LoJ: #325 (Pre-LiDAR: #323) / 13,391' Rogers Peak
N 39° 36' 55.77", W 105° 37' 03.31"
(Not Field Checked)
Mount Spalding
Gray Wolf Mountain
Mount Warren
Peak Summary
Rogers Peak can be easily sequenced with Mt. Warren for a quick and easy Class 2 hike that is passenger car accessible. This hike can be easily done in under two hours. Close access to the Front Range & family friendly. Opportunity to see mountain goats.
Rogers Peak SW-NE Ridge Route
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Mt. Evans Road - Summit Lake TH
From either Idaho Springs (Exit 240 on I-70) or Bergen Park, (Exit #252 to Evergreen Parkway from westbound I-70, then turn west onto the Squaw Pass Road), drive to Echo Lake on HWY 103 (aka: Squaw Pass Road in Bergen Park), then take the Mt. Evans Road (entrance fee required) and drive to Summit Lake where you can park. Use this parking for Grey Wolf, Spalding, Warren and Rogers. When driven from Bergen Park, this road does a lot of winding around and receives a lot of bicycle traffic in the summer, especially on weekends. A nice bike lane has been added to the older, more narrow portion of the road that has helped to alleviate some of the dangers posed by such a multiple use road.
For hiking to Epaulet/Epaulie and Rosalie, you can drive on up from Summit Lake, continuing on the Mt. Evans road for another 1.6 miles to a set of two switchbacks. From the first switchback, continue driving another .8 mile to the coordinates below where there's enough of a pullout on the south side of the road to park. If unable to park here, continue another few tenths of a mile to another switchback and park there where the road widens. Coordinates for the first pullout are N 39° 34' 46.00 W 105° 37' 54.00" 13,205 ft. elevation. If you can park here, it will save almost 2.5 miles of walking along the road or nearly 5 miles round-trip.
Camping
Designated National Forest campground at Echo Lake. Fee required.
Campsite Locations
Echo Lake › N 39° 39' 22.85", W 105° 35' 39.54"Elevation 10,650 ft. 18 sites available
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From Mount Warren
Open This Route in a New WindowFrom the Summit Lake parking area, hike along the trail on the east end of the lake and then veer ENE onto the Mt. Warren ridge. Initially, there's a mix of tundra, small scree & gravel. About half way up the ridge changes over to more rock with larger blocks and tundra in between. Keep walking ENE to the large, somewhat flat summit area. Our notes describe the summit as having one area of large boulders that appeared higher than any other group of boulders strew around. Walk over to that group of boulders and scramble onto the highest one for the hollow victory. Be prepared for high winds. If you're making the effort to hike this peak, it only makes sense to continue on to Rogers Peak.
Here's a couple ideas on how you can complete these two summits without having to set up a car shuttle. 1. When you complete Rogers, drop back down to the road and hitchhike back to Summit Lake. 2. If you have two persons but one vehicle, drop one person off on the road below Rogers. Person #2 drives on up to Summit Lake and begins hiking to Warren then on to Rogers while Person #1 hikes up Rogers then continues on to Warren. Somewhere along they way they pass each other and hand off the keys to the vehicle. Person #1 arrives at Summit Lake and drives the vehicle back down to pick up Person #2. This setup can be completed in an hour and should result in bagging two 13ers.
For a more "sporting" way to climb both Warren and Rogers, see the Chicago Creek/Lakes route description that starts at Echo Lake for Spaulding and Gray Wolf.
Route Description
Year Climbed: 1996Rogers Peak is sequenced with Mt. Warren. One way mileage and elevation gain are measured from the summit of Mt. Warren. Round-trip mileage and elevation gain assumes completion of this sequence by returning back over the route to the start. A vehicle shuttle can be used to reduce mileage and overall time required.
From the summit of Mt. Warren, continue walking ENE following the broad ridge. If you wander off to the north side, there are some impressive views down into the Chicago Creek area. It's a fair amount of distance at relatively the same elevation before you begin to drop to the Warren-Rogers saddle. The terrain is largely tundra with more sporadic areas of those granite boulders thrown in. Most of these rocky boulder areas are easily avoidable and/or do not impede progress to any large degree. After passing the saddle at 12,950 ft., head on up to Rogers. The terrain will change to mostly these large boulders/rocks, but still with some areas of tundra and embedded rocks. The summit itself is nothing but a conglomeration of boulders.
Once you've enjoyed the view, you can turn around and just hike back along the ridge back to Summit Lake. This will add 365 feet of additional elevation gain when you hike back over Warren. Or, continue along the ridge to the NE dropping down on mostly tundra to a saddle at 12,660 ft. At the saddle, make a hard right and finish the drop SE of another 200 feet down to the Mt. Evans Road. Hopefully you have a plan in place as to how to return to your vehicle, such as hitchhiking back or having a car shuttle set up.
For a more "sporting" way to climb both Warren and Rogers, see the Chicago Creek/Lakes route description that starts at Echo Lake for Spaulding and Gray Wolf.
Additional BETA
Links to other information, routes & trip reports for this peak that may be helpful. -
