Hike Decatur, Revenue, Santa Fe, Geneva Loop via Shelf Lake San Isabel National Forest, CO

Sep 30, 2018 — I've spent a bit of time in the Grays Peak region of the Colorado Front Range this year, and this felt like a good finale to wrap up the tall peaks of the area before the incoming rain/snow. It ended up being really enjoyable. This route goes from Decatur Mountain to Geneva Peak, passing Revenue Mountain, Silver Mountain, and Santa Fe Peak along the traverse. I also passed over Landslide Peak, a bump along the ridge after Geneva Peak.

Starting from the Shelf Lake Trailhead (note that this is the "new" trailhead - the old Shelf Lake Trailhead was farther north and no longer exists), head up to Shelf Lake and continue up the steep slope to get to Decatur Mountain. Check out the fairly extensive ridge leading to Geneva Peak in the distance, and then head to Revenue Mountain, Silver Mountain, and then Santa Fe Peak, some tiny sections of Class 2 along the way. Overall, it's just a smooth walk along a beautiful alpine mountaintop ridgeline. You pass a couple of old mines on Silver Mountain, and can look south toward a dirt forest road where you'll likely see ATVers headed to the Geneva Creek Mine. A dirt road also leads along part of the ridgeline around Santa Fe Peak, and a not-so-obvious social trail leads to Sullivan Mountain and then out of nowhere, a nice trail leads up through the rocky easy Class 2 talus to Geneva Peak and then onward to the bump that is Landslide Peak. From here, you can decide to try to drop down to a small tarn below and follow the dirt road back to the Shelf Lake Trailhead, or (and this is what I did and recommend) continue along the ridgeline east from Landslide Peak on a very pretty gradual slope before hitting treeline. I was initially concerned I'd be bushwhacking through brush for a half mile to get down, but the trees were pretty sparse and I did have to struggle at all. However, I do recommend taking the route pictured in my map, because there are definitely cliffs and overly steep sections any other way off the ridge. The route I went had a couple of steep grassy sections, but otherwise it was just a walk down through some trees.