Missouri Mtn, Iowa & Emerald Peaks

Missouri Mtn, Iowa Peak & Emerald Peak

Date:	September 4, 2011
Elevation:	Missouri Mtn - 14,067 ft Iowa Peak - 13,831 ft Emerald Peak - 13,904 ft
Trail:	West Ridge
Distance:	8 miles round trip
Elevation Gain:	4,300 ft
Difficulty:	Class 2
Time it took us:	7 hrs 50 min

We had a day of rest after hiking Huron Peak on Thurs and Belford and Oxford on Friday, then we were back at it. This time we hiked up the West ridge of Missouri Mtn and continued on a loop over to Iowa Peak and Emerald Peak (ranked 13er). We drove the ATV up to the gate and camped at Clohesy Lake. We scouted out where the trail started and before the sun came up, we were hiking by headlamp. The West ridge isn't as popular of a route. We followed a well-defined trail for a bit, then it faded away above tree line. We continued up the steep slope and eventually joined up with the main trail as it follows the ridge to Missouri's summit. We visited with one other person on Missouri, then continued on to Iowa and Emerald. We had those two peaks to ourselves and didn't see another person until we got back down off the mountain and near Clohesy lake. This was a really enjoyable hike and it was another beautiful day!