Horn Peak Loop
Little Horn - Fluted Peak - Horn Peak
Date: 8/05/2021
Partner: Solo
Trailhead: Horn Creek
Summits: Little Horn, Fluted Peak, Horn Peak
Distance:12m
Elevation Gain: 5700ft
Duration: 6 Hours 40 Minutes
GPX
Little Horn Peak 14ers.com Page
Fluted Peak 14ers.com Page
Horn Peak 14ers.com Page
A fantastic loop with world class views and some fun class 3 scrambling on solid rock.
Although the terrain and views were great, I will remember this day for the trauma. While descending Fluted Peak's north ridge, a pika scampered out from under a rock and managed to get under my foot. At first I didn't realize what had happened... it all went down so fast... but when I looked down the Pika's guts were spilling out and his spine was broken. He was alive and looking up at me... squirming in pain. I was overcome with grief as I realized I had had no choice but to put him out of his misery. It was so brutal and it felt so bad. Rest in peace little friend... I am so sorry.
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12m - 5700ft - 6.5hrs
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Wonderland Mushrooms
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Looking up Little Horn's east ridge
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Kit Carson and it's class 4 north ridge route
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The Crestones
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Looking north to Horn Peak from Little Horn's east ridge - Dry Lakes below
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Comanche to the north
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Little Horn's scramble is about to begin
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Little Horn's solid class 3 with Adams on the left
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Up the slab
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Little Horn summit selfie
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Looking west to Fluted Peak from Little Horn
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Horn Peak from Little Horn
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Could stare at this all day
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![Horn loop 16]()
Comanche, Spring and Venable to the north
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Mount Adams - The texture and colors in this zone were off the hook
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Looking back to Little Horn en-route to Fluted
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Looking up Fluted Peak's east ridge
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Mount Adams
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Horn Peak and Dry Lakes from Fluted
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The ridge between Fluted and Adams looked amazing - almost added it to the day
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L2R: Horn Peak and Little Horn - Quite a bit of smokey haze on the east side of the range
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En-route to Horn Peak - Looking back to Fluted - This is the section were the Pika incident occurred
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I recently learned that these little guys are disappearing due to climate change
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Comanche and Spring
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Horn Peak looking steep from the west
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Fluted Peak from Horn's west ridge
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More scrambling on Horn's to Horn's summit
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After summitting Horn I descended it's east ridge and followed trails back to the truck
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Hazy views - L2R: Adams, Little Horn, Fluted and Horn
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Wrapping up the day at Chappy's in Westcliffe - Best burger and fries in the Colorado! Plus they call me 'sweetie'
