Grizzly Peak B

Date: 07/12/2021
Partner: Solo
Trailhead: End of Forest Service Road 579
Distance: 7.75 miles
Elevation Gain: 2900ft
Difficulty: Easy Class 3
Duration: 5 hours
GPX
Grizzly B 14ers Page

For me, the first trick to climbing Grizzly B was finding FS579. What I did was

• Drive to Purgatory Resort
• Find FS578 and drive 4 miles on smooth dirt
• Then turn right on FS579 and drive 9.7 miles until it dead ends end near the Colorado Trail. FS579 is not technical but it gets bumpy making for slow driving.

There is a fire ring at end of FS579 and enough flat parking for a few vehicles.

After spending the night in my truck, I I hiked roughly a half mile on the CT before following a faint trail on the right which contoures around to the basin below Grizzly's awesome southwest face. The trail passes through forest, meadows and across scree fields.

Fun Fact: Finding the stamped down trails in the scree will make your life easier.

When I reached the grassy basin below Grizzly, I eyeballed the loose gully that many folks have ascended. I descided to explore other optoins... just wasn't in the mood for a loose gully.

I ended up ascending the grassy basin to the left (west) and found a fun and relatively easy class 3 ridge that traversed over to the top of the loose gully. Highly recommended!

After taking in the smokey views from Grizzly's summit, I descended the loose gully (wasn't too bad) and re-traced my route back to the truck.

Oh... the wildflowers were off the hook. When the skies are smokey sometimes the views are under your feet.