Date Climbed: June 23, 2022

Trailhead: Silver Dollar Lake Trailhead

Trailhead Access: Passenger

This spectacular loop is a must-do hike to get all three 13ers Argentine, Wilcox and Square Top. It’s both beautiful and only about 1.25 hrs from Denver without traffic (if you approach from the east).

These peaks are mainly accessed from the east and west. The east route starts from Silver Dollar Lake trailhead while the west route approaches from the Argentine pass trailhead. In this article I’ll talk about the eastern approach.

This route is no harder than class 2 and has a trail for much of the approach. Take this trail up to Silver Dollar Lake, where the trail splits. Here you can decide if you want to do the lollipop clockwise or counterclockwise. I did it counterclockwise, and felt this was the best direction because the worst rock/talus seemed to be going up Mt Wilcox. Personally I prefer to ascend lower quality terrain and descend higher quality terrain, but that may just be a personal preference. Either direction would honestly make for an awesome day.

If you go right at the Silver Dollar Lake trail split like I did, continue up the trail to Murry Reservoir where the trail ends. There is no trail after the lake, so take the path of least resistance here up Mt Wilcox. I found this section to be the worst rock quality, but I also picked a very direct route so there might have been better quality terrain to the left or right of where I went up.

After summiting Wilcox you will remain on the ridge until you descend off Square Top. The path before you is pretty easy to follow as you should see Argentine and Square Top from this vantage point.

From Wilcox, follow the ridge southwest to gain the summit of Argentine. The summit area around Argentine was the only place I experienced snow on the whole route.

From Argentine continue along the ridge southeast towards Square Top. You’ll pass beneath some power lines on the way there.

The day I did the loop I crossed paths with a trial runner jogging across this ridge.

Square Top summit is truly gigantic. Look for the rock pile that marks the true tippy top.

From there follow the ridge back down to Silver Dollar Lake. The ridge is pretty mellow and you should be able to spot a path of least resistance down to the lake. From there you’ll be able to pick up the trail again and cruise down to the parking lot.

Thoughts on Argentine, Wilcox and Square Top Loop

Overall, this is a really pleasant loop and a great introduction to “trailless” hiking. It’s a more moderate group of 13ers distance and elevation-wise. It’s also a really easy route to navigate as you can pretty much see the entire route before you when you’re on the ridge. For this reason it’s a good route to do solo (assuming you’ve had some experience on 13ers before).

I’d say this is also a good route to do in the late spring as the snow didn’t pose much of a problem. There were a few short sections of trail covered in snow and the summit area of Argentine had some snow but that’s about it.

The lakes and scenery were phenomenal as well. This would be a nice hike to do just to visit the lakes.