Pt 13,832 & Pt 13,811 Colorado Hike Guide
Pt 13,832 & Pt 13,811, sometimes known as Redcloud North East and Redcloud Far North East Peaks are a pair of 13ers and Colorado Centennials located in southern Colorado. The hike up these two San Juan mountains share much of the same trail as neighboring 14ers Red Cloud and Sunshine Peak but offer much more seclusion. These two peaks are often hiked together and offer a nice hike for those who can handle the mileage and elevation gain.
Pt 13,832 & Pt 13,811 Quick Facts
Virtual Trail Guide: Pt 13,832 & Pt 13,811
Pt 13,832 & Pt 13,811 Rating: ★★★★★ (5/5 Stars)
Distance: 12.6 Miles RT
Elevation Start: 10,426ft
Summit: 13,832ft (first), 13,811ft (second)
Total Elevation Gain: 5,100ft – can vary slightly depending on how you work around various points
Estimated Time to Complete: 5-7 Hours RT
Difficulty: 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 Pt 13,832 & Pt 13,811
Trailhead: Silver Creek / Grizzly Gulch
Getting Here: First navigate to Lake City, Colorado. From here, continue through the town and turn right onto Colorado Rd 30. Continue on this road for about 16 miles, staying right at any junctions in the road. The road gets narrow at times and can be somewhat rough in sections for the most part is doable in any standard car, with careful driving. After 16 miles, you will reach the trailhead on your right. You can enter “Sliver Creek / Grizzly Gulch Trailhead” into your favorite navigational device.
Parking: There is a small parking lot at the trailhead but keep in mind this has shared access for three other 14ers in addition to campers. The lot can fit about 5-10 cars and could fill up on busy summer weekends. There are two (nice) non-plumbing bathrooms here and parking is free.
Summary
Dogs: This is a dog friendly hike, but does enter a Wilderness so please keep dogs leashed.
Camping: There are a variety of dispersed camping spots along the road to the trailhead, but you do have a drive about 14 miles in to reach them. There are some areas to camp near the trailhead as well. If all of those are full, you could drive past the trailhead to find even more camping. In summary, there are a lot of places to camp but these spots can fill up on summer weekends and holidays due to the popularity of the area.
Make it a Loop: This is an out and back hike but you could easily make it a loop by adding on Redcloud and then Sunshine Peak with a descent down its southeast slopes. This would add quite a bit of mileage and elevation gain.
Trail X Factors: Exposure to Elements
After the first 3 miles or so, this entire hike up Pt 13,832 and Pt 13,811 is completely exposed to the elements. If a storm were to roll in, things wouldn’t be fun. Be sure to plan your day before starting your hike by using resources like Open Summit to ensure a safe hike back to your car.
Hike Tip(s): Although this hike follows an established trail up to the ridge of Red Cloud Peak, after that – you will need some trail finding skills to reach both summits. For me, I followed one line to Pt 13,832 and almost missed the summit so be sure to head up there before walking over to Pt 13,811.
Best Views: This entire hike offers A+ views with the best coming on the top of Pt 13,832 and Pt 13,811 – especially looking over to Wetterhorn and Uncompahgre Peaks.
Pt 13,832 & Pt 13,811 Hike Route
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: 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 Pt 13,832 & Pt 13,811: May 2022
Memorial Weekend- usually a time in Colorado where you can earn some more turns, get in a big snow line and enjoy the stable avalanche conditions with consolidated snow. A lingering injury and extremely low levels of snow in the San Juans had other plans for the long weekend. I was trying to play it “conservative” so decided a weekend of some low key hiking was best. First up, was a pair of Colorado Centennials I had been meaning to hike for a while: Pt 13,832 and Pt 13,811.
I was very familiar with almost this entire hike since I had previously done Redcloud & Sunshine, twice. For some reason, I was just feeling great and really enjoying every minute of the early morning start. I quickly reached the saddle under Redcloud Peak and started on new terrain. Although there was no official trail, it was fairly evident where to go and only one or two spots that had any level of “sketch” to them.
The one negative part of the morning were the winds which seemed to increase with every step I took. Even those though were not too bad as the temperature was in the 50s, perfect for hiking in my opinion. By the time I reached 13,832 the gusts were so strong I could barely stand. It was almost comical trying to film anything audible. Constantly holding onto my hat, I moved on off the summit and onto 13,811 fairly quickly.
From here, I had to lose a bit of elevation and in the process, lost the trail I had been following previously as well. Even off trail though it was evident where to go and after battling more heavy winds, I finally reached the summit of 13,811. Again, my summit time was short but I took some time to think about Juno and how much she would have loved this spot and hike. I miss her every day. I continued hiking knowing that I had a few more climbs to get back to the saddle and didn’t want to mess around with any afternoon thunderstorms.
Overall, I really enjoyed these two 13ers and was thrilled to get another two centennials checked off on such a beautiful day. Best of all, my injury didn’t cause any issues which left me confident for the plans I had ahead. I didn’t end up bringing Aria on this one but she could have easily handled this hike.