Mt. Of the Holy Cross

• Date of hike: July 20, 2019

• Location: Fall Creek Trail from Half Moon trailhead – Near Minturn, Colorado

• Rough Mileage/Vert: 14 miles round trip & 5,210 ft. gain

• Our time: About 10 hours round trip

In this trip report we’ll try to lay out the details that we would have loved to have before we hiked. Most important being, there are two trailheads. Learn from our mistake. (Or don’t, this hike was still epic.) 

Route Option #1: Half Moon Trail (standard route)

Within the first few miles on the standard route, you’ll climb Half Moon Pass and then land at a handful of dispersed camping sites on the other side. This route is a few miles shorter than the Fall Creek Trail route, and is a good option if you’d like to break the hike up into two days. We descended this way without trouble, but it should be advised that many people pick the wrong line as they come down. Be sure to stay right, near the ridge, to avoid veering off trail. You’ll also have to climb back over the pass before making it back to the trailhead.

Route Option #2: Fall Creek Trail (Halo Ridge route)

This is the route we took, unintentionally. It adds roughly three miles to the hike, and you’ll ascend three talus-filled 13’ers that comprise Halo Ridge before you end up summiting. Be advised that at around 2.25 miles, Fall Creek trail will junction into Notch Mountain trail. Continue down Notch Mountain trail until you find yourself at a large clearing, about five miles in, staring at the marvelous snow-filled cross (make it by sunrise to up the magic factor), momentarily forgetting the pain of hiking a 14’er. 

Our Hike

It was a Friday night, and we got to the parking lot around 9pm. The plan had been to hike to the campsites at the bottom of Half Moon pass, but after sitting in hours of traffic, we were worn out and thought we’d have a better hike if we simply got good sleep and woke up early. After waking up at 1am, we’d hiked for three miles and realized we hadn’t climbed a mountain pass, nor that we’d reach campsites anytime soon, so we had to either turn around and quit, turn around and find the right trail, or figure out if we could still summit from where we were. 

We kept on what we found out is Fall Creek Trail, and tried to piece together any knowledge we had from screenshots of the 14’ers.com page. We were also warned of mountain spiders on this route, so in addition to being kind of lost, we expected to have Jurassic Park-ish crawlies all around us. Luckily the spiders are small and not very numerous. 

Our ascent was mostly dark, aside from our headlamps, until we reached the Notch Mountain shelter. Rumor has it that people made pilgrimages to Holy Cross, but because of the high elevation, a shelter was built to offer a bit of reprieve. While the Halo Ridge route is a complete gut buster, watching the sunrise reflect off the couloir was a really special treat. If you aren’t dead set on summiting, but are jonesing for a view, it would be an excellent day hike to the shelter. 

From there the ridge takes you across three 13’ers, although the false summits might make it hard to keep track of which one you’re on. There were a few tears shed as we scrambled up and down, up and down, up and down; no wonder they named the lake at the bottom of the couloir the Bowl of Tears. 

Because there are a million things more fun than descending talus, we took the standard route down. Unfortunately, climbing a 1,000 foot pass at the end of a hike is also decidedly not fun, but when choosing between the two options, this one felt right. It’s a fun option to be able to take a different descent route, when most 14’ers are a more standard out and back trip. 

We hope this recount of our day helps you enjoy Mt. of the Holy Cross as much as we did. Pack your favorite snacks and buckle up for a day of vert, you’re in for a treat!