Delta County Highpoint Trip Report
Mount Lamborn (11,396 ft)
Date: July 10, 2004
Author: Layne Bracy
route via FR835 Trailhead (7,950 ft)
This hike is near Crawford with its interesting Needle Rock formation.
We ended up parking at a good-sized turnaround about 1.3 miles before the described trailhead.
Beyond that, the road gets rougher and narrower and we got concerned that it might be a
bad idea to continue.
Ultimately, we found that we would have been OK going the additional 1.3 miles,
although the parking area there would have trouble with more than a couple vehicles.
I certainly wouldn't try to get a 2WD that far.
The trail junctions are well-signed along the way to Inter-Ocean Pass (9,800 feet).
From there we bushwhacked west around a small hill and continued to Lamborn's 10,627-foot southeast shoulder.
The bushwhacking to this point is pretty tame and we often had a faint trail to follow.
From point 10,627 feet, a decent trail leads up the middle of Lamborn's south slope.
The last 10 feet are a solid pile of boulders which I'd hoped would be a little challenging.
They did offer a nice exposed perch from which to view the vast surroundings.
We took 4 hours to summit.
On the descent, we decided to make a loop by following a trail west from the saddle between Lamborn and
the 10627-foot peak to meet up with FT 894. This went well initially but the intersection of FT 894 and 890
is by a clearing. Losing the trail in the clearing, we found it again, but had unknowingly started heading
back up to Inter-Ocean Pass. Our trail had bypassed the signs (the intersection of trails is actually a triangle)
and we missed the junction. We were close to the pass again when the terrain began looking familiar;
we had added almost 2 miles round-trip and 500 feet to our long day. I do recommend the loop but encourage
anyone doing it to investigate the terrain west of the 890/894 junction when they first get to it.
We turned around and were able to tell where we had gone awry before.
Despite the unexpectedly long (8 hours) hike, it was another spectacular day.
No hikers here on a Saturday -- we had passed two resting horsemen on our way up.
There's a good casual restaurant in Hotchkiss where we stopped before taking on the drive home.
12+ miles round-trip hiking distance.
Reference: Covill/Mitchler, Hiking Colorado's Summits