Floyd Benchmark (8,232) by Brian Schultz Thursday July 19, 2018

Roundtrip mileage: 3.25 miles from Highway 119 & Douglas Mountain Drive
Elevation gain: 1,415'
Start to finish: 2 hours 30 minutes

This would be my first climb in Colorado this year, a warm-up peak (literally) before hitting the higher elevations. After lunch with friend Dave Chamberlin in Denver, I drove west on I-70 and made my way over to the junction of Hwy 119 and US 6. There is a nice parking area off Hwy 119 across from Douglas Mountain Drive and I started from here at 2:30 PM.

The temperature was extremely hot this afternoon as I crossed a rickety bridge over the creek and followed a trail up the east side of the peak. There were some steep areas at first and the trail eventually disappeared, but the bearing was easy to keep. A surprise was seeing plentiful cacti on the slopes.

Several signs along the way marked the boundary of Clear Creek County and at 3:45 I stepped on the summit (photo 1), (photo 2), (photo 3). For a lower elevation peak, there are nice views from the top.

I stayed for fifteen minutes. I didn't find the trail on the descent so I bushwhacked down and came out on the highway a bit north of where I parked. The time was 5:00 when I reached my truck and I headed back to Denver for an overnight with friends Jason & Maggie Mayfield. Jason and I would be climbing together in the morning.