Hiking – Mt Nystrom and Vasquez Peak from Jones Pass Road

Meet at Wooly Mammoth BB before 6:30am so we can form carpools and leave no later than 6:30am.  Here is a Google Maps link to the meeting place: https://maps.app.goo.gl/doP4uivoy9AQeVcn9

We will be parking at and starting our hike from the parking lot at the point where the Jones Pass Road leaves the valley and starts its uphill climb to Jones Pass, about 1 mile past the Jones Pass TH.  Here’s a Google Maps link to the parking lot and trailhead:   https://maps.app.goo.gl/Q8umEqKD2wHyFYEG6

From the trailhead, we will mostly off trail, staying west of the W Fork of Clear Creek to the head of the valley, then make our way up to the ridgeline east of Pt 12666.  From the ridge, we will follow the Mt Nystrom trail along the ridge over PT 12666, then continue over to Mt Nystrom.  From Mt Nystrom, we will follow the Mt Nystrom trail back over PT 12666, then down the east ridge until we reach the west ridge of Vasquez Peak.  We will then go off-trail up the west ridge to Vasquez Peak's summit.  From Vasquez Peak, we will head south to a saddle, then southeast down the slope to the Mt Nystrom and Continental Divide Trail.  We will follow these two trails a short while, then continue off trail southwest back to the parking lot and trailhead.

A fair bit of this hike is off-trail, and a fair bit of this hike is going up and down steep terrain.