Trip report
Jul 29, 2026 — Many of the destinations within the Gore Range require long approach hikes to reach them, our summits today being no exception. Tons of the peaks within the range are unofficially named, including both Mount Silverthorne and Hail Peak. Mount Silverthorne is a Colorado 13er and the third-highest summit in the Gore Range, and less-commonly known as Willow Benchmark (though this is the name given to it on USGS maps). Hail Peak is a mere 12er just to its west, a nice addition while we were way out here.
This pair of summits is most easily accessed via the Gore Creek Trail. The trailhead has recently been rerouted, now a large parking lot separated from access via the Gore Creek Campground. Amanda and I started up the Gore Creek Trail, attempting to get an early start due to the storm forecast, but at this point I think it’s safe to say I am incapable of doing so. Fortunately, Amanda was on the same schedule.
We could hear Gore Creek rushing below for most of the morning, but we rarely saw it since the trail seemed to always be set far away from the watercourse. We crossed into the Eagles Nest Wilderness, plenty of views into the valley as we continued, and also plenty of forest walking. It was a lengthy hike to reach the junction with the Gore Lake Trail, and we were happy to finally leave the mostly unchanging Gore Creek Trail behind.
The Gore Lake Trail climbs notably more steeply, but the views improved significantly and the hike more interesting. When the trail bent west toward Gore Lake, we located a very faint social trail and left the official trail to head north. Even when we often lost the faint trail, it was easy walking through thin forest and open meadows, but we generally managed to stick to it. Mount Silverthorne was first on our agenda, and from below we could see its false summit perched on the skyline, with Hail Peak off to the left.
We wandered north through the meadows and emerged above treeline, where we could see our ascent and descent routes. Our ascent slope was a mostly loose mixture of grass and loose rock, the steepness pushing the grade to Class 2. Above the slope we stayed on tundra, avoiding the talus field to our left, and made our way to Mount Silverthorne’s south ridge. We headed up the south ridge, which had some short Class 2 sections, to nearly the top of the false summit. However, we realized we had to drop down to the notch between the false summit and the true summit. We avoided this extra gain on the way back by side-hilling straight between the south ridge and that notch.
From the notch, various scrambling options exist ranging from Class 2 to Class 4, where closer to the crest provided the more difficult options. Then the crest turns into much tougher scrambling, so we skipped it and instead and made an ascending traverse across Class 2 talus below the ridge. It was loose and not particularly fun, but short-lived. We crested the slope and continued on tundra to the true summit of Mount Silverthorne. The view west into the heart of the Gores illustrated its mess of jagged ridges.
We rushed down from the summit, an incoming storm pushing us to move fast to reach Hail Peak in time. We retraced our steps along the south ridge only briefly, and then left it to head west toward Hail Peak. The slope/ridge was a swath of consistent Class 2 boulder-hopping, and the boulders even got bigger when wrapping around a little outcropping toward the saddle, Class 2+. Snow Lake came into view below, and then Hail Peak ahead. The last stretch went up the unrelenting Class 2 talus on Hail Peak’s east ridge.
From the summit of Hail Peak, we peered west at the traverse to Snow Peak and Mount Valhalla, a route that looked tempting on topo maps, but totally ridiculous in-person. Amanda was tempted to go try it, but fortunately for me, it was clear a thunderstorm was coming so we had to get to lower elevation. After all, this route is known as the “west ridge of rotten rocks”, and has many sections that go at Class 4/5.
For the descent we headed southeast off Hail Peak and down a tedious, steep talus slope. We had a short section of butt-scooting when it became loose and overly steep. Then it was the long walk back.