Kenny Mountain (40.2917 105.4172, elev: 9290 feet, 2832 meters)) from Big Elk Meadows Road (Larimer CR 47), 04/16/2005

From US Hwy 36 just past Pinewood Springs, coming from Lyons, we turned left onto Larimer CR 47, at the sign for Big Elk Meadows then drove 2.2 miles and parked at a gravel pulloff at the side of the road. This is also the parking area for the Dragon's Den climbing area (http://www.frontrangebouldering.com/lyons/dragonsden/). GPS info where we parked: 40.26714 105.39973, elev: 7230 feet. From the truck, we started hiking at 10:15 following the climbing trail, descending down to a small creek, then heading north, soon meeting the Little Thompson River, and hiking along its west bank for a few tenths of a mile, until the river took a sharp left, where we crossed over to the other side of the river via a large log at 10:25. We then headed up steeply along a small creek, then turned right, reaching a ridgeline, and from there headed northwest, eventually passing near Peak 9098, and continuing northwest toward the summit of Kenny Mountain. We reached the summit of Kenny Mountain at 12:08. GPS info at Kenny Mtn summit: 40.29158 105.41706 , elev: 9299 ft, accuracy: 16 ft. The topomaps show the elevation of the Kenny Mtn summit to be 9290 feet. There was no summit register, so we placed one there. We also marked the summit with a small cairn. On the summit the views are pretty good. Stefan pointed out Panorama Peak, Mummy Mtn, and Mt Fairchild from the Kenny Mountain summit. The weather was very pleasant at the top, and we were glad that there were no thunderclouds forming, although the forecast promised some. We had lunch, signed our newly deposited summit register, and took some pictures. Before returning, we walked over to a rock knob to the west of the summit to check out the view. We began descending in earnest at 13:24, heading south toward Peak 9098. Before reaching Peak 9098, one point of interest is a quartz vein of white quartz at position (40.28691, 105.41199) and elevation 9035 feet. Some of the quartz here is composed of large crystals, with evidence of hydrothermal activity through the quartz. It's worth a stop at Peak 9098 because it actually has more spectacular views than Kenny Mountain. From Peak 9098, we headed directly south toward Popes Hill instead of going southeast the way we had come. From Popes Hill we headed east down to the Little Thompson, then hiked northeast along a trail beside the Little Thompson until we returned to our initial crossing point on the river. We returned to the truck at 16:18.

Elevation difference from parking place to summit of Kenny Mountain: 9299 - 7230 = 2069 ft
Time to reach summit from parking place: 1 hour, 53 minutes.

Topomap of Kenny Mountain Area