Rennie Peak by Mount Gibbs shares a ridgeline with Reynolds Peak like Camels Hump. It also sits atop the apex of three distinct drainages. Of these, Reynolds Creek provides the most direct route to the peak.
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Rennie Peak at a Glance
Access: Reynolds Creek Trailhead
Round Trip: 12 miles
Elevation Range: 3160′-7742′
Gear: helmet, snowshoes, ice ax
Route Info: Eric Eames
GPS Track: available
Dog-Friendly: with guidance
Reynolds Creek Trail
I knew it’d be a long day as soon as the first down trees showed up just past the trailhead. I rechecked the maps later. Then it dawned on me that the devastating Crescent Mountain Fire had swept through the area as well.
The burn took place after our 2017 visit. So the down trees had made the trail unrecognizable. At one point, we lost the path to the fallen timbers. Then we didn’t find it again until we went past the confluence.
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Upper Reynolds Creek
Unfortunately, we were only on the trail for a short while. Then it faded into the vast debris before the broad clearing. In turn, it took quite some time to go through the criss-cross down logs.
We were in the burn zone the entire time. So there was no good way to avoid the mess. At one point, we tried staying close to the creek. But it was just as bad as anywhere else.
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Rennie Peak East Basin
At last, continuous snow showed up at 5500′ over the brush. But I couldn’t have put on my snowshoes fast enough! Nevertheless, it meant that we could leave the debris behind for now.
On the map, it looked like the trail went through south of Point 7278. But it was much more efficient to stay by the creek and go up the basin that way. But we’d sometimes hear water running beneath us.
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The Final Stretch
It wasn’t until we reached the larch basin that we were out of the burn zone. From below, I could see a vast stretch of dry rocks at the top. So we skipped the southeast ridge and went straight up the east slopes.
The last few hundred feet were pretty steep. I later stashed my snowshoes at the top of the snow by the rocks. Then we finished the final 100′ scramble up to the broad summit. Yeehaw!
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Rennie Peak Summit Views
It’s funny that the crux wasn’t even the climbing itself. Not sure about the pups, but going through the burn zone took a lot of energy out of me for sure. I laid the register paper out to dry before signing it.
Reynolds Peak was the main focus on this day. We had been staring at its sheer north side from the get-go. But to the north, the view to Mount Gibbs and Louis Peak was also just as impressive.
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Outro
Despite Louis Peak being in the way, I could still see our last weekend’s goals poking out from behind. Then there were the countless peaks all around us on this gorgeous day.
On the way back, we walked along the creek to be in the snow. Then that had us bypass the worst of the burn. Too bad we didn’t know to do that on the way up!
See more trip photos here.