Engineer Mountain A Trip Report 06/30/2017

Peak(s):	Engineer Mtn A - 13,218 feet PT 13,132 - 13,132 feet Blackwall Mtn - 13,073 feet Wildhorse Pk - 13,266 feet Cow BM - 13,111 feet Darley Mtn - 13,260 feet
Date Posted:	06/30/2017
Date Climbed:	06/24/2017
Author:	piper14er

Engineer Pass Loop
I really did not have any time this week to post a good report but here is a bit of info on this loop off Engineer Pass and some pictures of the condition of snow amounts and areas where there are still snow fields. Drove down after work and reached the top of the pass at about 11:00 pm. A very short night and we set off on the 16.5 miles and 5300 foot loop. Darley to Unnamed 13132, Cow BM, Wildhorse and Blackwall, in that order with a slog back out and up to the car. I had planned on getting Engineer on Saturday also but it was a longer day than I expected and when waking up Saturday morning I discovered that I had a flat tire. After returning I decided to change the flat Sunday morning and hit the short 0.8 miles and 600 feet or so then too, which I did. I had some stress out moments getting the tire changed as it has one of the keyed lug nuts and I could not find the special socket to get that off. 14ersKen had showed up to do the same or similar loop I did on Saturday and he did try to help out with the tire situation. He had a socket but wouldn't you know that since he has a Toyota they make theirs a little different than the Xterra one. After a while I was able to get the tire off and changed. In the mean time I had sent a Help Spot and texted my wife (texts did not seem to be going through) and let her know I could not find the key and that I wasn't sure what I was going to do. She tried helping out by calling the sheriff who almost sent out the helicopter. Luckily that text went through and she saw it was just a flat tire issue and called the sheriff back, whew. I was able to send another text about finally getting the flat changed out. It is strange because when you send a text it will eventually say that if failed to be sent and then you can pick an option to send it as a "Text Message", which I did and then it goes through even if there is not any service, interesting. Long story short I drove out and met up with the sheriff who was driving up to check on me. We both headed back to town where I picked up a gift certificate from the local coffee shop and dropped it off at the sheriff's office. I did not get a few other peaks I wanted to do deciding to head into town rather than driving around without a spare. That worked out as I said since I met up with the sheriff just a few miles out of town. If they had been looking for me and I was off on some other 4WD road it would not have been good. All's well in the end. I may get to fleshing out the report later but here are a few items of note. All the hiking was kept at Class 2 with a few minor scrambling spots. It adds 5 miles or so to add Cow Benchmark to the other four peaks and is a long ridge run. The slopes below Wildhorse are a little more than moderate and then to get to Blackwall you need to head to the north as it is a vertical drop from the summit and around about way. Once you look at Blackwall you will see that skirting below and to the right of the wall is the way to go. The way I returned added about 600 feet to the vertical getting back out as you traverse across American Flats and the wetlands. Others have done some combination or variation of these peaks but not quite this one. Others are more ambitious also and add some 12ers, including the Dragons Back, by Blackwall, which looks to be a stiff Class 4 peak (read about using ropes to rap off) Engineer Mt Darley Cow BM past the finger Ouray Wildhorse Dragons Back Blackwall My GPS Tracks on Google Maps (made from a .GPX file upload): Login required to view this map... Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

Engineer Pass Loop Google Map Included

I really did not have any time this week to post a good report but here is a bit of info on this loop off Engineer Pass and some pictures of the condition of snow amounts and areas where there are still snow fields. Drove down after work and reached the top of the pass at about 11:00 pm. A very short night and we set off on the 16.5 miles and 5300 foot loop. Darley to Unnamed 13132, Cow BM, Wildhorse and Blackwall, in that order with a slog back out and up to the car.

I had planned on getting Engineer on Saturday also but it was a longer day than I expected and when waking up Saturday morning I discovered that I had a flat tire. After returning I decided to change the flat Sunday morning and hit the short 0.8 miles and 600 feet or so then too, which I did. I had some stress out moments getting the tire changed as it has one of the keyed lug nuts and I could not find the special socket to get that off. 14ersKen had showed up to do the same or similar loop I did on Saturday and he did try to help out with the tire situation. He had a socket but wouldn't you know that since he has a Toyota they make theirs a little different than the Xterra one. After a while I was able to get the tire off and changed.

In the mean time I had sent a Help Spot and texted my wife (texts did not seem to be going through) and let her know I could not find the key and that I wasn't sure what I was going to do. She tried helping out by calling the sheriff who almost sent out the helicopter. Luckily that text went through and she saw it was just a flat tire issue and called the sheriff back, whew. I was able to send another text about finally getting the flat changed out. It is strange because when you send a text it will eventually say that if failed to be sent and then you can pick an option to send it as a "Text Message", which I did and then it goes through even if there is not any service, interesting.

Long story short I drove out and met up with the sheriff who was driving up to check on me. We both headed back to town where I picked up a gift certificate from the local coffee shop and dropped it off at the sheriff's office.

I did not get a few other peaks I wanted to do deciding to head into town rather than driving around without a spare. That worked out as I said since I met up with the sheriff just a few miles out of town. If they had been looking for me and I was off on some other 4WD road it would not have been good. All's well in the end.

I may get to fleshing out the report later but here are a few items of note. All the hiking was kept at Class 2 with a few minor scrambling spots. It adds 5 miles or so to add Cow Benchmark to the other four peaks and is a long ridge run. The slopes below Wildhorse are a little more than moderate and then to get to Blackwall you need to head to the north as it is a vertical drop from the summit and around about way. Once you look at Blackwall you will see that skirting below and to the right of the wall is the way to go. The way I returned added about 600 feet to the vertical getting back out as you traverse across American Flats and the wetlands.

Others have done some combination or variation of these peaks but not quite this one. Others are more ambitious also and add some 12ers, including the Dragons Back, by Blackwall, which looks to be a stiff Class 4 peak (read about using ropes to rap off)

My GPS Tracks on Google Maps (made from a .GPX file upload):

Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

Comments or Questions

Jay521	Good to see... 06/30/2017 17:53 ... that Billie Jean is still your guide. Regardless of what you say, Al - this was a nice TR. Naturally, I'm giving most of the credit to Billie Jean...
sunny1	Ha! 07/01/2017 13:33 Jay stole my thunder! I was going to comment I am glad to see Billie Jean has persistent summit fever. Her list & credentials are quite impressive! The flat tire sounds like quite the debacle. Glad you got it fixed up and still had a productive summit day. Nice of you to leave a gift certificate at the sheriff's office. Enjoyed the TR!
piper14er	thanks from Billie Jean 07/01/2017 13:50 her message is being sent from the summit of Campbell Peak enjoying the views and the wonderful comments
bergsteigen	Route 07/02/2017 14:47 I've been meaning to do this exact loop, so thanks for the beta. I'll be using it at some point soon!
Tempelton	Thanks 07/02/2017 17:01 for the beta on these peaks. I almost did some of these last week via running up Bear Creek trail from Ouray, but decided to go up Imogene instead. I'll use this someday when I go back!
piper14er	great 07/03/2017 20:30 hopefully what little info I have put into this will help out, I know I always look at your reports, Otina (and Furthermore)for data on peaks you have done, thanks for looking at this tempelton Al
Presto	I am renaming your trip report ... 07/13/2017 08:22 To "Good Lighting on the Loop". Everything is so pretty. Always enjoy reading your reports (even if I am slow in responding) and seeing BJ. Take care and happy trails!

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