Trip report
Jul 17, 2026 — These peaks are part of the longer Ruby Range Traverse, a route which begins from Yule Pass to the north and extends farther south to Mount Owen and Ruby Peak. We didn’t want to set up the long shuttle this would have required, plus the trail system on the easy side of our chosen peaks would help form a tempting loop, so Whiley, Ben, and I decided on just doing the 12ers Augusta Mountain, Richmond Mountain, and Schuylkill Mountain.
The last few miles of driving up Poverty Gulch Road requires some clearance, but my Crossover SUV had no issue. We parked at the start of the Daisy Pass Trail at, a portion of the trail being the last leg of our loop later coming out of Baxter Basin, and continued along Poverty Gulch Road up to the Augusta Mine. We started up Poverty Gulch Road on foot toward Augusta Mine. Mineral Point, a sub-peak of Augusta Mountain, appeared above the road as we worked our way farther up.
The road ended at Augusta Mine, where we picked up a spur trail heading into the basin above. Augusta Mountain was our first objective, which we decided to approach from to saddle to its east. From an unnamed lake within a small basin to the peak’s south, we headed up a short section of steep scree. Once we gained the crest, we followed the east ridge of Augusta Mountain, encountering some Class 2 scrambling.
We reached Augusta Mountain and turned south along the ridge. The initial descent followed a social trail, although parts of it were steep and loose. At the southern base of Augusta Mountain as we neared Angel Pass, the ridge flattened out for a bit, but the more substantial scrambling began shortly afterward. A social trail dropped toward Angel Pass, which could also serve as an alternative to reach Augusta Mountain from the south rather than our slightly more annoying scree approach.
A sub-peak separating Augusta Mountain from Richmond Mountain involved some Class 2/2+ talus, followed by a short Class 3 section. The ridge got a little trickier beyond the sub-peak, with more Class 2/3 scrambling on mostly solid rock.
We eventually reached a Class 3 crux, though it looked like we could probably avoid it by dropping left around an outcropping, but we accidentally chose to make it more spicy by heading up over this outcropping and navigating to the right of it on loose ledges. It was not particularly elegant, but we made our way through and eventually got back onto the crest.
Next, we kept just left and below the crest to avoid some rotten-looking scrambling along the way. After all the more tedious stuff, the ridge became easier, if steeper, again. Richmond Mountain was now directly ahead, and we headed up to the summit. From Richmond Mountain, we could see Schuylkill Mountain to the southeast, while the view west included Marcellina Mountain and the Raggeds.
We descended east toward Daisy Pass from Richmond Mountain on the initially loose and eroded Class 2 ridge, followed by a couple of little scattered obstacles along the way. We’d eventually return to Daisy Pass and take that trail back, but first we had Schuylkill Mountain. From the pass, we climbed some Class 2+ terrain to regain the ridge crest, then worked around a few eroded towers using some Class 2/3 ledges.
There was some brush along the ridge to Schuylkill Mountain, which I suppose is what happens at the slightly lower elevations in Colorado. We found an elk trail on the south side that of the ridge that let us avoid going directly over one of the unnecessary bumps, which seemed like a worthwhile shortcut since there wasn’t much reason to climb something just because it happened to be in the way.
The ridge dipped briefly before rising again toward Schuylkill Mountain. We followed it to the summit, finishing with a bit of talus. From Schuylkill Mountain, we retraced our route back to Daisy Pass. We then dropped onto the Daisy Pass Trail and headed down through Baxter Gulch. The trail eventually merged with an old mining road, which we followed downhill and eventually the Daisy Pass Trail led us back into Poverty Gulch.