Hike North Fork Lake Creek 13ers (Peak 13291, Peak 13220) White River National Forest, CO

Aug 03, 2023 — This pair of 13ers are located east of Independence Pass, and seemed to be best accessed via the North Fork Lake Creek Trail. These summits, Peak 13291 (formerly Peak 13300B) and Peak 13220 (formerly Peak 13202) have nice views, a few fun scrambling moves, and a great trail approach. I started up the North Fork Lake Creek Trail and soon entered the Mount Massive Wilderness. The trail gets some traffic because it ultimately leads to an unnamed lake at the base of Deer Mountain, so I decided to make my way there as well before starting the peaks, forming what seemed like a natural lollipop loop. Gaining elevation slowly, it was a really pleasant morning walk through the forest and then through the meadows that followed. Although the trail was in overall excellent shape, it gets a little confusing at around 11,550' when it crosses the creek. The more obvious trail parallels the creek's left side and eventually peters out, but the official trail crosses it and continues north on the opposite side as it heads up toward the unnamed lake.

The North Fork Lake Creek Trail bends east and ascends below the ridge I'd be traversing between the two 13ers later on, fading briefly as it heads through a short section of spongy meadow. The views back toward Twining Peak and fellow 13ers above the valley were really lovely during this portion of the hike. I could see the pass ahead that housed the unnamed lake and a short set of switchbacks brought me up to it. Once at the lake, I needed to gain the ridge to the west in order to attain my peaks, so I started up the initially grassy slope, which steepened and became rockier. I started to ascend diagonally to avoid excessive rock-hopping and gained the crest. Starting north toward Peak 13291 on easy terrain, I noted Deer Mountain and Peak 13736 behind me, two peaks along a big traverse I did years ago that brought back fond memories.

The ridge dipped down to the base of a significant rock outcropping, which looked far more scary from here than it ended up being. Keeping left of the outcropping, I traversed below it using a social trail riddled with big boulders until Class 2 gully became apparent on the right. Ascending around 100 feet on this steep and and dirty gully led me back to the crest. I continued north along the ridge, usually keeping just to the right on Class 2/3 since the crest proper ventured into Class 4 territory. I ended up taking a different route up than down along this ridge, both options fun and not exceeding Class 3. I stayed as high as I could and the rock was overall very solid and the scrambling enjoyable. An initial bout of this fun led to a minor false summit with a view of Peak 13291's summit just ahead. More Class 2/3 continued from here, ending with a Class 3 chimney to top out.

I backtracked and continued along the crest from Peak 13291, now heading to Peak 13220. The ridgeline was mostly straightforward Class 2, with one steep descent on loose talus (likely avoidable by wrapping around to the left) and subsequent re-ascent on a lightly-colored loose Class 2 slope. Past these obstacles I continued on tundra with some embedded talus, and as I neared the base of my next peak I kept just left of the crest to avoid excessive rock-hopping. I stumbled on a social trail just below Peak 13220, noting that it dropped south off the ridge and I decided that would work well as a way down off the ridge later.

Peak 13220 seems to be more often approached via its west ridge, but I thought I'd attempt it from this direction rather than wrapping all the way around its southern slope. It turned out to be a pretty fun undertaking, not exceeding Class 3. Starting up from the base of Peak 13220, I kept just left of the crest's bouldery mess. Some convoluted Class 2 around little outcroppings weren't enough to dissuade me from staying high. There was a minor gully eroded from a small notch that I entered and exited, finding the solid rock more palatable than ascending via the dirt. Class 2/2+ continued out of the gully, picking my way up on the most fun and least exposed options. The summit came into view ahead, a nicely-capped block that seemed like it might be tricky to overcome from this direction. After avoiding some more Class 2 cliffies, I ascended a steep grassy slope and reached the base of a neat ledge that seemed to wrap around the steep summit block fortuitously. I pulled a Class 3+ move to gain this wide ledge, taking it around to a Class 2 slope and ultimately the summit.

After backtracking from Peak 13220, I descended from the ridge on the social trail that I had noted earlier. However, it ended shortly after and I was left to fend for myself as I made my way down the grassy slope. After a few hundred feet of descent I was stopped by a 20-foot cliff band that I managed to work around farther east, a nice slope bringing me past it and back onto easier ground. I passed the remains of an old mine, but otherwise I was just enjoying the glorious green in all directions, complete with little wildflowers. The ground got a bit boggy at certain points, but I could avoid most of it as well as any annoying brush in my way. I located a small creek that helped guide me down through the brush unencumbered. Eventually I made it back to the North Fork Lake Creek Trail and used it to return to the trailhead.