There are two 13ers above the Tunnel and Loveland Ski area that I've been wanting to do for a while. They're not too terribly technical, and they sit right on the Continental Divide. Golden Bear is at 13,005 ft, and Hagar is at 13,246 ft. Class 3, but only at the top!!
The Drive
This is a point-to-point, almost loop. So we'll want to take two cars. Meet at the Wooly and we'll caravan from there. First we'll drop off a car at the Dry Gulch TH. Think it's the ski area exit, then hang a sharp right to get on the north side of the highway. Then we'll pile into the other car and drive up to the top of Loveland Pass. That's basically the Sniktau TH. And that means that we'll be doing more downhill than up!
The Hike
It just follows the ridge all the way around the ski basin, a lot of glorious tundra walking and a few bumps along the way. Right above the tunnel itself we'll go up and over Golden Bear. And two miles beyond it will come to the southern ridge of Hagar. The ridge is OK, and then it turns class 3 at the summit block. After backtracking, we'll descend off the eastern slopes of the saddle, carefully making our way down into Dry Gulch. This will mostly be a marshy bushwhack, but the literature says it's pretty at least. And I'm betting in this dry year, Dry Gulch might actually be, ya know, dry. It concludes with a 1.5 mile walk on forest service road back to the first car. And then drive back up Loveland Pass to get the second car.
Route
https://www.alltrails.com/explore/custom-routes/loveland-13er-loop-51d5f85
11 miles
2,900 gain (and more loss)
References
https://www.14ers.com/php14ers/gpxlib_locator.php?peakid=10189
https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/colorado/hagar-mountain-trail
