UN 11060 by Brian Schultz Thursday August 15, 2019

Roundtrip mileage: 2.8 miles from South Chicago Creek trailhead
Elevation gain: 1,130'
Start to finish: 1 hour 25 minutes

After lunch with friend Dave Chamberlin in Denver, I drove to Idaho Springs and up the Mt Evans road. I turned onto Hefferman Gulch road and drove it to its end but this was too far because homes are at the end of the road. I turned around and shortly found the road (left side driving back out) that leads to the South Chicago Creek trailhead.

There is a sizeable parking area and signage identifying the area as the Mt Evans Wilderness. The crux of the hike is finding an old road heading west that isn't seen from the parking lot. I began at 3:00 PM on the excellent South Chicago Creek trail but quickly departed it to cross the creek on my right. It was a short bushwhack up to the old road but the easiest way to this road is to immediately head down to the creek from the parking lot (directly behind a no camping sign), cross it, and hike up to the road. It only takes moments as I found out on the return.

The old road faded out at another no camping sign but game trails were easy to follow to just south of the summit. Then a bushwhack through the trees with some deadfall, easily manageable, put me on the summit at 3:48. There wasn't much for views so I departed at 3:55 and was back at the parking area at 4:30. This was a nice warm-up for the Deluge Lake backpack in the morning.