Gibbs Peak

Route: From Gibson TH
Posted On: 2/13/2024, By: daway8
Info: Didnt summit. Hiked 5.5hrs without even breaking treeline. Covered 1.6mi in the first hour. Covered 3.14mi by hour 3. Covered 3.54mi by hour 4. Covered 3.87mi by hour 5. After a long break and a short effort gave up at 3.9mi, about 5.5hrs after starting. Still had about 1.5mi and 2k gain to reach treeline. Total net gain from TH to point where I bailed was 638ft. Total cumulative gain for the day was 1,550ft as measured from the GPX track uploaded to 14ers. No thats not a glitch. This route really stinks. Started just fine. Came from Gibson Trailhead along the Rainbow Trail. First 2 miles had a remnant trench that made going easier. Zero tracks going to Lake of the Clouds. Some slight remnant tracks going out on trail 1349. At the 2 mile point looks like the previous person must have fallen on the steep snow leading down into the creek and then gave up. I also fell into the creek but didnt give up landed on my snowshoes so didnt get wet. Had to break trail from there on. Several small creek crossing, only the first one had a pair of bridges, but the others were easy except the fall spot. Was pretty easy to follow the trail despite postholing a couple feet deep at times with snowshoes on. But some sections crusty and even a few short dry spells. After turning off for Texas Creek the trail was less obvious. Turned left too soon and went up a steep slope sinking knee deep with snowshoes. Took 34 minutes to gain 106 feet, only to find I had to lose altitude after reaching the top. Then had another very small but steep hill with knee deep snow. Then had to lose altitude on the far side. The topo map made it look like I should climb the hill then have a level slope all the way to the summit. But over and over and over again I kept hitting these micro-hills that were too small to show up on the topo but which killed all speed going up in knee deep snow only to discover you had to surrender half your gain on the other side. All this was also while doing major bushwhacking through trees/shrubs dense enough to block the view of what was coming. Stopped at 9,757ft a mere 3.9mi in after 5.5hrs of hiking upon hearing the loudest whompf Ive ever heard. Slope angle was pretty mellow but was going uphill with snowshoes and still sinking knee deep. On my return I pulled out my BCA slope angle measurement tool to check a slope further down that the map didnt have shaded at all but the tool showed at 35 degrees. Thankfully plenty of anchors but it was creepy crossing that slope having earlier on a flatter spot heard major whompfs. This route looked pretty avy safe on paper but was more iffy in person and the bushwhacking and elevation regain together with deep, steep snow was brutal. I do NOT recommend this as a winter route. 

Route: Cotton Creek
Posted On: 5/10/2023, By: HikerGuy
Info: The Cotton Creek approach trail was in good shape. Deadfall is not an issue and all stream crossing logs/bridges are intact. I had originally planned to hike up De Anza first, but decided to go up Gibbs first in order to leave the snowshoes at home. Started at 6:15am and what snow is remaining between 10,600 and 11,200 was firm and supportive. No snow of concern beyond that, most of it is avoidable. Even from Gibbs to De Anza, snow not a big concern and still supportive around midday. Descent from De Anza was uneventful although I did lose the trail on the way down, snow not an issue. This is a good early season, leave the snowshoes home hike. Carried spikes, but did not use them. Ankle gaiters were appreciated. Long first hike of the year, 17.65 miles, 5,860 feet and 10h 11m. 

Route: East Ridge
Posted On: 9/1/2021, By: supranihilest
Info: I started at Gibson Creek trailhead and took the Rainbow trail to Texas Creek trail. Texas Creek isn't maintained and I quickly lost the trail into a mess of deadfall and tall grass. This was at about 10,100' and I began bushwhacking straight north to the ridge through a nice aspen glade, gaining the ridge at 10,400'. From there it was an endless bushwhack with endless deadfall til treeline, and then endless talus (stable talus at least) to the summit. While not hard this is a very tedious and time consuming route. 

Route: East ridge up , Texas creek down
Posted On: 5/28/2021, By: WildWanderer
Info: Took the ridge up, creek down. Both were miserable bushwhacking experiences. More trees are down than standing, and in many areas several trees are piled on top of each other / side by side. Spring condition on parts of the trail heading in. No traction needed until about 100 yards before treeline, and then snowshoes were mandatory due to the warm temperatures. Once above treeline no traction needed. 

Route: Texas Creek Trail
Posted On: 7/9/2017, By: JasonKline
Info: Snow free. Lots of downed trees on Texas Creek Trail, which makes for slow going. Water is very high, and there's no good way to cross Texas Creek other than simply walking through it. Count on lots of water and mud.