IU Trekkers ascend Peak Z's South Ridge route through a dead forest in the Lost Creek Wilderness
Digital photo by Aaron Johnson

With all the recent late avalanche activity going on, our group, which is not currently interested in snow climbs, opted for hikes and climbs that would avoid Colorado's lousy 2005 spring snow conditions. We set our sights on lower and more obscure objectives for the month of June, which led us to finally getting around to climbing the Alphabetizer in the Lost Creek Wilderness.

The Alphabetizer is becoming a popular hiking and climbing objective, as evidenced by the rapidly developing trails in the otherwise remote Lost Creek Wilderness. Assured by SP members and texts on the area that we would have the place to ourselves, we were surprised at seeing three climbers ascending Peak Y and two climbers descending Peak X. Our early start afforded us the opportunity of having Peak Z to ourselves.

Our route was an execution of the Alphabetizer in reverse, as it sounded to us like Peak Z would be the most interesting of the three mountains to climb. Thus, we called our route "ZYX" (pronounced Zix).

We left the trailhead at 8:00AM and followed the trail, marked with tiny cairns or tree marks up the Long Creek drainage to our first waypoint at the bottom of the draw leading to Peaks X and Y. From there, we bushwacked south about three tenths of a mile to the open, marshy expanse of Long Creek valley. Here in this lush, lonely spot we felt we were truly in the sticks. Known for its wildlife, we were disappointed we did not see more in this northern expanse of the Lost Creek Wilderness.

Looking north from the summit of Peak Z to the Mount Evans Massif
Digital photo by Aaron Johnson

At our second waypoint, we ascended Peak Z's south ridge, bushwacking through a thick stand of aspen and making the occasional scramble on the signature granite of the area, a joy to climb on. We soon broke out above timberline amongst the remains of a long dead forest. The weathered and tortured remnants of these ancient trees, glistening in the high noon sun made for some somber and striking photos.

Scrambling and a striking view on Peak Z's Summit Ridge
Digital photo by Aaron Johnson

Peak Z's summit is an entertaining granite boulder upon which you must hoist yourself if you wish to occupy the very top of this special mountain. The view showed us our next objectives clearly, Peaks Y and X, to the west. We each took our turns assuming the summit for the obligatory summit pose, had some lunch and moved on for Peak Y at around 11:30. We stayed on Z's long, north-south running ridge and had a fun down climb to gain tundra and arc our way over to Peak Y, scrambling up a small couloir along the way. The only wildlife we saw on this trip fluttered away as we climbed out of the couloir: a rather large ptarmigan in summer dress.

Climbing Peak Y in Colorado's Kenosha Mountains
Digital photo by Aaron Johnson

Peaks Y & X, Kenosha Mountains
Digital photo by Aaron Johnson

Peak Y's roomy summit is covered in classic Lost Creek granite that has been eroded in wild style by eons of wind and ice. A beautiful view greeted us here as well, perhaps the best of the three peaks because we had Z to the east and X to the west. To the north was the expansive Mount Evans massif, as well as the bulk of Colorado's Front Range. Mounts Bierstadt, Grays, Torreys, Squaretop, Whale Peak, Glacier Peak, Mount Guyot and Mount Silverheels all rose majestically into view. Further west were the Ten Mile and and Mosquito ranges, obscured by a heavy layer of humidity that had moved into Colorado over the previous night. To the south, the Sangre De Cristos were obscured by this humidity and were essentially invisible, with Pikes Peak barely discernable through the misty pall. But the weather was still good and the barometer was steady.

In Peak Y's makeshift register, a jar with some tablet paper, we found some notable signatures of prior visitors. Of course Jennifer and Gerry Roach had been there and left a couple of business cards. SP members Aaron Reid, Ryan Schilling, Erin Burr and others had also signed in in November of 2004. Their trip reports and photos can be found on Jon Bradford's Kenosha Mountains page, which inspired us to try this reverse version of the Alphabetizer.

Peak X from Peak Y, looking west
Digital photo by Aaron Johnson

I shot some wonderful pictures, particularly one of Peak X with some flowers in the foreground, before we decided to move on. I did not expect any weather, but it was wise to move on nonetheless in case the weather changed my mind! It was hard to leave Y's summit though. The group was clearly enjoying themselves on this spacious perch.

Our descent was quick. We made a brief greeting in passing three climbers that had come up the drainage we would descend. They mentioned they had come up a trail, which I had not expected. We would use this trail to return to our vehicles after climbing Peak X.

Of the seven in our group, 6 of us went on to climb Peak X. One member elected to relax and wait for us near the base of this little mountain as it was their first high altitude hike of the year. This was the biggest but easiest ascent of the day, and I figured it would take our group 40 minutes to ascend the 600 feet to X's rocky summit. We were tired but excited to make this third summit, so we pressed on after a short break.

Ellen insists I was running up the tundra to the top of X and no one could keep up with me, but I made it a point to rest and wait for her and Barb to stay in step. I knew we were tired but entirely capable to climbing Peak X in this late stage of the hike, so I urged my comrades onward and upward. Colin Roberta and Sharon weren't far behind. We made it to Peak X in 30 minutes, and the others arrived shortly after. Colin climbed up on the summit perch at 39.9 minutes.

For our group, three (all be them) small mountains is a pretty good day, as these folks performed in outstanding style. As I arrived on the summit, I saw two other climbers descending the mountain's northeast ridge, and we would later see them ascending Peak Y as we took our leave of the area. We had some fun on top with some various humorous poses before doing a very fast descent back to the rock where our seventh member waited for us. We descended Peak X's east slope in ten minutes, had another snack and then departed.

We intercepted the "developing trail" which led us conveniently through the willows, and into the trees and the drainage that would take us back to our first waypoint location. The trail descends in forthright style, crossing the stream and going through some boggy areas along the creek's east side. Sketchy between the Peaks, the trail is well established further down the drainage. Intercepting the trail we used to ascend that morning, we bypassed our waypoint and made quick progress to our vehicles. We started for home shortly after 4:00PM.

Despite the obvious developing trails and encounters with other humans, we thoroughly enjoyed the Kenosha range, and we recommend it to anyone that loves the wilderness. Be sure to take your map, compass and GPS unit with a route and preloaded waypoints if you plan on doing any bushwacking in the area's deep timber.

Due to population pressures, Gerry and Jennifer's excellent guidebook and the increasing demand for open spaces, the Kenosha portion of the Lost Creek Wilderness continues to grow ever more popular. This special place will at least not see the pressures evident on Colorado's fourteeners for the forseeable future. If the unusual lack of wildlife is any indication, it is likely the day will eventually come to the Lost Creek area when it will join the other popular hiking haunts in sucumbing to the pressures of human habitation. But until then, Coloradans are lucky to have this marvelous and unsung paradise in the Rockies.

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