Mt Helen, Father Dyer, Crystal Peak A Hike Trail Guide

Mt Helen, Father Dyer Peak, Crystal Peak Hike Trail Guide

September 17, 2020 The Virtual Sherpa Comments 0 Comment

Mt Helen, Father Dyer & Crystal Peak are a trio of 13ers (two official, one unofficial) located outside of Breckenridge, Colorado. At 13,852ft Crystal Peak A is a Colorado Centennial ranked as the 82nd highest mountain in the state. The hike along these three peaks is mostly without a trail until you descend Crystal Peak A. The ridge from Mt Helen to Father Dyer peak is full of lots of route finding, class 3 and 4 moves with moderate exposure along the way. Although short in mileage, expect to put a full day of hiking into this loop.

Mt Helen, Father Dyer & Crystal Peak A

Virtual Trail Guide: Mt Helen, Father Dyer & Crystal Peak A

Mt Helen, Father Dyer & Crystal Peak A Rating: ★★★★★ (5/5 Stars)

Distance: 7.5 Miles

Elevation Start: 10,963ft

Highest Point: Mt Helen:13,164ft Father Dyer: 13,615ft Crystal Peak A: 13,852ft

Total Elevation Gain: 3,500ft

Estimated Time to Complete: 7-9 Hours RT

Difficulty: Difficult Difficulty System Explained

Class: Class 3/Class 4 What does this mean?

Season: Late June- Early December (Expect snow outside of this period)

Weather: Check the Weather Forecast

Trailhead: Spruce Creek TH/ Upper Spruce Creek TH

Getting Here: From Breck/Points North: Navigate to Breckenridge, Colorado and from here it’s about 10 minutes to the trailhead. Take CO-9 South for about 3.5 miles and take a sharp right onto Spruce Creek road. Follow the road for about 1 mile to reach the winter and spring trailhead.

From Alma/Points South: From US 285 in Fairplay, take CO-9 North for about 18.5 miles through the small town of Alma and down Hoosier Pass to reach Spruce Creek Road on your left. Continue for about 1 mile to reach the lower TH.

To reach the upper TH, higher clearance. 4×4 cars can continue up to the road for another 1.8 miles to reach a small parking area. The hike starts up a road that is gated about 100 yards past the start. This road is on the right when driving up. You can enter “Francie’s Hut – High Parking” into your GPS to get to the upper TH.

Fees: There is no fee to hike Mt Helen, Father Dyer & Crystal Peak A.

Parking: Spruce Creek TH can get VERY busy in the summer and fall as it serves as a popular area for day hiking as is close to tourism heavy Breckenridge. Your best bet is to get here very early if you don’t want to deal with a longer hike. The upper TH is usually not too busy but also is popular in summer months. Neither area has any sort of restrooms.

Camping: Camping is prohibited at the trailhead but there are a limited amount of spots along the road before the trailhead. Be aware that much of the land before the trailhead is privately owned so be sure not to trespass. If you are able to drive past the lower TH there are a load of camping spots along the road. Once you start the hike though, options are very limited due to poor terrain features for a camp.

Dogs: If you plan on hiking all three peaks, this hike is not dog friendly. However, if you planned on hiking just Crystal Peak A you could bring a dog up here.

Make it a Loop: This hike is a loop which starts up Mt Helen and descends via Crystal Peak A. I wouldn’t recommend hiking this in reverse because of how much time the ridge from Mt Helene to Father Dyer takes.

Trail X Factors: On paper, this hike looks like a quick half day hike but in reality this is a fairly taxing hike. When you start hiking up Mt Helen, there is no trail and the terrain is unforgivably steep with no trail to follow. Hiking poles here would be a huge plus. The ridge from Mt Helen to Father Dyer Peak is loaded with options to hike, class 3+ moves and a ton of exposure if you want it. Route finding here can be tedious and having a hiking partner is helpful. You need to have a dry day with good weather for this portion of the hike.

Hike Tip(s): Although it is possible to hike this in the reverse order (Crystal to Mt Helen), I would recommend hiking in the order I describe here. You will want to give yourself PLENTY of time from Mt Helen to Father Dyer and ensure that the weather is going to be 100% dry the whole day. If a storm rolls in there are some options for retreat on spots of the ridge, but in others you are fully committed to the rocky traverse with no room to escape if the weather does turn bad.

Best Views: When we hiked Mt Helen, Father Dyer & Crystal Peak A the sky was full of smoke and ash. Even with this poor visibility, the views on this hike were absolutely outstanding. Once you cruise above treeline on the way up to Mt Helen your views are unbelievable the whole way. You get excellent views of neighboring Quandary Peak, Pacific Peak, Atlantic Peak and a slew of high alpine lakes on all sides of you. This truly is a beautiful hike from start to finish.

Trail Route

Gear Needed

14er Packing List
Backpack
Hiking Shoes or Hiking Boots

Helmet
Map of area or GPS – I use the Garmin inReach
Optional: Hiking Poles

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My Trip to Mt Helen, Father Dyer & Crystal Peak: August 2020

With over 100,000 acres of Colorado on fire, August 2020 was off to a brutal start. Smoke filled the air and ash rained from the sky across the state. Sounds like a perfect day for a hike, right?! At least the chance of thunderstorms didn’t exist, which is exactly what we needed for a long day on Mt Helen, Father Dyer & Crystal Peak A.

My friend Rick and I drove up the rough 4×4 road to the start of the trail, slowly worked up the steep slopes of Mt Helen and had a blast on the ridge from Mt Helen to Father Dyer Peak. The ridge consisted of a lot of class 2, 3 and some minor class 4 moves along with lots of route finding and downclimbing. The hike over to centennial Crystal Peak A and descent back down to the Crystal Lakes was beautiful and easy hiking.

Quandary Peak gets so much attention in this area, but in my opinion all three of these peaks are much more beautiful and enjoyable than neighboring Quandary.