Hassell Peak

July 27, 2024

Hassell Peak | 13,223 feet

9 miles; 2930 feet elevation gain

Total time: 4 hours 37 minutes

Let's start with the disclaimers...this is an alternate route to do Hassell Peak. It is much less traveled, for a good reason. There is a considerable amount of bushwhacking and off-trail route finding on this route. The CalTopo route above is a rough estimate of where I was aiming to go but I ended up slightly deviating from this plan a few times because of conditions and terrain. If you want to do this route I am happy to send you my actual track. I planned my route based on this Trip Report.

This route starts from Urad Reservoir. The road to the parking lot is a rough road, I would recommend at least AWD to access it. It is a popular fishing spot but it seems like very few people go beyond there. The first section is on a well defined old road, at 0.8 miles you will come to a fork where you will stay on this road. The other direction goes to Hassell Lake which is where you will descend later. The old road you are now on loses all semblance of a road very quickly and is defined by potholes up to my waist. However the wildflowers along this path are incredible right now. Navigate through this terrain until 1.9 miles (11,100 feet) where there is a massive bloom of wildflowers, an opening in the trees and a low point in the creek - a very clear point of crossing. Around 2.2 miles the old road ends in a basin full of wildflowers. From here until 11,800 feet you will navigate through steep angles in the meadow and willows with no trail. Since you are finding your own route here, mileage will vary to connect with the CTD. I connected a little further south than I planned, at mile 3. I had planned to connect at mile 3.5, but I was pretty happy to see a trail at this point and made up some time by trail running as it descended to where I expected to join it. From here the rest of the ascent is on the standard route, with beautiful views of the surrounding peaks. I reached the summit in 2 hours 45 minutes, 5.35 miles and 2835 feet of elevation gain. At this point I had only seen two trail runners the entire time. I spent about 30 minutes on the summit before beginning my descent.

As you leave the summit, still on the CTD, you will go around the back of the blocky ridge section before coming out on the ridgeline. There is currently a small cornice still hanging on; just beyond that is where you will see the perpendicular ridgeline that is your descent route. There is about 50 feet of very loose scree to navigate before you are on the tundra ridgeline. This trail briefly interacts with Butler Gulch so I crossed paths with a few groups here. Before the highest point on the ridge you will cut down into the basin towards Hassell Lake; the bushwhacking returns for about a mile. There is some pretty dense willows and trees to navigate here and once you drop in you lose sight of the lake. I tried to stay fairly close to the creek to keep my bearings, at one point I ended up in the creek with very wet feet. This section was tough on the ankles but the neverending wildflowers made up for it. I reached Hassell Lake around 7.25 miles where I joined the trail. From there is it straightforward back to the car. The trail split to rejoin the old road was at 8.2 miles and I finished at 9 miles. This was about 1 mile longer than I had mapped on CalTopo, due to route finding and navigating the terrain.

I absolutely loved this outing, it was so beautiful and feels so remote depsite bordering multiple popular trails and only being an hour from Denver. I had a majority of the route to myself, the views were spectacular and the wildflowers might be the best I have seen. That being said, I wouldn't recommend it unless you are comfortable navigating without a trail or a set route. Enjoy!!