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Aug 13, 2021 — Peak 13093 and Sunshine Mountain are two 13ers overlooked due to their proximity to the slew of 14ers nearby, but they're great for a shorter outing and quite remote. On the way to getting these two peaks is Dolly Varden Mountain, a 12er. Marisa, Luke, and I wanted to hike a relatively short group of peaks and this fit the bill. We took some advice from our friend Ben Feinstein on how to approach these peaks and we followed his recommendation for much of the hike. The road leading to the trailhead is in decent condition, but it gets a little rocky and low clearance might have to go pretty slowly. This is the same road used to access Wetterhorn Peak, so if you can make it to the base of Matterhorn Creek Road, you can get to this hike. However, the last half mile to where we parked is extra rocky and would add about 1.5 miles round-trip if you don't want to drive it. Also note this Sunshine Mountain is not the same one as the popular nearby 14er Sushine Peak.
Surprisingly there was an actual trail at our trailhead. Unlabled on any of our maps, this trail follows the north fork of Henson Creek for a bit before emerging into a wide meadow beneath the gorgeous north face of Peak 13093, and then the trail disappeared. We continued northwest/west up a grassy slope and stumbled on another social trail of sorts. Really it doesn't matter if you find any social trails from here, just keep heading west until you get to the grassy ridgeline above. Once on the ridgeline we headed south and up to Dolly Varden Mountain. Along the way was some steep Class 2 talus, but otherwise just some light boulder-hopping much of the time.
A significant drop from Dolly Varden Mountain on rocky terrain led to the steep base of Peak 13093. From afar this peak honestly looks pretty daunting, but the west ridge goes at Class 2, with maybe a short Class 2+ move mixed in there due to the steepness of the talus. We stayed apart to avoid kicking rocks on one another since the ascent was loose enough to potential cause a rock slide. Peak 13093's summit gave a nice view of the entire route, and Sunshine Mountain was visible farther away than we thought it would be. Class 2 down from Peak 13093.
We risked a storm and had some graupel (a term I just learned, not quite snow, not quite hail) rain down on us as we made our way across the easy tundra to the summit of Sunshine Mountain. We headed northwest off Sunshine Mountain and descended the progressively steepening tundra slope with a couple of short rocky Class 2 sections, and then we entered the forest. You might notice a bunch of squiggling on our descent from Sunshine Mountain, a result of trying to avoid grassy cliffs and extra steep sections. There's definitely no one "right" way, but we were able to find a few animal trails to help guide us back to the trail we started on. There was also some light and not unpleasant bushwhacking.
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