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The 4wd road from leavenworth creek trailhead to Waldorf Mine at 11,580 is completely snow free. I'd say it's a class 3 based on how 14ers.com ranks 4wd roads. I have a new outback all stock and not only did I never bottom out but I have a low hanging trailer hitch bike rack that will hit before anything in my car hits and it never touched. You never need 4wd/AWD but you do need decent clearance. Plenty of parking at the mining site.
Unfortunately other than that I'm not going to be able to provide much valuable information because the trail is very hard to find. I'm not sure if I was ever on it. For a while I was on a very old, narrow, 4wd path that was completely overgrown with grass. The only way to tell what it was (or used to be) were the lined up rocks that made it's edges. Not sure if that's part of the actual trail or not.
I'd say on the way up to the saddle I walked through snow less than 5% of the time. And only postholed twice on the way down. The snow along the ridge was solid and was only a few inches deep anyway. Surprisingly there was a sign in tube at the top.
It did seem to get pretty steep for a class 1 about 3/4 of the way up.
This was a Sunday and I didn't see any other hiker. I did see some ATVs down by the mine though.
Pretty sure this is from about half way up. I don't think you can see the summit from here. It should be a little bit right of center.
Here's the sign in tube
Looking West from the summit at Grays and Torreys
Looking NNE at McClellan Mountain from Edwards Summit
Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):
This is by far the easiest centenial 14er close to denver. Nice Report! I climbed Kelso ridge, cut across the shoulder of Grays, (didnt summit grays cause ive done it so many times) then came up to Edwards, then came down the steep gully just off the summit of edwards. It was a long day but the best climb i have ever done! i would do it again in a heart beat!
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