Tag: Mays Peak

Mays Peak – 8238 and Kineo Mountain – 9500 from Bear Creek

RT Length: 14.36 miles

Elevation Gain: 3659

I’ve hiked Mays Peak and Kineo Mountain several times, but always through North Cheyenne Canyon.  They’re currently working on the road to North Cheyenne Canyon, so I decided to hike these peaks via Bear Creek.  I’ve ever been to Bear Creek before, so I thought this would be fun.

I parked at pull off 3 and was on the trail at 6:15am.

I passed through a gate and followed the road

I came to a second gate, and continued on the road

The trail follows High Drive, a dirt road, for 2.6 miles.  It had recently snowed, but it seemed yesterday several skiers packed it down after the snow had subsided.

After hiking 2.6 miles I came to the saddle of Mays Peak and Mt Buckhorn (unranked).  Here I turned left and was pleasantly surprised to find a boot pack on the trail to Mays Peak

This trail didn’t go all the way to the summit, but instead wound around the mountain.   At the southernmost point I left the trail and made my own trail to the summit, heading north up the hillside.

This is an easy summit, especially if you’ve summited before.  No one had been here since the recent snow, so there were no tracks on the summit.

A few weeks ago I dropped a summit register off, so I went to go check on it.  It was buried under some snow; I took it out and placed it on a rock.  Still looking good!

The tree is still decorated for Christmas.  I wonder if it’ll be decorated all year long?

I followed my tracks back down to the trail, and to the Buckskin/Mays Saddle

From the saddle I took Trail 667 southwest

I was delighted to find this trail also had a boot pack

Well, at least it had tracks for a little while.  It seems the hiker ahead of me at some point got tired of trenching and turned around.  So I started trenching. 

I followed/trenched Trail 667 for 3 miles, until I made it to the 668/622/667 Junction.  Here I turned left and headed east towards the summit of Kineo Mountain. 

Did I mention the wind? It was very windy all day, even though I was below treeline.  Since it had snowed recently, the wind blew all the snow off the trees.  This snow kept hitting me in the face.

Here are some pictures of the way to the summit.  I just kept trekking east

I made it to the summit and looked for the summit register, but it was buried somewhere under all that snow and I was unable to locate it.

The trek back was much easier than the trek in, as I just followed my footprints back to the Mays/Buckskin saddle

It was still windy

And it was warming up, so ice was getting stuck in my microspikes

I made it back to the saddle and took the road back to the trailhead.  Here I saw more skiers hiking up the trail, a few dogs, and a man pulling a sled with a bunch of rocks in it so it would carry him down the mountain faster in his sled.  I pointed out to him there were probably rocks at the top.

I made it back to the trailhead at 12:30pm, making this a 14.36 mile hike with 3659’ of elevation gain in 5 hours, 45 minutes.

Kineo Mountain – 9500’ and Mays Peak – 8238’

RT Length:  9.15 miles

Elevation Gain: 2838’

Initially, I’d planned on hiking Mt Massive this morning, but after seeing the predicted wind speeds I turned around and slept another 3 hours before heading out to North Cheyenne Canyon.  I was the only one in the parking lot when I arrived, so I got to choose my space.  I parked right in the middle, since I’d be making this hike a loop.

I put on my microspikes and wore them the entire way. I was on the trail at 6am, happy not to be lugging along my snowshoes for the first time this winter.  The trail starts at the west end of the parking area.   

I passed through the locked gate and noticed a sign that wasn’t here the last time I hiked here.  I was surprised the area was open to horses:  I’ve hiked here dozens of times and never encountered a horse.

I continued hiking along this road (370) for .8 miles, until I came to a bend in the road.  From here I took trail 622 west.

This is Seven Bridges Trail, and, you guessed it, it crosses 7 bridges.  The sun started to rise as I hiked, easily crossing each bridge.  The bridges are numbered.

After crossing the 7th bridge, I continued following 622

The trail follows the canyon west

When you come to the option of sticking high or low, stay high, even if footprints tell you otherwise.

After hiking for 2.5 miles the trail starts to head north.  This is one of my favorite parts of the hike, as it goes through an aspen grove

At the top of the aspen grove there’s a junction.  Here I left the trail and headed east to the summit of Kineo Mountain. 

