Hike T10, Three Needles, Bridal Peak via Bridal Veil Basin Uncompahgre National Forest, CO

Aug 04, 2020 — I was looking forward to hiking a few of the Colorado 13ers for my first time in the Telluride area, starting with this lovely loop that took quite a long time to plan. Bridal Veil Falls, a landmark seen prominently as you drive into Telluride, is gorgeous, and is only the start of this route. There is a trail leading from the lower 2WD trailhead to the base of the falls. Additionally, a road leads from the 2WD parking area to the top of the falls. I decided to warm up my legs by hiking the road. In hindsight, my mid-clearance car could have likely made it to the upper 4WD parking area, only a couple of rough spots to contend with. However, it was rattling from a minor issue and I didn't want to push it. Driving to the upper trailhead would have cut out 1000+ vertical gain and a few miles of hiking, but I just wanted to get moving and didn't fret the extra work too much. I hiked down the Bridal Veil Falls trail on the way back later and included it in my attached map. I wasn't particularly impressed by this trail. It was full of roots and trees obscured the views. I don't normally advocate for taking a road over a trail, but this might be one of those rare occasions, assuming you start at the 2WD trailhead.

Once at the upper 4WD trailhead (whether by foot or car), I walked past a the Bridal Veil Falls power station and along the old road converted into a "trail". Although quite scenic, particularly when looking back down the canyon as you ascend, I'm never too excited about miles of gravel road. I followed the road/trail as it paralleled Bridal Veil Creek until a junction, where I made a left along the Blue Lake Trail. I would later return via the right fork to complete the loop.

This left fork road/trail continued generally south toward Blue Lake. Just after passing an old wooden cabin, I left the trail by taking a left toward the cliffs, never making it to Blue Lake (I'd be seeing it from above later, anyway). While some maps show there being a road here, there isn't even a hint of one. I followed the cliff on my right using a grassy slope, with some minor bushwhacking through shrubs, and wrapped around the cliffs toward Mud Lake. I encountered some Class 2 to get into Mud Lake Basin. I noted Three Needles on the right and the ridge leading to T10 on the left. The most reasonable-looking ascent seemed to be a very steep grassy slope on my left (north). Once at the top of this slope, I continued along the pleasant ridge, enjoying the progressively improving views as I made it to the summit of T10, Class 2.

T10 seems to have two summits of equal height, seprated by an aggressively loose and awful ridge. I was made aware that this ridge would be awful from my friend Whiley, and she was right. I honestly recommend just dropping off the northern T10's eastern ridge completely before even attempting the T10 traverse, instead losing a few hundred vertical gain to get to safer terrain and re-ascending on the southern T10's east ridge. I can't guarantee that it would be any better, but it probably would. Not knowing this lovely hindsight tidbit regarding quite how awful this traverse would be before starting, I began along the ridge crest, avoiding massive blocks for a hundred feet until the ridge became absolute nonsense. I dropped to the left, route-finding through sketchy and loose terrain before giving up and dropping a little lower. The ridge was still awful, but much less so a little farther down. Whiley said she stuck to the crest somehow, but that seemed ridiculous to me. I was now pretty much halfway between the two peaks of T10. I decided to start ascending (note "awful" marked on the attached map) on absolute garbage. It was exceptionally unsafe Class 4 loose scree. I would say either stay on the ridge crest somehow, or drop completely off the peaks. This middle ground I found myself on was no good. I didn't even take pictures because I was pretty freaked. The last hundred feet to T10's southern summit was Class 2, and the views were amazing. From the summit, I noted an ATV road a half mile away and watched as someone hiked up the northern T10 peak I had just traversed from. I laughed at myself for making this peak so much work while I could have just rented an ATV and basically driven up. Anyway, I was having fun so far now that I was safe, and creating fun loop routes like this is kind of what I live for. Whatever, I'm still dumb.

From the southern T10 peak, I dropped down its Class 2 southwest ridge, heading for Three Needles. Most people approach Three Needles from the east after driving way up on an ATV road. My route would require getting down to the saddle of T10 and Three Needles, then ascending the ridge for a few hundred feet before skirting the slopes of Three Needles on loose scree (Class 2+). The side-hilling intersected the very obvious, loose, nonsense standard route up Three Needles. This required a Class 3 few hundred feet of exceptionally steep dirt, where human impact has removed all the scree. This leads up to the ridge crest, where a social trail continues to the right and up toward the summit. Blue Lake on the left is bright and blissful, and the San Juan colors all around were pretty incredible. The scree slope that the social trail follows looks deceptively dangerous in photos, but it's really just a trail. Following the social trail all the way would result in finding a Class 4 gully that I assume takes you to the summit, but an easy-to-miss Class 3 option exists 50 feet before this. It requires a small move on loose rock before interesting Class 2 slabs lead to the summit of Three Needles.

From the Three Needles summit, I headed back along the social trail and continued south along the ridge. Shortly after starting, a social trail leads to the right off the ridge briefly to avoid an impassable drop along the ridge. The trail hugs the cliffs just below the ridge before reascending to the ridgeline. The rest of the ridge is uneventful, just some fun Class 2 for a while before reaching a minor unnamed summit. Coming down from this minor summit requires some fun, sandy Class 2 route-finding in a maze-like grouping of rocks. Separating me from Bridal Peak was an extraordinarily jagged and horrifying-looking ridge. I was tempted to drop to the left and wrap around to Bridal Peak from the south using a trail that I could see in the distance, but I noticed I could possibly avoid the jagged ridge by simply bypassing it on Class 2 small talus on the north side of the ridge. From here, I noted a large break in the ridgeline a few hundred feet from the summit of Bridal Peak and scrambled up easy Class 2 to gain the ridge. The last bit to the summit was Class 2+ via Bridal Peak's east ridge. I think it's safe to say the views from Bridal Peak were one of my favorite of all time. Columbine Lake to the south, Blue Lake to the north, and all the colorful San Juan peaks giving me a particularly memorable happiness. It was also fun to note La Junta and Wasatch Mountain to the west, which I hiked the next day.

I followed a social trail down the west ridge of Bridal Peak and continued southwest on grassy and gorgeous tundra to a minor saddle, where I intersected an unlabeled trail. This trail led sort of down to Lewis Lake, but was difficult to follow. Instead, I wandered through the rocks and tundra until I made it to the Lewis Lake Dam. From here, I picked up the Lewis Lake Trail (yet another road converted into a trail), passed the Lewis Mine, and continued through some incredible scenery down to the Bridal Veil Trail.