September 8, 2021
Santa Fe Peak (13,180 feet) + Sullivan Mountain (13,134 feet) + Morgan Peak (12,474 feet)
Route: loosely based on alltrails and 14ers.com; self created on CalTopo
5.5 miles; 1,996 feet elevation gain
3 hours 22 minutes
A solo day and an area that had been on my list for a while. I am not sure why I haven't climbed these mountains before. This area is absolutely stunning and there are so many you can combine. I left home at 4:45am and was hiking by 6:45am. This included 3 miles of intense off-roading that took about 20 minutes. This route is definitely doable if you don't have a high clearance 4WD vehicle but it would be a lot longer and would include 3 miles each way of hiking on an old mining road, with quite a bit of private property on both sides. Reviews say the people who live on this road are not very friendly and neither are their dogs, which walk the road...I saw this first hand this morning. If you do have a high clearance 4WD (aka a truck, 4Runner or Jeep, all with off roading tires) this is an amazing area. You can also access these mountains via other routes as well, see climb13ers.com.
I drove to about 11,900 feet and parked at a pull off next to an old mine. The hike all the way up Santa Fe Peak is on a mining road, a very straightforward class 1 hike. You can theoretically drive all the way up but it gets very narrow with steep edges and loose rock, I didn't feel comfortable driving higher than I did. 1.7 miles in, in 55 minutes, I reached the summit of Santa Fe Peak. It was a steady incline all the way but nothing too challenging. I spent a little while on top before heading onto the next mountain. You drop down a little bit off the summit and join the CDT to head to Sullivan Peak. You walk across a wide open plateau before climbing briefly again to the summit, it was about 0.7 miles and all class 1. I spent about 30 minutes on this summit relaxing, snacking and taking photos. I did hear a massive rock fall on the neighboring peak, Geneva Peak, which was really scary! It didn't look like any humans were over there, fingers crossed. You can add Geneva Peak easily from here, with quite a bit more climbing. All the reviews call it class 2 even though it looks more challenging from a distance, I agree with this. I knew I wasn't going to add this on today, being alone, but I will probably be back for it.
I headed back the way I came, all the way back down the mining road to about 0.5 miles from the car where I split off the trail to head over to Morgan Peak. The summit is about 0.6 miles from the turn off with quite a bit of climbing since you had already come down so far. There was a little class 2 scrambling and route finding over rocks to reach the summit but nothing too challenging. I reached the summit of Morgan around 4.8 mile mark on my watch. I didn't spend long here, it is a tiny and rocky summit. From here, I followed a game trail off the summit diagonally across the tundra and back to the road, just a short walk from the car.
Overall, I absolutely loved this hike. The views were stunning and 360 degrees from the moment I stepped out of the car. I also didn't see a single person! I will definitely be back here to repeat peaks and add on more.
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