The past few years, the pursuit of climbing county high points in each state has gained popularity. In Colorado, a good guidebook for this is “Hiking Colorado’s Summits,” by John Drew Mitchler and Dave Covill (Falcon Publishing).
Colorado’s county high points create a fascinating list. If you’ve climbed all the fourteeners, then you can already cross 19 counties off your list, but completing the centennial peaks (the hundred highest in Colorado) adds only one more county.
Some peaks give you two or three county high points for the price of one. According to Mitchler and Covill, Blanca Peak sits at the apex of three counties: Alamosa, Costilla and Huerfano. If you climbed Crestone Peak (the high point of Saguache County) but didn’t take the time to bag the nearby east summit, you missed the high point of Custer County.
While many of the high points are popular climbs, there are also many less-traveled summits on this list. Recently in this column I described a hike to the summit of Mount Zirkel, which is the high point of Routt County. This week we visit another of these, Clark Peak, the high point of Jackson County.
Although the approach hike to Ruby Jewel Lake is extremely popular, once on the slopes of Clark Peak you’ll probably have the mountain to yourself.
Hike description
Assuming you start at the two-wheel-drive parking area, hike east and then northeast up the rough road, reaching the upper trailhead at mile 1.2. Pass through the barrier and follow the trail as it climbs to treeline. Pass a signed trail junction to Kelly Lake at mile 1.7 and continue on towards Ruby Jewel Lake (shown as Jewel Lake on the topographical map), reaching the lake at mile 2.4. This is a very scenic spot and makes a good destination for a day hike.
If you’re here to climb Clark Peak, you have a choice to make. Your objective is the broad peak to the northeast of the lake. The standard route heads north then northeast to reach a broad saddle between Clark and its western neighbor, unnamed 12,654. Intermittent climbers’ trails help negotiate this route. From the saddle, head east to the summit on scree slopes.
Mitchler and Covill also mention a more direct ascent using shallow gullies northeast of the lake. In early summer these gullies offer a moderate snow climb, but when we ascended one of them on July 26 of this year they were totally dry and somewhat unpleasant, with loose scree and talus, requiring care to avoid dislodging rocks. Once above the gullies you’ll find steep grassy slopes and more scree on your way to the summit.
The views from the summit are excellent. Looking north you have the peaks and lakes of the Rawah Wilderness, while to the south the peaks of Rocky Mountain National Park dominate the skyline.
For our descent we decided to head down via the gentler standard route to the broad saddle mentioned above, before returning to Ruby Jewel Lake.
Dave Cooper is the author of “Colorado Snow Climbs: A Guide for All Seasons.”
The details
Getting to the trailhead: Drive on Colorado 14 to the town of Gould, 9.3 miles west of Cameron Pass. Continue on Colorado 14 west and north for 2.4 miles to the junction (on the right) with County Road 41. Turn onto County Road 41, and pass through the entrance station (Colorado State Forest park fee required). Measure the mileage from the entrance station, and continue driving east on County Road 41 to a road junction at mile 1.2. Stay left at this junction, the entrance to North Michigan campground, signed to the boat ramps and water access. Continue on County Road 41 as it passes along the north side of the reservoir. At mile 4.8, turn right (east) onto Ruby Jewel Road and drive to the 2 wheel drive parking area at mile 6.8. High-clearance, four-wheel-drive vehicles can continue up the rough road for another 1.2 miles.
Statistics and difficulty: From the two-wheel-drive parking area to Ruby Jewel Lake the trail gains 1,650 feet in 2.5 miles one-way. Easy scrambling via the standard route from the lake to the summit of Clark Peak (12,951 feet) adds 0.75 mile and 1,635 feet of elevation one-way, for a total of 3.25 miles and 3,285 feet of elevation gain. Ascending the gullies shortens the distance a little but increases the difficulty to Class 2+ to Class 3, depending on the exact line chosen.
USGS Quads: Clark Peak, CO
