Missouri Hill (12,708), Lost Mountain (12,160), & H-44 Benchmark (8,230) by Brian Schultz Sunday July 20, 2025

Missouri Hill & Lost Mountain:
Roundtrip mileage: 3.5 miles
Elevation gain: 2,050'
Start to finish: 5 hours 10 minutes
Participants: Tim Briese, Brian Schultz

From Salida, we drove both vehicles on US 50 past Maysville, turned right on CR 224, then left on FR 228. I parked on FR 228 when it got rough, around 10,500', and we continued in Tim's truck to ~11,170'. We began at 8:10 AM by hiking the road a short distance before heading (to the right) into the woods. It's a steep bushwhack to Missouri's south ridge on grass and talus, then it's mostly talus to the summit. We stepped on top at 10:05 and enjoyed a 20 minutes stay before heading down and over to Lost Mountain.

We dropped about 500' to the connecting saddle and enjoyed mostly grassy terrain up to Lost Mountain's summit. It took about an hour to reach Lost Mountain's summit from Missouri Hill, our arrival time was 11:20. With the outstanding weather we stayed for 30 minutes. On our descent, we backtracked to the connecting saddle and descended from there instead of reclimbing Missouri. It was grassy terrain with some talus as we contoured over to the Missouri's lower ridge. Once in the trees, we had a steep descent to the road but then an easy, short walk back to Tim's truck.

H-44 Benchmark:
Roundtrip mileage: ~1.7 miles
Elevation gain: 550'
Start to finish: 1 hour 20 minutes

Tim and I parted company after climbing Missouri Hill and Lost Mountain. He went home and I stopped in Salida to ponder doing another peak. I was looking for a peak on the way to Fairplay and this one is right on the way. I turned onto CR 194 from Hecla Junction and drove east until the road began descending. I parked at a wide pullout and began at 4:00 PM by walking back up the road and turning left (south) into the woods. Lots of good sized boulders and cliffy areas on the slopes had me wondering about the difficulty of getting around them.

There are a number of old roads in this area which I followed but also shortcutted, trying to keep a mostly south bearing to the summit ridge. It worked out well. Once on the very rocky ridge, I claimed the west summit and then dropped to the south side where navigating to the east summit was easier. There were two large summit boulders to tag to be sure of reaching the highest one. There are terrific views of Sawatch fourteeners from the summit. I reversed my route and was back at my truck at 5:20. Lots of ups and downs but a very fun hike!