
After leaving my car at Lake Irwin, I hiked along the dirt road. Mount Owen visible popping up in the center.

Shortly before leaving the dirt road, view toward Mount Owen. Ruby Peak is on the left, and the gully I'd use to access it is out of frame far left. The land in the foreground is mostly private property, so be sure not to trespass accidentally. Maps read that there is a narrow corridor of public land.

Easy bushwhack avoiding private property.

Approaching the gully, left.

Gully center.

Gully, the last bit is steep (probably Class 2).

View back down after the steep slope. Lake Irwin visible right of center. I ascended sort of from the trees on the right.

Ascending the easy Class 2 ridge to Ruby Peak.

Ruby Peak ahead.

View back along the ridge. The gully I came up visible left. Anthracite Range and the Beckwith peaks visible in the distance.

Easy walk to Ruby Peak higher up on the ridge, with some short easy Class 2 sections.

View back down. Lake Irwin visible on the left.

Another shot back along the ridge. Great views.

Close-up toward Lake Irwin. You can see the buildings on private property on the left and right in this photo. The public land corridor I saw on maps heads between them.

Ruby Peak summit, view toward Mount Owen. Green Lake below.

Close-up to Green Lake and Scarp Ridge. To avoid the whole private land fiasco, you could have ascended to Scarp Ridge, traversed the ridge in the center, went along the base of Mount Owen, reached Green Lake, and then gotten to the ridge from there. Seems excessive.

Close-up at the route to Mount Owen.

Steep ascent up from the base of Mount Owen.

View back toward Ruby Peak.

Social trail leading up Mount Owen.

Light Class 2.

View back toward Green Lake, Lake Irwin, and Ruby Peak.

Light Class 2. Mount Owen up there somewhere.

Social trail to the summit.

Close-up of Marcellina Mountain.

Mount Owen summit, view toward Purple Peak (center) and Scarp Ridge (right).

Close-up toward Purple Peak (right), and Afley Peak (left). I continued along the ridge to Purple Peak.

Class 2/2+ down from Mount Owen.

View back toward Mount Owen.

Starting up Purple Peak, view back again. The terrain up to Purple Peak was easier than coming down from Owen.

Purple Peak summit, view toward Blue Lake (left) and Scarp Ridge (center).

Now for the crux, getting down from Purple Peak.

View back up at the first section of loose Class 2.

Approaching the Class 3 crux.

Class 3 crux.

View back up at Purple Peak from below the Class 3 crux.

View toward Blue Lake and Scarp Ridge. Important to note is the social trail at the base of this photo. I'll be on that shortly after reaching the notch at the saddle separating Purple and Afley. Once on the social trail, route-finding is a no-brainer along the ridge to Scarp Ridge.

Wide shot of the whole route down from Purple Peak, just before the final Class 2+ move to get into the notch.

From the notch, don't go down the gully on the left even though it might be tempting. Note the faint social trail on the right in this photo that leads along the base of Purple Peak's north ridge.

Along the social trail.

View back along the talus as the social trail faded away. Afley Peak (didn't hike it) visible on the right.

View back again after clearing the talus and ascending on tundra to the ridge.

Along the ridge, Scarp Ridge visible ahead. Time for the prettiest stuff of the day.

View back, Blue Lake visible below. Purple Peak top left.

Along the ridge, colorful and sheer cliffs creating great viewpoints.

Another shot back, now with Mount Owen in the frame on the left.

Continuing along the ridge.

Another shot back of Purple (right), Owen (center), and Ruby (left).

A minor descent along the ridge.

View back toward Owen, Purple, Afley.


Final push to Scarp Ridge.

Wide shot back.

Higher up, shot toward Owen, Purple, Afley. I loved this ridge, so there's a lot of photos. Oops.

Scarp Ridge summit, view north.

Scarp Ridge summit, view east. Crested Butte is visible left of center.

Headed down the pleasant Scarp Ridge Trail.

You can see the trail splits ahead. Left leads more gradually down. I chose to keep right for the slightly steeper and shorter option.

View back as I descend the Scarp Ridge Trail.

Lake Irwin below.

View toward Ruby Peak, Mount Owen, and Purple Peak.

View back up the trail.

Getting closer to Lake Irwin.

After a short walk on a dirt road that passes the Lake Irwin Lodge, I left the road and used this nice trail to skirt the perimeter of Lake Irwin rather than just hike along the road.

Nice views along the perimeter of Lake Irwin. This trail brought me back to my car.
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