| Northeast slopes route Route |
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| Northeast slopes route   | 
| Page Type: Route Location: Colorado, United States, North America Lat/Lon: 39.11400°N / 106.493°W Route Type: Hike Time Required: Most of a day Difficulty: Class 2, 2+ with climb of Frasco Benchmark
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| Page By: peakwolf Created/Edited: Oct 10, 2002 / Oct 10, 2002 Object ID: 157116 Hits: 700 Loading... Page Score: 0% - 0 Votes Loading... Vote: Log in to vote |
Approach
Start at the 4WD parking at 10,800 ft as described in the Getting There section. If you start at Halfmoon Creek trailhead you add about 2 miles and 560 feet (round trip) to the hike
Route Description
Starting at the 4WD parking at 10,800 ft as described in the Getting There section, follow the high quality 4WD drive road. In a couple miles you break out of treeline into willows, but luckily the road keeps going. Follow the road until you get into the tundra (there may be a few innocuous willows too). You will see the saddle that is southeast of Casco's summit. There is a defined patch of green going most of the way up the saddle, this is the easiest hiking. You don't have to walk on the road all the way to the Iron Mike mine. When you are above most of the willows, cut across tundra and head up toward the saddle. You can also countour right of the saddle towards the summit, so you don't go as much out of the way. Once at the saddle (or on the southeast ridge) turn right and climb towards the Casco summit. This is all class 2 hiking, enjoy the view. The summit is made up of huge blocks and the view of the surrounding Sawatch peaks is amazing. This hike is measured as 8.3 miles and 3100 ft according to the route description in Roach's book. If you want to go on to Frasco Benchmark and then French Mountain you will add another 1.5 miles and about a thousand feet to the hike. Roach rates the climb from the Casco-Frasco saddle up to Frasco as a class 2+. There is some loose rock but with reasonable route finding it will not be a hard traverse. We stayed to the left (west) of the ridge crest when we weren't directly on it. It is easier to do this route in this direction than from Frasco to Casco.
Essential Gear
Just bring the usual gear for hiking up a peak.
Miscellaneous Info
If you have information about this route that doesn't pertain to any of the other sections, please add it here.
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Sawatch Range
