Converse County High Point Trip Report
Date: June 18, 2001
Author: Walt O'Neil
Take I-25 to Douglas exit 140. Head right from ramp on route 94, go south under I-25 and take an
immediate right onto route 91. At mile 3, route 91 goes left and route 96 goes straight. Head left. At mile
13.6 route 91 becomes county road 24 and the pavement ends. At 16.6 is the fork of decision. Left fork is
county road 16 ( Fort Fetterman Rd.), which can be taken 7.7 miles to a right turn just past Gould Creek
onto a dirt road. At 8.2 is a double locked gate. It may be possible to arrange permission to enter by calling
the owner Dick Strock at (307)358-3549. I tried and got an answering machine and decided to approach
from the west.
Backtracked to fork and took road 24 (Cold Spring Rd.) south to Campbell Creek Campground at 11.4
miles from fork. Parked and bushwhacked to the high ground to get a view of where the peak was. After
reaching spot 9310 on topo after 2 hr and 33 min., I was able to spot the peak to the east. Just after this my
phone and E-trex batteries went out and I had no clue of time. I descended through a meadow and
summited with some boulder hopping.
There were remnants of a wooden structure and 2 BM's - one with 1936 and the other just below the HP
with "Warbonnet 1948". What I thought was a first attempt was dashed when I found a Ragu jar with a
register with Bob and Dotty Martin - 6/22/00 and Bob Packard's 281st HP in 8/21/98. I took a compass
bearing to Twin Peaks on the other side of the campground and descended but got fouled up dodging the
fallen trees piled three high in some places.
I believe the Eastern approach, if permission could be granted, would be much easier as it appeared that
roads went to the base of the peak with a steep climb at the end.
Time: approximately 7 hours with stops of 30 minutes total
Gain: 1450 ft raw but much higher with all the up and down.