HAPPY TRAILS: KENOSHA PEAK

This variation on a classic Lost Creek Wilderness trail takes hikers along a mossy creek to a gentle alpine summit with views all around and plenty of options for further wandering. This high, lonesome peak is a perfect hike as long as the snow holds off.

To get there: Drive west on U.S. Highway 24 to Lake George. About a mile west of the center of town, after crossing South Platte River, turn right onto Tarryall Road (Colorado Highway 77). Drive about 32 miles down this pastoral, picturesque and pothole-riddled road. Turn right on County Road 39 (Rock Creek Hills Road). It turns to a graded dirt road. In 4.4 miles, it ends at an intersection with Lost Park Road. Turn right and drive two miles to a signed junction for Ben Tyler Trail. Cars with low clearance should park here. The road has a few easily navigated gravel ruts but no serious obstacles. It should be passable by most. Continue about two miles, following signs to the trailhead.

Rating: Three boots. 8 miles roundtrip, 2,350 feet elevation gain.

The hike: Start the hike at a sign for South Ben Tyler Trail. Here a family of beavers slowly working its way up the creek has diverted a stream so it runs down the trail a few feet. Detour around the beaver pond and start up the creek. It soon enters a classic Lost Creek Wilderness valley: a creek roiling over boulders, Douglas fir trees casting deep shade, and an excellent old pack trail.

In less than a mile, pass a pair of old cabin walls that look like a pen for the pines growing up through the floor. In about one mile, the trail leaves the creek and begins to climb. In about two miles, it crosses a side creek. Here the climb stiffens a bit. Follow a zigzag of switchbacks that takes you to tree line.

At tree line look up to the right. The low crest of rocks rising out of the grassy alpine ridge is your destination. Walk north along the trail until you see a clear lane through the alpine willows. Leave the trail here and go east, cross country, to the summit, a half-mile away. The top, on a high ridge, offers views of Rampart Range, the edges of Denver and a long look into the massive mountains of the Sawatch, across South Park.

Return the way you came, or for a megahike of about 24 miles, head south along the gentle ridge until you hit the Lost Park Trail, then tromp down to the Lost Park Trailhead. (This requires arranging a shuttle.)