Kenny Mountain 3/17
Kenny Mountain(9290') is one of the more prominent mountains in the foothills south of Estes Park, and due to other attractions in Homestead Meadows it receives a fair amount of attention. We decided to hit this one as our first real hike of the season, as classes have left me with no time for climbing mountains. Kenny made sense for an early season destination due to low elevation and openness, which wouldn't hold a big snowpack.
Heading up the Lion's Gulch trail didn't seem as difficult as some described it, and besides a very badly placed ice flow that required some thought and extra effort, we reached the head of Homestead Meadows in good time. At the main intersection we followed signs to the Engert homestead, where we first began our encounters with snowdrifts. Breaking trail we eventually hit the second intersection that leaves the Lion Paw trail and makes a direct path towards the homestead, and began to get caught in some snow squalls as we entered into the Big Elk Fire burn area(2002). The first of these blew over quickly, we reached the homestead and continued along the double track road.
As the road began to circle to the backside of Kenny Mountain, we found the old tractor which we assume belonged to the Engerts and inspected it for a few minutes. The road returned to shaded, treed areas and the major snow drifts slowed down our progress as we picked our way around the deep snow. We reached our jumping off point at a rock outcropping above a switchback and slowly made our way through the downed trees in the burn area. Soon snow drifts and downed timber merged into a giant mess, and with the summit in view we took separate routes through the blowdown. Reconvening at the summit and signing in the register(placed in 2005, we were the first to sign in for 2013) we sat down and had lunch as wind ripped another squall down upon us.
Given how bad the downed timber was getting to the top, we decided that a shortcut was in order. Essentially making a line to the car, we headed down through intermittent mazes of timber and side meadows to the edge of the plateau that held the summit and burn area, we angled down between two drainages through drifts and bushes for 1300' to the valley floor. Near the bottom, we stumbled on to a well worn animal trail that spit us out in a strange clearing, where we found scattered refuse. Farther down the clearing was a tattered American flag, and we decided that this was the site of a crashed slurry bomber that went down while fighting the Big Elk Fire. At this point we were close to the car, and reclimbed the small hill to reach the Lion Gulch TH.
Heading up the Lion's Gulch trail didn't seem as difficult as some described it, and besides a very badly placed ice flow that required some thought and extra effort, we reached the head of Homestead Meadows in good time. At the main intersection we followed signs to the Engert homestead, where we first began our encounters with snowdrifts. Breaking trail we eventually hit the second intersection that leaves the Lion Paw trail and makes a direct path towards the homestead, and began to get caught in some snow squalls as we entered into the Big Elk Fire burn area(2002). The first of these blew over quickly, we reached the homestead and continued along the double track road.
As the road began to circle to the backside of Kenny Mountain, we found the old tractor which we assume belonged to the Engerts and inspected it for a few minutes. The road returned to shaded, treed areas and the major snow drifts slowed down our progress as we picked our way around the deep snow. We reached our jumping off point at a rock outcropping above a switchback and slowly made our way through the downed trees in the burn area. Soon snow drifts and downed timber merged into a giant mess, and with the summit in view we took separate routes through the blowdown. Reconvening at the summit and signing in the register(placed in 2005, we were the first to sign in for 2013) we sat down and had lunch as wind ripped another squall down upon us.
Given how bad the downed timber was getting to the top, we decided that a shortcut was in order. Essentially making a line to the car, we headed down through intermittent mazes of timber and side meadows to the edge of the plateau that held the summit and burn area, we angled down between two drainages through drifts and bushes for 1300' to the valley floor. Near the bottom, we stumbled on to a well worn animal trail that spit us out in a strange clearing, where we found scattered refuse. Farther down the clearing was a tattered American flag, and we decided that this was the site of a crashed slurry bomber that went down while fighting the Big Elk Fire. At this point we were close to the car, and reclimbed the small hill to reach the Lion Gulch TH.
