Len Shoemaker Peak - Just Hiking

Statistics

Date - 07/19/2026
Elevation - 13,631'
Route - Northeast Ridge
Miles - 9.7
Elevation Gain - 4,444'
ACME Mapper - Link
CalTopo - Link
Partners - Jeff Kunkle

Description

Jeff reached out to our climbing group several months ago letting us know he had secured two permits for the Maroon Lake Trailhead in July. I had intended to tag along on one of the weekends to hike Len Shoemaker Peak while he and his son climbed the Maroon Bells. His son ended up attending a wedding on one of the weekends; therefore, Jeff volunteered to use one of his permits and accompany me up the Colorado Bi-Centennial Peak that I needed in the area.

"Len Shoemaker Peak" is the informal name for Unnamed 13631 (according to older maps), which is actually now Unnamed 13642 when considering the new LIDAR elevations. Leonard "Len" Shoemaker (1881-1973) was a longtime forest service ranger who spent much of his career in western Colorado.

Jeff and I drove from Highlands Ranch, Colorado, over Independence Pass, and stayed at my friend's house in Aspen, Colorado, on Saturday evening. We enjoyed salmon, burgers, brats, and beers before getting a few hours of sleep and making our way to the Maroon Creek Trailhead on Sunday morning.

The trail hike from Maroon Lake to Crater Lake and then south up West Maroon Creek went quickly and was full of good conversation. At around 10,600' on the trail, the easy hiking was over, and we began bushwhacking and route-finding our way to the upper Len Shoemaker Basin. We made relatively decent time and soon found ourselves enjoying the views of Unnamed 13,631 with Len Shoemaker Ridge to our right and Thunder and Lightning Pyramid Peaks to our left.

The hiking relented for a bit as we worked our way south in the upper basin and then we turned southeast and soon found our way working up a nasty scree gully to the saddle below Len Shoemaker Peak. This was the most difficult and annoying part of the day. At this point, I slowed down significantly and struggled in the heat of the morning with loose and unstable rock. Nevertheless, I finally made it to the saddle where Jeff was waiting for me, and we scouted the remaining route.

The rock on the ridge was stable, and we began enjoying ourselves again as we scrambled the final 300' to the summit of my 53rd Colorado Bi-Centennial Peak. There were only two relatively short class three sections that held your attention with the rest of the ridge staying mostly class two. We spent a half hour on the summit taking in the views and identifying surrounding peaks.

The scramble back down to the saddle went quickly and then we spread out for the miserable descent of the loose gully, so we didn't kick rocks on one another. Our pace improved once back in Len Shoemaker Basin and we quickly picked up a strong climber's trail back to the main West Maroon Creek Trail. I was pretty worked at this point and was struggling to get through the day. I continued to hydrate after making some water, but the day was clearly wearing on me. After regaining my composure and getting a bit of a second wind, we picked up the pace shortly before Crater Lake and were successful in negotiating around the tourist hikers on our way back to the trailhead.

We left the trailhead at 5:30 am and reached Len Shoemaker Peak at 10:40 am after 5 hours and 10 minutes of hiking. We spent 30 minutes on the summit and then returned to the trailhead by 2:30 pm for a 9-hour car-to-car day. The drive back to the Front Range went smoothly and I was happy to add Len Shoemaker Peak to my peak list.

Photos