W0C/SR-064
Horseshoe Mountain
4236 m / 13898 ft
Sep 27, 2016

By KX0R

Horseshoe Mountain is a high, alpine summit in a historic mining area about 10 miles west of Fairplay, Colorado.

Key Points:

• High altitude hike
• No marked route
• Old mining road ascends part way
• Rocky path leads along ridge to the top
• Spectacular alpine scenery
• Geology field trip
• Excellent HF site
• ~ 6 miles round-trip from 11,850 foot parking spot
• ~ 2050 vertical feet total from 11,850 foot parking spot
• ~ 4 miles round trip from 12,300 foot parking spot
• ~ 1600 vertical feet total from 12,300 foot parking spot
• *** SOTA Classic! ***

Driving Directions:

• Drive west on Highway 285 and cross Kenosha Pass
• Continue west on Highway 285 to Fairplay
• Drive south from Fairplay about 1 mile
• Just past the turn-off for Highway 9, Highway 285 goes up a little hill.
• Turn west at the top of the hill on CR 18, the Four Mile Creek Road.
• Mostly unpaved CR 18 is OK for several miles, but it gets worse as it heads up into the mountains. 4WD isn’t required, but many parts of the road are rocky and rough.
• Follow CR 18 up historic Four Mile Creek, past old mines and mills, for about 10 miles from Highway 285.

• At about 11,600 feet, a small, insignificant road, FR-603, leads south across Four Mile Creek.
• It might be possible to park on the north side of CR 18 near FR-603.
• FR-603 is an easy 4WD road – it climbs steeply southwest and leads into the Horseshoe Cirque below the summit.

• FR-603 requires high clearance in spots, but it may be passable in some 2WD vehicles.
• Most of the land along the first part of FR-603 is private and is posted.
• It’s possible to park along the road past the posted land.
• FR-603 improves as it enters the Horseshoe.
• There’s a good parking spot at about 12,300 feet overlooking a small lake.

The Hike:

• Because of the high altitude, this trip is recommended only for experienced hikers with a high level of physical fitness.
• Google Maps show none of the trails near Horseshoe Mountain.
• GPS is very useful in this area.
• The hike is simple, but it isn’t marked well with signs, etc.
• From the 4WD parking spot at 12,300 feet, hike up the mine road as it continues steeply up switchbacks and climbs the ridge north of the peak.

• If you have a serious 4WD vehicle, you may be able to drive up as high as 13,000 feet.
• Hike up the remains of the road to the saddle on the ridge at 13,200 feet.

• An unmarked faint path leads south and climbs up the moderate ridge about 0.8 miles to the summit area.
• A rock-pile is near the summit, but there’s no wind shelter.

Additional Details:

The part of the summit ridge above 13,800 feet is about ½ mile long. The SOTA Activation Zone is perhaps 2000 feet long and is relatively flat. As long as the wind is not too strong, you can set up radio gear anywhere that’s convenient.
The weather was perfect when I climbed up Horseshoe Mountain. With only a breeze, I guyed my pole and set up on top.

Horseshoe Mountain is a perfect HF summit. It falls away in all directions, and there are no higher peaks nearby to affect skip signals. There’s no development nearby, and the RF noise level is very low.

I had no problem making 43 CW contacts on four HF bands! I logged three DX contacts:

F6HKA in France               20M
ZL1BYZ in New Zealand    20M
ZL1BYZ in New Zealand    17M

I also made three summit-to-summit (S2S) contacts:

W4EON    W4V/HB-020    20M
WA9STI    W6/CC-002     30M
NS7P       W7O/CM-072   30M

Horseshoe is fair VHF/UHF peak, because it looks out across most of South Park, as well as into parts of the Arkansas Valley. The history for the peak shows many 2M contacts.

The weathered remains of a house stand on the summit ridge about 1000 feet north of the peak. This house is within the activation zone, and the structure could be used for shelter from wind, but be careful of nails, etc.

The summit offers great views of numerous peaks and most of South Park. Mount Sheridan and Mount Sherman stand to the north, and other high peaks are visible along the top of the Mosquito Range in both directions.

The Sawatch Range isn’t far away, with numerous 4000+M peaks to the west; and Pikes Peak stands out clearly in the southeast, 66 miles away. Dozens of SOTA peaks are visible.

The horseshoe-shaped mountain is spectacular when viewed both from the cirque, as well as from the summit. This mountain is actually a glacially-sculpted sedimentary hogback ridge. The tilted bedded rocks date from hundreds of millions of years ago, and there’s limestone right on top of the peak!

The cirque is eroded deeply enough that the whole sequence of rocks is visible. There are many examples of mineralized rock along the route, as well as numerous mines and prospect holes all over the mountain. The colored sedimentary layers are visible for miles along the west side of the Mosquito Range, and elsewhere in the area.

I saw no one when I was on the Horseshoe or in the Cirque. It’s amazing to visit and enjoy such a huge, spectacular place when everything is perfect. It was nice to have so many chasers calling on my tiny radio!

Horseshoe Mountain is a SOTA Classic for all the reasons detailed above.

73

George
KX0R

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!! WARNING !! There are old mountaineers, and bold mountaineers... there are no old-bold mountaineers. Hiking and mountain climbing are potentially hazardous activities particularly in Colorado with its extreme elevations. I am not accepting responsibility for any death or injury resulting from activations based on my trip reports. Proper training, experience, and personal capability assessment is required - enjoy!