Wheeler Basin 13ers, Clinton Peak/McNamee Peak/Traver Peak, Wheeler Lake, Mosquito Range, Colorado

Clinton Peak, elevation 13,864’, is a Centennial 13er (top 100 peaks in CO) located in the Mosquito Range of central Colorado. After completing all the Centennials in neighboring Tenmile Range, I had my eyes set on this peak and decided to do a small loop that included two other unranked 13ers, McNamee and Traver Peak, as well. The approach road to Wheeler Lake is quite rough and not easy to walk on. After the lake the trail disappeared and the hike turned into mostly talus hopping for the next 2 miles/2000ft till the summit. I met another solo hiker on Clinton, the only person I saw most of the day, who just finished all 14ers this year and is now working through the Centennials himself. After Clinton I made an easy traverse over to McNamee along a class2 ridge, and got a closeup view of the huge open pit of Climax Mine, one of the largest active molybdenum mines in the world. I stopped briefly on McNamee then quickly went up to Traver Peak, which did involve a bit of class2+ scramble near the summit. After enjoying the summit views on Traver for 20 mins, I made my way down to the lake following the long east ridge of Traver, and then followed the road back to my car. All in all another fun day out in the mountains and I was glad to bag another Centennial (#12 for me). Total stats: 11 miles with 3200’ gain

Music:

Spacewalk, by Punch Deck (   • Punch Deck - Spacewalk  )
The Night Shift, by Punch Deck (   • Punch Deck - the Night Shift  )

0:00 Approach to Wheeler Lake
08:19 Clinton Peak Summit
10:40 Traverse to McNamee
12:08 McNamee Summit
13:40 Traverse to Traver
15:30 Traver Summit
17:32 Descent