jeffco highpoints: warren peak, deer creek, indian hills ...

[linus moke]

i have a question about CO's Warren Peak in the front range near southwest littleton at N39° 30.321' W105° 9.117' 8,001 ft.

i live in the area, and the deer creek canyon open space is like my backyard. i have been up plymouth mtn, bill couch, and even wilds peak more times than i could possibly count. the thing that bugs me is warren peak. as i drive around the southwest corridor and look up to the mountains, i am always eyeing warren as the obvious highpoint in this local range. IE: I REALLY WANT TO CLIMB IT.

the problem is i can find very little information about this mountain. as far as i can tell, there are no trails in the area. what i am wondering is, is it private property or surrounded by private? what would be the best route to take? from the maps, looks to me like i could get the closest by taking one of the back roads on the west side from the deermont area. is this summit an attainable goal? does anyone out there have any personal knowledge or experience in this area? any and all help is greatly appreciated!

[John Kirk]

I'm interested in finding out what access is like near Deermont. Hopefully it isn't like Doublehead or Scartop. Many Jeffco summits require stealthy ascents that I prefer to reserve for winter weekends. Looks like there could be a safe, albeit long traverse south from Wilds Peak. There are so many peaks in this quad that are just questionable. So I'm actually interested in info on any other peaks here as well. The unnamed peak to the west is around 50' higher than Warren, so would probably be a good addition:

http://www.topozone.com/map.asp?z=13&n= ... ayer=DRG25

[linus moke]

i see the summit you are talking about. i never noticed that before, probably because you cant see it from down below to the east. however, when i look at my delorme topo usa, it shows a road nearly intersecting that highpoint. not sure if a hike would be appropriate or not.

a winter ascent is a good idea, as that is usually my preference anyway. however, this is really on my mind right now, and i think sometime in the next week or so, i will drive up into the deermont area, to see how close i can get on those backroads. there is one road in particular on the west side of warren, that would bring me within about a half mile of the summit. if i can find that spot, i could start hiking from there, notwithstanding any private property barriers i might encounter.

ps: i cant remember from your list if you've done wilds peak or not, but if you havent, i found it to be a fun one, just off the red mesa trail loop inside the deer creek open space. very nice views to the west!

[linus moke]

heya! well, today i went in search of access, and i do believe i found the spot i was looking for. i actually want to check out the area one more time before i go out on foot, but here is what i figured out. (see map below.)

take Deer Creek Canyon Rd west of out of Littleton from either Wadsworth or Kipling up to Phillipsburg (a blink-n-miss-it crossroads, top of the map where is stays "switzers gulch.") then take S Deer Creek Rd south about 2.3 miles to Maxwell Hill Rd. turn east. from there you go off-road, but nothing too major. Maxwell Hill Rd connects to Elk Mountain Trail. but since the roads on this map dont appear to be too accurate, i'm not exactly sure how these two roads meet up. however, since there are few roads in the area, i didn't have too much trouble finding it. somehow, it works.

its about 3.7 miles from S Deer Creek Rd to the spot where you'd want to park at N39° 30.227' W105° 9.651' (red X on map). there is a ranch in a kind of cul-de-sac there, so i'm not exactly sure where to park yet. from this point, its about a half mile off-trail to the summit of Mt Warren. skirt around the 7760ft prominance thats to the west of Warren. from what i can tell, there is no developed property in between here and the peak.

if you are interested in doing this, do not make the mistake i did of trying to take Sampson Rd. it looks like a more direct shot, but the road is private and gated. maybe next time i can include some pics. ;)