This was a trip I had planned nearly a year in advance- to climb Tabeguache Peak and Mt. Antero from Browns Lake on a three day weekend. So Leah and I thought Labor Day would be as good a weekend as any. I wanted to climb Mt. Princeton as well on the day following my assualt of Tabeguache and Antero. The latter plan seemed somewhat masochistic after the effort on Sunday. In any event, we pulled onto Baldwin Gulch Road Saturday afternoon and proceeded up the road past Mt. Antero. This road actually climbs up east to 13,700' on Antero (if one so desires). On the right is North Carbonate 13,870'- one of Colorado's hundred highest peaks (as seen from the Baldwin Gulch Road). Browns Lake is actually at 11,286' to the south of Antero.
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| Since the road up Antero reaches 13,080', Browns Lake required a lot of elevation loss to get there.
The road winds slowly down south to a flatter area and the east to Browns Lake. I think a good two-wheel drive truck can make it down and up out of here, as it wasn't too difficult in my Tacoma. There were some of the best campsites I had ever seen here. We picked a nice level spot next to the creek with ample huge logs that were quite comfortable to sit on. There were a lot of small trout in the creek. Later that night we played with the flashlight watching the fish eyeballs reflecting from the water (strangely therapeutic). It was going to be a big day on Sunday, so I put in pretty early. Leah was planning only on climbing Antero, so she would get to sleep in. On the left is a view of the route up Tabeguache from just above Browns Lake.
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What makes this different from most people's multi-peak ascent days is that I was to gain more than 3,000' for each peak in one day. For me, this was a challenging task. For others, like those who climb all 54 peaks in 13 days or those who try Nolans' 14, this is pretty easy. The key to being able to gain enough elevation on the peaks involved a 15 minute hike to the east below Browns Lake to 11,000'. Getting up at 5:30 a.m., I had my scenic 15 minute hike and started up towards Tabeguache at 6:00. First, a good spot to cross the creek needed to be found. This was simple enough, a few hundred yards west of the campsite. There was a talus gully next that leads up to the Tabeguache / Point 13,710 saddle. I wasn't able to find the trail described in Roach's guide (on the way back down either). I didn't find that a route to the east of the gully would be viable. The gully still doesn't ever exceed Class 2 difficulty. It is a straight shot up the gully to the saddle, and involves 1,600' of elevation gain once passing treeline. Above is a photo of the remaining route up Tabeguache Peak after gaining the Tabeguache / Shavano saddle.
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The Northeast Slopes approach eventually intersects with the trail connecting Mount Shavano (14,229') and Tabeguache Peak. Routefinding was pretty simple up to this point, and was even easier to reach the summit. Antero looks pretty far away from the summit of Tabeguache (it is). On the left you can see North Carbonate in the background from the summit. I had made it up by 8:00 a.m. (first one up that day) and was ready to return to camp, take my 'scenic hike' to 300' below Browns Lake, and take on Mount Antero. Returning to down the gully, I was starting to feel a little less energetic. I returned to camp at 9:30, changed socks, and had a snack (cherry turnovers). My scenic hike took longer than planned, and I could tell Leah and I were going to have a long day.
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The hike out of Browns Lake on the road was pretty slow. Upon making it to more level ground north of the basin below, a lot of clouds were rolling in. Then it started to hail around 11:00 a.m., for about 45 minutes. The ground was covered with white, and we were beginning to doubt our chances. We kept plotting along, however, and we were getting closer and closer to Mount Antero's part of the road (see photo on the right). We had made a decision earlier to just folow the road back up to Antero, rather than trying to find the right place to climb up from Browns Lake. In retrospect, we would have saved a lot of time avoiding the road (we did return in a more straight-forward fashion down the gully just to the south of Mount White (the peak between Antero and Browns Lake).
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The road up Antero is interesting in the fact that most people don't drive up for the peak per se. Many here are rockhounds digging for treasure. In any case, the switchbacks are somewhat annoying because they are less direct than the rout could be. Nevertheless, it is important to stay on the road to prevent further erosion. Having completed the road section of the hike, the South Ridge up Antero came into view. It was already 2:15 at this point, and luckily the clouds had broken up. It took a while to traverse the ridge and complete the climb, but it was very rewarding upon reaching the summit. On the right is Tabeguache Peak from the summit of Mount Antero. 6,200' elevation gain, two separate peaks, and roughly 15 miles, what a day!
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