West Ridge from the Lake Charles Trail

Overview

Gold Dust Peak sits in the northern Holy Cross Wilderness south of Eagle, at the head of the New York Lake valley. Its summit looks right down on New York Lake, a seldom-visited gem. A military jet crashed into its north face in 1997. It pairs well with Pika Peak to the south.

Most of the way is on the good Lake Charles trail. You then climb east into a grassy basin and go up the broad southwest slope and west ridge on a long stretch of broken rock. It's Class 2+, and the route is easy to find.

The round trip is about 10.5 miles with 3,950 feet of gain. The ridge south to Pika Peak is a long Class 3 scramble that can take up to three hours; most people drop back into the basin and climb Pika from there.

Plan of the day

Getting to the trailhead

Leave I-70 at Eagle and cross the river heading south. At the roundabout just past the river, go west on old US 6, then turn south at the next roundabout, about a mile on, following signs for Sylvan Lake State Park. The road winds south and southeast through neighborhoods to the Brush Creek Road (County Road 307, also Forest Road 400) just after a creek crossing. Turn right (southeast) and drive 11.8 miles, past a large golf course, to a signed junction and turn left (east) on Forest Road 415.

The good gravel road reaches a set of switchbacks after about 3 miles and Yeoman Park Campground 2.7 miles later. Keep going southeast past the campground and past the left turn to Fulford, to the end of Forest Road 415. Only the last 2 miles are rough; regular cars do make it, but higher clearance helps. It's about 19 miles from the second roundabout in Eagle. The lot is busy on weekends with people going to Fulford Cave.

Walk from the southeast end of the lot along an old road bed to a fork. The Iron Edge trail (1873) goes right toward the Peter Estin Hut; take the left fork, the Lake Charles trail (1899). If you pass cabins, you're on the wrong one. Yeoman Park Campground has toilets and fee sites, and a small fee campground with six sites and a toilet sits at the trailhead. Neither has water, and both fill up on summer weekends.

Next: the route, step by step →

The route

1. 1

   Lake Charles trailhead 9,440' · 0 mi

   Follow the Lake Charles trail south. It stays fairly flat for about 2.5 miles, then climbs more steeply.

2. 2

   Meadow and stream 10,700' · 3.5 mi

   Reach a meadow where a small stream comes in from the east, draining the basin under Gold Dust Peak.

3. 3

   Small lake 10,820' · 3.7 mi

   Pass an unnamed lake, then leave the trail and go east into the basin. Stay on the south side of the stream and use faint game trails to get around most obstacles.

4. 4

   Upper basin 11,600' · 4.3 mi

   Once out of the trees, the upper basin is a lovely grassy spot. Stop and look over the route north to Gold Dust.

5. 5

   Southwest flank 12,000' · 4.5 mi

   Cross the basin north to the broad southwest slope and the rounded west ridge. From here it's about 1,400 feet of mid-sized broken rock, with a little tundra and some quartz on the way.

6. 6

   Gold Dust Peak 13,398' · 5.25 mi

   Follow the ridge to the west summit, which is the high point. The lower east summit is a short scramble farther on.

Getting down

Go back down the west ridge into the basin and out the same way, or drop into the basin and climb Pika Peak.

If things go wrong

The basin and the trail are close below the flank.

3D flyover

See the trail on video

Other routes

Every way up Gold Dust Peak we list, with its class.

• Gold Dust Pk West Ridge this routeClass 2+ 10.5 mi