We were reassured to see the clouds breaking to the west and the snow squall moved through pretty quick, ending just about when Dwight and I got to the summit.Īre We There Yet?We all regrouped below the summit and Bob and Jill headed down on the Rock Creek trail while the rest of us pressed on. Bob and Jill decided to call it a day while John, Dwight, Keith, and I headed up to S. We took a break a few hundred feet below the summit and assessed the weather. The wind picked up a bit a light graupel began to fall as we contoured over to S. Twin Cone, hoping we wouldn't have to bypass it. With no rest for the weary, we made haste for S. As we made our way over to Platte, the clouds started building and we were wondering what the weather would hold later. I was still feeling pretty good about the day after downing my 2nd Hershey bar and other sugary treats the dentist wouldn't approve of. I guess they were the sane ones of the group! 7 of us pressed on to Platte and summits westward. Shawnee, Platte, Foster, Blaine, & the Twin ConesOn the summit of Shawnee, some of the group decided to do a shorter loop and head over to X and X Prime mostly due to time constraints.

I was ready to hit the wide open tundra further west, but the willow monster would have other ideas. The drill on this ridge is you break out of the trees for awhile near the summits and drop back down to the trees, which made for slower progress. Just a few downed trees and flying branches to deal with, although Ryan about poked his eye out! We went over No Payne without much fanfare and continued on to Shawnee.

The bushwacking got a little thicker on No Payne, but was not even close to the annoyances of Douglas county. Our large group ended up breaking up into 2 groups as we made good time to the Peak X/Y saddle and then eastward to the summit of Y, which afforded some nice boulder hopping. The trail was a bit faint in spots, but the creek could easily be used as a handrail when in doubt. We followed a decent trail on the right side of an unnamed creek. Y, Zephyr, and ZOur group of 14 was off at 5:45am under clear skies. Some of us met the night before about a mile west of the trailhead and camped along the road while others drove in the next morning. This circuit of 11ers and 12ers starts at the Long Gulch trailhead and about 85% of it is a bushwack/open tundra walk. Participants: Jeff & Allison Valliere & Sierra, Dave Hale & Shep, John Kirk, Dwight Sunwall, Keith Bershader, Patrick Lilly, Jill Salva, Bob Dawson, Ryan Kowalski, Greg Hakes, Jeremy Hakes, Derrill Rodgers, and Kevin Bakerĭwight sent out an open invite on 14erworld and Lists of John for a huge loop hike in the Lost Creek Wilderness (LCW) with the possibility of hitting as many as 14 summits! I wasn't too sure I had it in me to make it through this insane agenda, but it doesn't hurt to try! I had only done 3 out of the 37 ranked peaks and have been wanting to explore the area more this fall, so this was an efficient way to do it.

Insane forest dash