Two 14ers, One Day
- Jun 24
- 6 min read
Tackling Redcloud Peak and Sunshine Peak in a Single Effort
Colorado is famous for its 14ers -- 58 distinct peaks that surpass 14,000 ft above sea level. It feels like a rite of passage to complete one of these hikes and look out over layers of shorter mountains nearby.
There is certainly a spectrum of difficulty, but there's truly no such thing as an "easy" 14er. When Mitch and I first moved to Colorado, we had just finished thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail and were in the best hiking shape of our lives, but that didn't matter when up against the crushing altitude. Even though we'd been living in Denver for about a month, we had to take breathing breaks every 10 minutes, and it took us almost 2 full hours to hike 2.8 miles from the parking lot to the summit of Mt. Blue Sky. There's another parking lot a quarter mile from the summit, and we ended up hitchhiking back to the lower parking lot because we were so exhausted from the ascent.
Since that first attempt at a 14er, I've completed 12 others, 10 of them being in one season. (I had made a new years resolution to do 10 new hikes that year, I completed that goal by the end of April, a group of friends and I did a 14er camping trip for my birthday in late August, I decided that the new goal was to do 10 new 14ers, and I accomplished that goal by mid-November. It was quite a time.)
Am I superhuman? Far from it. The key to doing so many 14ers in a short amount of time, especially since I couldn't (and, honestly, didn't want to) dedicate every single weekend to this endeavor, was bagging several peaks in one trip. For example, there's a famous hike called Decalibron, which links the summits of Democrat, Cameron, Lincoln, and Bross, in a fairly short loop, which allowed us to check off four 14ers in a single afternoon. I'll write about that one another time. Another easy bundle was the one I'm going to talk about today: Redcloud and Sunshine.
The Preparation
Redcloud and Sunshine aren't particularly difficult as far as 14ers go, but that didn't mean we didn't have to prepare. No matter how in shape you are, no matter how "easy," no matter what class of scramble (classes range from 1 to 4 and indicate how much vertical exposure you need to prepare for), hiking any 14er requires a degree of preparation that other typical hikes may not.
One of the obvious challenges that 14ers present is altitude. While hydration and acclimation play a large role in being able to handle the noticeable decrease in available oxygen at that elevation, altitude sickness can come for anyone. It's imperative to know what the signs are and how to respond to them before it gets serious. For me, I can feel my brain moving at a slower pace once I hit around 12,000 feet. Mitch sometimes gets a low grade headache. Breathing is harder, and it takes more effort to exert energy. If the headache got worse, if either of us felt nauseous, or if we became dizzy or lightheaded, we know to turn around and descend the mountain; the only cure for altitude sickness is being at lower elevations.
Another issue with 14ers is that, by nature of being so high, they are at the whims of unpredictable and sometimes volatile weather patterns. Even if it's warm at the beginning of your hike, the summit can be much colder, factoring in both altitude (temperature decreases approximately 3.5°F per every 1,000 feet of elevation gain) and wind. Especially in the summer, when warm temperatures carry moisture from lower elevations to create storm systems, afternoon thunderstorms and lightning strikes are frequent occurrences. While these storms don't happen every day, it's generally a good idea to be off the peaks and back in the tree line by early afternoon. If you do happen to get caught in a thunderstorm above tree line, where you are generally the tallest thing around, your best move is finding a safe route down the mountain and into a cluster of trees (not a single tree!!). Understanding storm safety and how to navigate stressful alpine situations is key for doing a 14er, especially in the summer.
In other ways, 14ers are like any normal hike. Bringing the Ten Essentials is even more vital to ensure you are prepared for uncertain situations. (Read this blog post to learn about what you need for any length and difficulty of day hike!)
As far as physical preparedness goes, Mitch and I are fortunately very accustomed to long miles, both with day hikes and backpacking trips, but if 12 miles sounds like a big number, training up to bigger and longer hikes is definitely necessary to complete this journey.
The Logistics
In my opinion, the San Juans are the most beautiful part of Colorado. They are also, of course, very difficult to get to. The trailhead for this hike is roughly 6 hours from Denver, so it's not a feasible day trip. We left Denver Friday evening after work and found a free place to camp along the way, finished the drive and hiked Handies Peak (another 14er in the area) on Saturday, hiked Redcloud and Sunshine Peaks on Sunday, and drove back home that afternoon. It was a holiday weekend, so we fortunately had Monday to rest, but it technically is doable in a regular weekend, especially if you nix Handies.
Free camping is available and plentiful at the trailhead. We were able to find a good spot to set up our 3-person tent, and there was even a pit toilet at the parking lot. The road up until this trailhead is pretty friendly and didn't require 4WD or high clearance, but going past the trailhead up to American Basin (where you can access Handies Peak) definitely does require a more rugged vehicle. If you plan to camp out, bring ear plugs or headphones; this is a very popular ATV area, so you can expect to hear a lot of very loud music while they take a break by the bathroom area.
This hike is roughly 12 miles long. There is a small section of Class 2 scrambling, which means you often need to use your hands for balance, but there isn't a high risk of serious injury if you fall -- just something to be mindful of. There is approximately 4,600 ft of elevation gain on this out-and-back route. Just doing Redcloud without tacking on Sunshine is approximately 9 miles and 3,600 ft of elevation gain. Those extra 1,000 ft can be accounted for in descending 500 ft into the saddle between Redcloud and Sunshine, ascending the 500 ft to Sunshine, and then going back to the summit of Redcloud.
The Hiking
We woke up before sunrise to get an early start. We weren't seeing storms in the forecast, but since it's impossible to really know what the mountains are going to do, we still wanted to be back at the car by early afternoon.
The hike began with a bunch of stairs through the forest. We exited the tree line pretty quickly, and most of the hike meandered up the valley and to the ridge line. Stairs were pretty standard throughout the beginning of the route. Even while exerting consistent effort, I wore a fleece the entire hike, as the wind was pretty fierce without anything around to break it. I wore gloves for a good amount of the hike as well.
We took several breaks along the way to catch our breath under the guise of soaking up the scenery (which we did as well!), and after a couple hours, we made it to the summit of Redcloud Peak (14,037 ft). Even on a holiday weekend, we didn't have to share the summit with too many people. It was great to take a break there for a bit and enjoy the view -- my personal favorite 14er view so far -- but we still had more to go.
In my opinion, you can skip Sunshine Peak unless you want to check off numerous peaks in one day. The view from Sunshine isn't as good (to me) as Redcloud, and it barely counts as a 14er; at 14,001 ft, it just scrapes by. The hardest part of the hike was the ascent up to Sunshine after descending to a saddle between the two peaks. Adding Sunshine made the victory of Redcloud less magnanimous, as I knew I still had hard hiking ahead.
Getting back to the car was just as beautiful as the hike up to the summits, and the most boring hiking only lasted about a mile. In exchange for sleepy hiking through the trees, we found some wild raspberry bushes. As always, after a tough hike, getting back to the car was a relief. If only we didn't have a 6 hour drive ahead of us afterward...
What do you think? Is it worth doing two 14ers in one day?
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