Jones Mountain A Colorado Hike Guide

June 20, 2022 The Virtual Sherpa Comments 0 Comment

Jones Mountain is a 13er and Colorado Centennial located in the Handies Peak Wilderness of Southern Colorado. This San Juan summit is right next to popular 14er Handies Peak, but sees a fraction of the traffic each year. At 13,860ft this hike delivered some of the best views I have ever seen in my life, regardless of mountain location. This hike can be tackled from the West Side via Silverton, but in this post, I cover an Eastern approach from the American Basin. *Please note, this mountain is referred to as Jones Mountain, but its “real” name is Jones Mountain A since there are multiple in Colorado.

Jones Mountain Quick Facts

Virtual Trail Guide: Jones Mountain A

Jones Mountain Rating: ★★★★★ (5/5 Stars)

Distance: 6 Miles RT (from lower American Basin TH) 4 Miles RT (From Upper American Basin TH)

Elevation Start: 11,405ft (Lower TH), 11,614ft (Upper TH)

Summit: 13,860ft

Total Elevation Gain: 2,700ft

Estimated Time to Complete: 3-5 Hours RT – time of year has huge factor on this range

Difficulty: Moderate to Difficult What does this mean?

Class: Class 2 – What does this mean?

Season: End of May – November (Snow will usually close TH access after this point)

Check the Weather Forecast – Using Open Summit provides the most data points to plan a safe hike

Directions to Jones Mountain A

Trailhead: American Basin

Getting Here: (From the North) Navigate to Lake City and drive through the small town. Once you are about 2 miles out of town, take a right on County Road 30. Continue on this road for about 20 miles following signs for Cinnamon Pass. After about 20 miles, you will reach a fork in the road; right brings you to Cinnamon Pass, left goes to American Basin. Head left and you will see a small parking area (before the stream) where lower clearance cars can park.

County Road 30 is a huge wildcard. As of 2022, it’s in pretty rough shape once you hit about 16 miles in. If things continue at this pace, I think that an AWD/higher clearance SUV might be required to reach even the bottom TH. This road does not require four wheel drive, but having it will make the drive a lot easier.

Parking: There are a few spots to park for Jones Mountain. There is a lower lot that can hold about 5 cars which is located about .25 miles from the trailhead before you cross the stream. If you do cross the stream, there is a small pull-off about a hundred yards after, that can fit a couple of cars. If you are able to make it to the upper trailhead, you save yourself about 10 minutes of hiking. The lot can fit about 10 cars. There are no restrooms once you leave the Grizzly Gulch/Silver Creek TH about 6-7 miles down the road.

Summary

Dogs: Jones Mountain could be dog friendly, but I would be careful on bringing a dog on this one. With snow covering that slope to gain the ridge, I would leave the pup at home. Without, it’s a safer option but from what I understand the scree and loose dirt can be bad. This hike is in a Wilderness Area and dogs should be kept on leash.

Camping: If you want to camp near Jones Mountain A, you are in luck. The long road drive on County Road 30 has ample camping spots along the way. Camping is free and there are limited non-plumbing bathrooms along the way. Although there are some spots to camp near the American Basin trailhead, they are not ideal (lack of wood, cover, flat ground), so I would try to snag a spot before you reach the TH if you want a nice area to camp. PLEASE DO NOT MAKE NEW CAMPSITES.

Make it a Loop: This is an out and back hike but you could easily add on American Peak or even Handies Peak. Want even more? Check out Redcloud/Sunshine or even some more 13ers in the same area (LINK).

Trail X Factors: Snow Level

With some snow, the hike up Jones Mountain can be very enjoyable, quick and even more fun. Snow will allow you to travel quickly, glissade down and avoid the scree and dirt you would otherwise be traveling through. Too much snow, especially on the slopes of Jones Mountain itself, could turn this class 2 hike into a much more technical outing. Not to mention that too much snow would likely prevent you from getting close to the TH. Without snow on the other hand, this hike is likely very different from what I described here, at least on the American Basin side.

Hike Tip(s): Once you start climbing the Eastern saddle and ridge to Jones Mountain, stay as direct as you can. There is one small part where you might have to downclimb a tiny bit, but in general, the ridge goes and is the easiest and most well traveled path to the summit. No need to avoid it and make your hike more challenging/tread on land that doesn’t need to be.

Best Views: This entire hike up Jones Mountain offers A+ views with the best coming on the summit, but you can’t really go wrong anywhere. Maybe recency bias is coming into play a bit, but I think these are some of the best views on a hike I have ever had.

Jones Mountain A Hike Route

Download GPX File

Gear Needed

14er Day Hike Packing List
Men’s Trail Runners
Women’s Trail Runners

La Sportiva Trango Hiking Boots (Men’s)
La Sportiva Trango Hiking Boots (Women’s)
Backpack

Food & Water
Optional: Climbing Helmet: https://amzn.to/2OLReWO
Optional: Mountain Ax: https://amzn.to/32Vf8pi – only required before early July

Optional: Microspikes: https://amzn.to/31KwwM5 – only required before early July
Optional: Garmin inReach
Optional: Hiking Poles

Optional: Headlamp
Optional: Garmin Fenix Watch
Optional: Camera and Lens

Optional: GoPro, Joby Tripod
*Links included in this description might be affiliate links. If you purchase a product or service with the links that I provide I may receive a small commission. There is no additional charge to you.

My Trip to Jones Mountain A: May 2022

After an awesome day on Pt 13,832 and Pt 13,811, I was ready for some more Memorial Day hiking in the San Juans. It had been quite a while since I had hiked in the American Basin and in my 4+ year absence, the beauty had not changed. This area 100% lives up to the hype and is one of the most beautiful spots in Colorado when it comes to its ease of accessibility. Jones Mountain is hidden behind the basin but I could tell from the start of my hike that some snow climbing would be required today.

Jackie was lovely enough to drop me off at the lower TH and agreed to meet me later on for a family hike and drive me back to our campsite. I started my hike around 6:30AM, which had my anxiety on 100 because it had been so warm the night before. Luckily, I got a decent freeze and had almost no post holing once I left the dirt Handies Peak trail and ventured into the snow fields. I was hoping for snow and boy did I get it – the slopes that I needed to hike up and out of the American Basin were covered with the white stuff, so much so that I had a lot of FOMO for not being able to climb one of America Basin’s awesome looking couloirs. Oh well, next time.

Once I exited American Basin, I got my first view of Jones Mountain and it was a bit farther away than I expected. To make things worse, the winds were whipping and light snow showers had started to fall from the sky. The clouds to the west looked ominous but with no bad weather in the forecast, I kept hiking. At this point, I picked up a faint social trail that led me all the way to the saddle of Jones Mountain. I started climbing up the loose scree and while it wasn’t necessarily fun, I made quick work of it.

The remaining hiking to the summit was just beautiful in all directions and a lot more of the same looser crap I had been dealing with. The ridge from the north looked so gnarly and offered so many insane options to climb up but the southern slopes were just a basic class 2+ hike. From the summit, the views were just bananas. Neighboring 13ers/14ers and looking deep into the San Juan Mountains to the west and south. Easily some of my favorite views from a mountain I had down in quite some time. After soaking it all up, I retraced my steps and enjoyed some fun glissading down back to the TH.

I met up with Jackie and Aria for a small family hike and soaked in the beautiful American Basin for the last time on this trip. I decided that I wanted to come back and spread some of Juno’s ashes in this beautiful place. Handies from this side was one of our first 14ers together and I knew she would love to spend more time here. Overall though, Jones Mountain A was an excellent hike and one I would HIGHLY recommend.