Will and I set out on Saturday with the intent of climbing Mt. Silverheels. Between confusing directions, and lots of roads ending with dead-end private property gates, we never found the trail-head. We had a general idea about where we needed to go. So, we looked at the our map, surveyed the area, and took off cross country through some willows towards the mountain that seemed most likely to get us on the ridge we were looking for.

There wasn't much snow at lower elevations, so bushwhacking through the aspens and willows was much easier than it might have been. However, any effort saved in the aspens and willows was quickly spent moving straight up the mountain in increasingly soft, deep snow over ice and frozen scree. After topping out, we contoured through a high basin past former mining cabins and worked our way onto a mostly windblown ridge. From there it was just a few false summits to the top. There was a nearby, higher, mountain, so we suspect that it was actually Silverheels and we were just on one of the high points around it.

By this point it was getting to be late, so we quickly descended back along the ridge. With a better idea of where the car was in relation to where we were, we took a more direct descent down some very steep terrain, hustled through the willows, and arrived back at the car just as the sun was setting.

To complete the day we stopped at Coney Island in Bailey for a couple of hot dogs. Aside from the novelty of eating a hot dog, in a hot dog-shaped building, there's little to recommend about eating at Coney Island, and we probably won't be stopping there again.

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