, I found jumping off the downclimbs to be a time saver that is really supportive of your ankles.
Above the class 3 downclimb before an easy walk up to the ridge bump.Below the final downclimb before the ridge bump. It is solid class 3 but you can also jump off of it while eating a Quest bar
After the main downclimb, summit the ridge bump and take in the view of the spice between you and Hayden Peak A.
Spiciness between ridge bump and summit. Don't go this way.Looking back to Electric Pass from Hayden. Like the ridge bump, the final push is very mellow but staying on the now-right hand side (in this picture) avoids the loose hell
This is when staying to climber's left starts to become important, if you go right, you'll find goat trails with rocks waiting to fall on you and class 4-5 chimneys that are falling apart. I found out the hard way. I turned around and found this pretty awesome trail on the left side (how I missed it is one of the questions science will never be able to answer). Follow these trail segments to the summit and enjoy the views of the Maroon Peaks, Capitol, and Snowmass.
Maroon Peaks and Snowmass, Capitol, K2 and some other irrelevant mountainsRidge to Cathedral if you decided Hayden wasn't spicy enough.
Return back the way you came to Electric Pass Peak and enjoy the views of Cathedral and Castle while you thank yourself for not hiking White Rock Mountain and White BM today. Say hi to everyone you see heading towards the lake as you head out and floor it back to La Plata.
Valley back to Cathedral Lake trailheadGaia got funky on me for a minute, not sure what happened in the red circled area but it said I was off trail so I willowbashed to an adjacent one. Teal circled area is where I started to go right and was reminded of how loose the elk range is. Around there is where you want to stay left.
My GPS Tracks on Google Maps (made from a .GPX file upload):
Thanks for the beta. Still have to go back for Hayden since we orphaned it this spring. This will make it much easier to bag when we return.
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