Climbing the Crestones Traverse between Peak and Needle via Cottonwood Creek

Cottonwood Creek is one of the most beautiful trails in Colorado and we chose to climb Crestone Peak (14,299 feet) and Crestone Needle (14,196 feet) from that trailhead in mid-August 2024. For people whose vehicles are unable to reach the parking area on the east side at South Colony Lakes, the trail is much shorter from Cottonwood Creek in the town of Crestone. While rugged in places, it's hard to beat the views and frequent waterfalls.
The route we took up Crestone Peak was the standard route via the South (Red) Gully. This was the first time I have experienced the gully without snow in it and it is a much quicker ascent on dry ground. After the summit, we descended to the traverse over to Crestone Needle.
Most of the traverse is quite easy on nice grass-filled ledges, but the final ascent is one of the most exposed 14ers routes in Colorado. Though the conglomerate rock is very solid and easy to climb on Crestone Needle, and very little of it exceeds class 4, the risk is high as a fall from any of the vertical sections would be fatal as the dropoffs are hundreds of feet.
The descent down the standard route of Crestone Needle is no joke. Similar to the traverse, it is quite vertical and includes some loose rock, and route-finding can be challenging.