The French, "Lackawanna", Champion Connection

This was a great way to collect a bunch of peaks in a single trip. I had been looking at doing just the French Group for much of the summer, but the standard trailhead used was closed for a significant time because of the Willow fire. Meanwhile, this got me looking at other trailhead options and the possibility of connecting The French Group with more peaks for a big day. Even though Halfmoon Creek did eventually reopen, I settled on the alternate North Fork Lake Creek Trailhead for this adventure. This start location would allow me to go from the "Lackawanna" twosome to the French trio and a finish on the Mt. Champion duo for a 7 peak total blitz.

I arrived at the trailhead around 10, the night before this climb. The North Fork Lake Creek trailhead is just a couple hundred feet off highway 82 and has a spacious parking area with room for a dozen or more vehicles. This close proximityto a paved road was a huge bonus for me. It seems every climb I've done this summer has required driving several miles or more up a rocky 4wd road. The lot was empty upon entering except for one Subaru which seemed unoccupied. The dirt parking area has an awkward downward slant making a level spot, which I needed to comfortably sleep, difficult to find. After maneuvering around a bit, I managed to locate a mostly flat spot and parked.

Day of Climb: Monday, September 21, 2026

Trailhead: North Fork Lake Creek.

Peaks: French Mountain, Casco Peak, Frasco Benchmark, "Lackawanna Peak", UN 13,738, Mt Champion, UN 13,645.

Mileage and Elevation Gain: 16.78 miles and 7,416 feet of gain.

Duration climb: 11 hours and 18 minutes.

I started my climb the next morning at 6:30 with the "Lackawanna" two as my first objective. I had planned on starting much earlier, but I was being particularly lazy on this morning and it was a chilly 27°, so I decided to wait for first light. The weather forecast was good and most of the terrain on this route wasn't difficult, so I was confident the delay wouldn't hurt much. Part of me though, also thought adding Deer Mountain to the end of this loop might be a good idea. I must be looney though. The late start would likely put that in jeopardy, but I wasn't terribly upset missing out on an additional 1700 feet of vertical.

Using a gpx track and the "Lackawanna" route description from this site, I made quick work of the first few miles. The directions for the many turns was spot on. The stream crossing was a bit high to safely rock hop, so I wandered up stream a bit for a less risky spot to cross. Didn't want to potentially start the day with wet socks.After passing the gully at 11,800 feet, the trail gets significantly harder to follow and is mostly overgrown. I got off trail to the east here, but just kept going south and eventually got back on route above treeline. It was steep talus from there to the ridge and then a cruiser to the first peak of the day, Unnamed 13,645 which I named "Alottawanna Peak".

13,645 to "Lackawanna" took only 30 minutes. There was only about 200 feet of elevation lost to the saddle and the majority of the terrain between the two was grass. The summit was further back then it looked though with several small summit like plateaus while approaching, but still, it was a very casual summit push. It afforded great views of Mt Elbert and the French group.

Part one of the journey was complete. Now it was time to make the French connection. From "Lackawanna", I retreated to a small rise back towards 13,645 and then started out the long connecting ridge to Casco Peak of the French Group. The ridge looked to have some difficulties, but it was pretty tame and almost entirely class 2. I stayed mostly ridge proper and easily went around any tower or rock out-croppings. Climbing from the saddle there's a point you can gain, or it's not a problem to undercut it a bit, like I did. The final ridge section over to Casco was easy peasy with a short scramble to finish on the summit. Took 1 hour and 30 minutes from "Lackawanna".

I only spent a few moments on Casco and quickly departed the summit going north towards Frasco Benchmark. Surprisingly, the steep north face had a thin layer of fresh snow. It was really the only snow of consequence I saw all day and microspikes would've been nice here. Instead, I just slid down the short section to reach the dry ridge crest and then continued to the saddle on easy terrain.

Climbing from the saddle to Frasco Benchmark summit was the crux of the day and it looked a lot worse than it was. With good route finding I was able to keep it class 2+. There was always an easy way around or over the numerous towers and other rock formations along the ridge. If you hit class 3, you're probably off route. It was actually a pretty fun scramble in an otherwise easy day terrain wise. The Frasco Benchmark summit came all too quickly though as the ridge difficulties eased just below the summit for a simple finish. This was peak #4 on the day already and it was only noon.

The next peak on the agenda was French Mountain and it was an almost effortless stroll over to it's summit. The vertical drop off Frasco was only about 200 feet and I covered the distance to French in about 25 minutes. The 360° views from French Mountain were probably the best of the day. Elbert was close by to the east, and I could clearly see it's crowded summit. I wonder if they saw me? Massive was to the north, and looking back to the southwest was a good overview of the route taken to this point.

I stayed on French for a solid 15 minutes (my longest summit stay of the day), and then made the quick return back to Frasco en route to my final 2 peaks of the day, Mt Champion and 13738.

To reach the Champion duo, I descended back down Frascos south ridge to it's saddle with Casco. I then turned west off the ridge and angled down the steep scree slope towards the basin 200-300 vertical feet below. Surprisingly, there was the beginnings of a trail here, complete with fresh footsteps. I had feared this portion of the climb would be more difficult. It wasn't bad at all. I know some drop off the ridge much higher up closer to Frascos summit, but that looked like a 900 vertical foot death slide. I think I chose wisely.

The scree slope from the saddle led to a boulder field, which led to a grassy bench, which took me all the way to an old mining road on the lower slopes of Mt Champion. It had looked so far away, but didn't take long to reach. It was nice to be on easy, mostly flat terrain for a bit.

I followed the road for a short bit (which was a nice relief for the feet) and then went straight up Champions southeast ridge. The road looked like it wrapped around the backside and wouldn't be of use anymore. The summit was about 1,000 vertical up from the beginning of the road. The ridge was delightfully easy, but very steep. Eventually, the terrain leveled a little and I passed through the remains of the Champion mine and it's historic tramway. This area is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The tramway was a marvel of it's time and stretched over 6,000 feet to the giant Champion Mill in the valley below, which still stands today along Halfmoon Creek.

The ridge kicks up again after the mine, but remains easy. The summit then came quickly, to the joy of my legs. It was a large summit and had commanding views over the valley beneath. I could just see the Champion Mill remains far below and even a couple of 4x4 vehicles which had driven up the Halfmoon Creek Road for some sightseeing. Peak #6 on the day was in the books. Just one more to go.

The last peak of the day was Unnamed 13,738 and it was just .6 miles away. My stop on Champion was brief and I set off towards my final objective. The traverse to 13,738 was not difficult and never exceeded class 2. A couple spots looked like they might be tricky, but the threat never materialized. It took all of 35 minutes to bridge the distance and I was on my 7th summit of the day. On the walk over I thought this peak should be named Mt Runner-Up. How could there be a Champion without a Runner-Up?

The views were outstanding as they have been all day. Somehow they kept getting better and better as the day wore on. Sadly though, this great day was almost over and it was time to descend back to the trailhead. I very briefly gave a go at Deer Mountain another thought, but decided it was just too late to add more miles and a whole lot more vert. It was so close, yet so very far away and I'll save it for another day.

I departed 13,738 going down it's class 2 northwest ridge. It went well clear to the valley below, and eventually led me to the North Fork Lake Creek Trail which was easy to find. This beautiful trail got me back to my truck quickly to end another wonderful day in the mountains.