CASCO PEAK
(13,908 ft.)FRASCO BENCHMARK
(13,876 ft.)FRENCH MOUNTAIN
(13,940 ft.)September 14, 2002
By Tim Briese
It has been said that the easiest way to do a combination climb of French, Frasco, and Casco is from the eastern approach by way of South Halfmoon Creek. I had seen that entire route from the summit of Mt. Elbert before, and felt that I had already explored it, although from a distance. I wanted to explore something new today, so I chose to do the climb by way of the western approach from the Upper Lake Creek Trailhead along Highway 82. Over the years I have driven by this trailhead in the beautiful valley below Independence Pass many times and wondered where one could hike from there, and now was my chance to find out.
I arrived at the trailhead on a clear, frosty morning and hit the trail at 8 a.m. with my lab Allie. Lake Creek pleasantly gurgled through the rocks nearby as I struck off on the trail up the valley to the north. After a quarter of a mile I crossed the stream, being very careful not to slip on rocks that were glazed with ice, and left the main valley and headed east up into Lackawanna Gulch. Gerry Roach suggests following an old four wheel drive road that switchbacks up the wooded slope on the south side of Lackawanna Creek, but I was a bit confused by other four wheel tracks in the area and missed the one he describes, and ended up following a faint foot trail upward along the north side of the creek. If one did ascend on the south side, I observed that it would be almost mandatory to find that road, for the terrain appeared rougher on that side of the creek, with steep slopes and much downed timber.
After a half mile I crossed to the south side of the creek when the terrain leveled off, went past some remnants of old log cabins, and continued up through some willowy bushes that were glowing in shades of yellow and gold in the September sunlight. There was a light dusting of snow on the ground in shady places from a storm that passed through the day before. As the trees began to thin out at about 11,500 feet, I came to a fork in Lackawanna Creek, and climbed uphill to the left along the northern branch. This fork is not very obvious, for the main southern branch of the creek lies in the base of a broad valley that curves around to the right, while the obscure northern one comes down a steeper slope from what appears to be merely a saddle in the ridge high above. It was clear that this route does not see many feet, for the trail was faint to nonexistent, and the hike bordered on bushwhacking at times. This, of course, is part of the very lure of climbing 13ers for me.
I left the last of the trees as I crested a gentle slope and continued on up into the pleasant upper reaches of North Lackawanna Creek. The valley curved around to the right, climbing very gradually for nearly a mile toward the heights above. The grassy floor of the valley was perhaps 100 feet wide, and quite flat and smooth, with the little creek meandering down through it. It was quite a charming place to visit. In rocky places beside the stream I noticed that the upper faces of the rocks were uniformly flat and smooth, and easy to walk across, perhaps the result of the weight of snow or the smoothing action of water.
At about 12,800 feet I began to ascend steeply up a talus slope toward the 13,260 foot saddle between Casco and Frasco. The footing on this steep grade was a little treacherous because of an inch or two of snow on the rocks, but in dry conditions it would have been quite reasonable.
At 10:45 I reached the saddle and was greeted by a fine view of Mt. Elbert across the valley to the east. I headed to the south up Casco’s steep north ridge, on a route that was quite easy at first but which became increasingly rough near the summit, and stepped on top at 11:15. The summit consisted of a rough pile of large boulders, rather atypical of Colorado summits I have been on. There was no summit register to be found, but I wondered if I just missed it lying amongst the huge boulders. It felt pleasantly warm in the bright sunshine, even though my thermometer registered only 35 degrees. As I rested I gazed about at the fine views of Mt. Elbert, Lackawanna Peak, the Elk Range, and the ridge that I would follow across to Frasco and French. After 20 minutes I left the summit and rapidly descended back down to the saddle, warily eyeing the rough ridge beyond to Frasco. I tackled the obstacles on that ridge head on, climbing around gnarly towers, going down across steep, loose gullies, and scrambling back up to the ridge crest again, with no trail to follow. The lower half of the ridge was the most tedious, and the terrain gradually improved as I got higher. In retrospect, I believe it might have been easier to drop down to the east from the saddle a couple of hundred feet, traverse across Frasco’s southeast slopes on easier terrain, and then climb straight to the summit on steep slopes mostly covered with grass. As I climbed along the ridge, I paused often to look back at Casco, which was quite an impressive sight. It took nearly an hour to climb the half mile up that rough ridge from the saddle to Frasco’s summit, where I was pleased to arrive at 1 p.m.
Frasco Benchmark is not an officially ranked thirteener, since it rises only 256 feet above the saddle that connects it with French, but it is certainly a deserving summit to visit nonetheless. As I sat on top I gazed down into the Halfmoon Creek drainage far below to the north, and across to French Mountain, my next objective. When I signed the register I noted that about 40 people had signed in so far this year.
As I sat and rested I studied Allie, who lay on the rocks nearby. Her enthusiasm had not flagged a bit, in spite of the rough terrain we had just tackled. I thought about what a wonderful companion a dog is on a hike. When we left home in the morning she did not know if we were going to hike two miles or twenty, and it didn’t matter, either, for she was up to any challenge.
After a fifteen minute break I left the summit and headed toward French Mountain. I descended the easy ridge to the 13,620 foot saddle between the two peaks and then climbed up the slope beyond to French’s summit. It took only about 30 minutes to go from Frasco to French. With my binoculars I could see several climbers resting atop Mt. Elbert, a mile and a half to the southeast, the only other people I saw on this outing all day. French Mountain receives more visitors than most 13ers I have climbed, for about 100 people had signed the register so far this year, the most recent one having visited two days before. As I sat in the calm and pleasant air I studied Mt. Massive and Mt. Oklahoma to the north, and my attention was drawn to Deer Mountain (13,761') a few miles to the northwest. Its rugged hulk beckoned to me, and I pondered it as a possible future climb.
I stayed on French over half an hour, somewhat longer than I had spent on the earlier summits, having achieved my final goal of the day. I had planned on returning back over the summit of Frasco, but as I descended from French I observed a nice traverse route across Frasco’s southeast slopes about 200 feet below the summit that I took back across to Frasco’s south ridge. This allowed me to avoid the reclimb and to neatly bypass some rough going on the descent of Frasco’s upper south ridge. I quickly reached the south ridge at about 13,600 feet, and having no interest in going back down the rugged lower part of the ridge, I picked out a steep but smooth slope on the west side of the ridge and rapidly descended directly down into the valley below, going down some 1200 feet in just twenty minutes.
I paused for a break and sat on the grass in the valley beside North Lackawanna Creek and rested for a few minutes after the steep descent. A pleasant breeze stirred around me, and I noted that on some days winds are greater in the valleys than they are on the summits. Soon I continued down the valley, stopping frequently to enjoy the golden hues of early fall glowing in the sunlight that played upon the grand landscape around me. It was wonderful to visit this beautiful place today, on a backcountry adventure in a place that few ever see.
At 4:45 I tramped back down to the trailhead. I had hiked about eight miles and climbed 4100 feet of elevation gain in a little under nine hours. The hike seemed harder than those numbers would indicate, though. Many 13ers sound relatively easy on paper, but turn out to be more difficult than they appear because of the lack of a trail or a clear-cut route.
