OTHER Trip Report 05/25/2008

Report Type	Full
Peak(s)	Mt. Morrison - 7881
Date Posted	05/25/2008
Modified	05/26/2008
Date Climbed	05/25/2008
Author	Kojones

Mt. Morrison - East Face / South Shoulder
Mountain: Mt. Morrison Summit Elevation: 7,881 ft TH Elevation: 6,463 Elevation Gain: 1,418 Round-Trip: 1.6 miles TH Name: Red Rocks Upper Parking Date: 5/25/2007 Climbing Partner: None Special Gear: None Instead of climbing Mt. Evans today, I decided to go a little smaller (and warmer) and climb to a great view of Mt. Evans. I've been up Mt. Morrison quite a few times, and it was good to get up there for the first time in about a year. I woke up around, 8 or 9am, relaxed in bed for a while watching TV. Decided to roll out of bed around 10am or so after a good 10 hours of sleep. Got my bag together and hit the road. Arrived at the TH to get a prime spot at the upper lot. I left the TH around 11am and headed up the East Face (basically the trail that goes straight up). After some leisurely hiking, snapped this photo looking down on Red Rocks and south along the foothills: One reason I like climbing this is because it provides a variety of terrain including: loose talus/scree, loose sand, big rocks, flat ground, packed trail, and some vertical scrambling (optional). Here's a picture of some of the lower loose terrain: And another photo looking up from where I snapped the above 2 shots: Part-way up the trail flattens out for a nice break before more steep climbing. This is a good place to pull off the trail and take in the scenery and sometimes see some animals grazing to the north (none today): This route takes the hiker up the old cog railroad grade in parts, and here you see some rails that were tossed off the side when the cog railroad was decommissioned: A ways up, past the flat area (seen left of center in this shot), and up some more steep climbing, a great view of all the rock formations can be seen: A shot from above a prominent section of the railroad grade. I chose not to climb up it, but have in the past. The great thing about this mountain is that there are so many choices on where to hike: There has been a lot of history on this mountain. An old railroad took tourists to the top to see the view of Denver. There were then some radio towers at the summit (which have been replaced by the newer ones down on the north shoulder). There were the old abandoned structures and a fence surrounding the summit, but I'd say about a year and a half ago they were removed. Still, though, some remains of the old radio broadcasting and railroad can be seen. Here are some shots of those remains: But there are better views to be had from the summit, Including Mt. Evans: Of all the times I had been up this mountain, I never took the more popular route that starts just to the south of the trail that goes up the East Face. It is a bit more mild, and is more gradual of a slope. I decided to descend via this route, but wasn't sure where the trail started from the top, so just started down the south side of the summit. I made my way down a talus slope that was not the trail (I met up with the trail later): At the bottom of the slop, there was a great view down a gully, which looked like an interesting climb up. Who knows, I might climb up this one day: In order to get over to the shoulder and the trail, I made my way around a corner and to the left of the big green bush in this photo. There is where I met the trail: The next 2 photos show most of the rest of the route down: I snapped 2 photos showing the 2 routes from the upper parking lot. East face route (straight up): South ridge route (as you can see, lots of people): It was a beautiful day and very warm. The clouds started to roll in, but that cooled it off and it felt good. Got some good vertical scrambling in toward the top. Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

Mt. Morrison - East Face / South Shoulder

Mountain: Mt. Morrison
Summit Elevation: 7,881 ft
TH Elevation: 6,463
Elevation Gain: 1,418
Round-Trip: 1.6 miles
TH Name: Red Rocks Upper Parking
Date: 5/25/2007
Climbing Partner: None
Special Gear: None

Instead of climbing Mt. Evans today, I decided to go a little smaller (and warmer) and climb to a great view of Mt. Evans. I've been up Mt. Morrison quite a few times, and it was good to get up there for the first time in about a year.

I woke up around, 8 or 9am, relaxed in bed for a while watching TV. Decided to roll out of bed around 10am or so after a good 10 hours of sleep. Got my bag together and hit the road. Arrived at the TH to get a prime spot at the upper lot. I left the TH around 11am and headed up the East Face (basically the trail that goes straight up). After some leisurely hiking, snapped this photo looking down on Red Rocks and south along the foothills:

One reason I like climbing this is because it provides a variety of terrain including: loose talus/scree, loose sand, big rocks, flat ground, packed trail, and some vertical scrambling (optional). Here's a picture of some of the lower loose terrain:

And another photo looking up from where I snapped the above 2 shots:

Part-way up the trail flattens out for a nice break before more steep climbing. This is a good place to pull off the trail and take in the scenery and sometimes see some animals grazing to the north (none today):

This route takes the hiker up the old cog railroad grade in parts, and here you see some rails that were tossed off the side when the cog railroad was decommissioned:

A ways up, past the flat area (seen left of center in this shot), and up some more steep climbing, a great view of all the rock formations can be seen:

A shot from above a prominent section of the railroad grade. I chose not to climb up it, but have in the past. The great thing about this mountain is that there are so many choices on where to hike:

There has been a lot of history on this mountain. An old railroad took tourists to the top to see the view of Denver. There were then some radio towers at the summit (which have been replaced by the newer ones down on the north shoulder). There were the old abandoned structures and a fence surrounding the summit, but I'd say about a year and a half ago they were removed. Still, though, some remains of the old radio broadcasting and railroad can be seen. Here are some shots of those remains:

But there are better views to be had from the summit, Including Mt. Evans:

Of all the times I had been up this mountain, I never took the more popular route that starts just to the south of the trail that goes up the East Face. It is a bit more mild, and is more gradual of a slope. I decided to descend via this route, but wasn't sure where the trail started from the top, so just started down the south side of the summit. I made my way down a talus slope that was not the trail (I met up with the trail later):

At the bottom of the slop, there was a great view down a gully, which looked like an interesting climb up. Who knows, I might climb up this one day:

In order to get over to the shoulder and the trail, I made my way around a corner and to the left of the big green bush in this photo. There is where I met the trail:

The next 2 photos show most of the rest of the route down:

I snapped 2 photos showing the 2 routes from the upper parking lot.
East face route (straight up):

South ridge route (as you can see, lots of people):

It was a beautiful day and very warm. The clouds started to roll in, but that cooled it off and it felt good. Got some good vertical scrambling in toward the top.

Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

Comments or Questions

Greg777	great training location 5/26/2008 4:46am Thanks for the report...I live a few minutes away and have never climbed this. I‘m usually on Deer Creek or Dinasaur Ridge
yorksman	my weekly training hike. 5/26/2008 4:36pm Nice report but I wouldn‘t call it the south shoulder. South shoulder trail starts right by entrance 4 on the south side, last entrance into Red Rocks before you head upto Kitteridge. I have done this hike almost every week since December, from entrance 4 it is close to 2,000ft elevation gain.
Greg777	great training location 11/30/2010 5:20pm Thanks for the report...I live a few minutes away and have never climbed this. I'm usually on Deer Creek or Dinasaur Ridge (j/k, sorry couldn‘t resist :twisted: )
Tory Wells	great training location 9/3/2011 2:45pm Thanks for the report...I live a few minutes away and have never climbed this. I'm usually on Deer Creek or Dinasaur Ridge (j/k, sorry couldn‘t resist :twisted: )
El_Turko	tear down the towers! 10/22/2016 9:14am http://www.electronicsilentspring.com/primers/cell-towers-cell-phones/ http://www.neilcherry.nz/documents/90_r2_EMR_Living_Near_Broadcast_Towers_Health.pdf

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