The first time I did this hike there was no trail, but as the years have gone on it seems others have discovered this hidden gem and created a trail of sorts, so it’s easy to follow.  Here are some photos.  Just follow the ridge and keep heading east

The summit is at the top of an obvious, rocky area.  This is an easy scramble to the top

Here are some summit views

There wasn’t a summit register, so I left one and headed back the way I came, towards the junction

At the junction I turned right and followed Trail 667 east as it skirted the north side of Kineo Mountain

I followed 667 for 3.3 miles past the junction, staying on 667

Here I came to another junction with High Drive.  I crossed high drive and headed east up the west side of Mays Peak

There were a few game trails in the area, but by just heading east I was able to make the summit.  From the junction with High Drive it was bushwhacking of less than half a mile and 400’ of elevation gain.

Interestingly enough, I found a summit register under a tree, well before the summit. I’m sure this register is missed by most people.

Here’s the final bit to the summit

I placed a new, more obvious summit register before leaving the summit and heading back to High Drive.

Back on High Drive, I followed it south for about a mile back to the trailhead, making this a neat loop.

I made it back to the trailhead at 10am, making this a 9.15 mile hike with 2838’ elevation gain in 4 hours

Mays Peak – 8,283 and Mt. Buckhorn 8,360

I was looking for a quick hike today because I wanted to be
home by 11am to spend time with my oldest daughter who’s 19 and I feel like I never
see anymore because we have conflicting schedules.  Fridays are my hiking days, but they are also
the only time I have free to see my daughter before she goes to work in the
afternoon.  She sleeps in really, really
late, so I just got up early and headed to the trail, intending to be back by
noon to wake her up for some mother/daughter time.  

I’ve been spending a lot of time in the North Cheyenne
Canyon area recently.  I hear they’ll
close the road in for winter at some point, so I’ve just been going to the same
trailhead and hiking different peaks.  This
is a pretty popular area, with trails to many different areas, so getting there
early is essential.  There’s nothing
really special about Mays Peak or Mt Buckhorn.
They aren’t particularly tall peaks, and they aren’t difficult to find
(they don’t have established trails but they’re both pretty close to the
trail).  However they’re on the map and
they’re labeled, so I figured I’d add them to my list of points to see.  

I parked at the trailhead at Gold Camp Road and High Drive,
and was on the trail at 8:10am.  Here’s
the route I took:

I hiked north on High Drive to just after this sign:

I was at a junction (left is Buckhorn, right is Mays).  

I turned right and took this trail east and then curved
north around the mountain.  For some
reason it looked like they didn’t want me to take this trail, but it was the
way I’d wanted to go, so I did.

The trail looked established, but it’s not on their trail
maps.

After rounding the mountain and turning north I decided to try
to find my own way up Mays Peak.  I know
there’s a trail, but I wanted to practice my route finding, so I turned west and
this is what I saw.

I continued west and continued up the hillside.  The only difficult part was avoiding those
darn banana yuccas:  they’re prickly!

I made it to the ‘summit’ and took a few pictures of the
view (to the north I could see the Waldo Canyon Burn Scar)

And one of me to prove I’d summited.

Then I was on my way back down to the junction.  I took 667 south and around the mountain and
then up the hill.

Once the trail started heading north there was a junction that
was difficult to see and unmarked.  You
could go north or west.  Mt Buckhorn is
north, so stay straight.  

Mt Buckhorn is kind of difficult to find, but just keep
heading north and eventually you’ll get there.
First you pass this rock formation

Then you pass a large firepit.

Next you’ll go through a few more
rocks            

And another very large crater size fire pit

You’ll know you’re at the summit because you’ll come to a
very large area of boulders that defy explanation of how they got there.  These things are HUGE!  The actual summit is on top of this rather
large boulder, that requires ropes to climb.
I’d heard this so I’d come prepared with my helmet.  However, there was absolutely NO WAY of
climbing this rock without ropes.  Trust
me, I spent a good 15 minutes walking all around this thing looking for a
viable route.  This rock is much larger
than it looks (you can camp underneath it).

So I put my helmet away and headed back down.  I couldn’t believe what wonderful weather we
had today!  Here it is, December 1st,
and I’m wearing yoga clothes out on the trail!
It was 65 degrees today in the mountains, with no wind.  

There are many trails in this area, so I had options on my
way back down.  I decided to take the 667
to the 776, mainly because I wanted to see where it went.  

I’d already taken the 667 for quite a ways and knew that
took me to the Kineo cutoff.  The 776
took me down to the area just before the 7 bridges trail.  I could exit just below the North Cheyenne Creek
or just after the 1st bridge, where it turns into 622 (7 bridges
trail).  

I exited here and took Gold Camp road back to my truck, making
it there at 10:30am.  The hike was quite
pleasant, and although short (5 miles or so?
Maybe a little more…) I didn’t see many people and I was out hiking in
the sunshine.  I was so happy I’d gotten
outside today!