Lily Mountain Ridge and Twin Sisters Mountain.

With the previous two difficult outings coming in three days, I decided to head out for something a little bit easier on my last day off between jobs.  I could sleep in a little bit, and would be comfortably on solid ground the entire day.  Which is to say, no snow climbing!  

It's interesting to look at a topo sometimes.  With this look, I noticed that Lily Mountain and Twin Sisters Mountain are essentially one long ridge, albeit with a deep pass in the middle.  Which is where Lily Lake is located, and where Route 7 runs.  I had a few things to do on both sides of this ridge from Route 7, and decided to park at the lower parking on the Twin Sisters side and head toward Lily Mountain first.  

Fosters book lists the Lily Ridge Trail as a destination, so I had to do it, and this was my reasoning for approaching Lily Mountain from Lily Lake.  I could also climb a few of the technical destinations in Jurassic Park that are listed as peaks on LoJ.  Last time I'd ascended three of them, but felt it was too dangerous to continue on to the more difficult ones, as it was super windy.  

There are several pretty well put in unofficial trails that run up toward this area from the Lily Ridge Trail.  I just picked one and moved up until I reached the climbing destinations.  I was surprised to see someone had already beaten me to the rock.

A climber on Dinosaur's Foot.
I did the fun fourth class climb up the back of The Fin, and had some decent views from the top.

The Fin, 9510 feet.

Looking toward Long Wall, The Crags, and Twin Sisters Peaks from The Fin.

And the views into the Longs Peak cirque were breathtaking and inspiring.
I then headed downwards to enjoy some third class climbing on Big Ass Slab.

The top of Big Ass Slab, 9510 feet.

A short descent and more third class brought me to the top of Left Hand Rock, 9470 feet.
I turned north and was able to pick up a cairned climbers trail toward Lily Mountain, which varied in condition from pretty well put in and distinct, to barely visible.  There are a few high points you can go around before you reach the summit, but trail or not, the navigation is easy.  Just stay close to the top and you'll eventually hit the summit.  I felt the forest was pretty open, and movement wasn't too bushwhacky.  At least thus far!
Since I have covered Lily Mountain and Rams Horn Mountain before, I won't go into great detail here.  I headed down the Lily Mountain trail for a bit, and then took a left into some bushwhacky terrain when it looked like I was a little bit lower than Rams Horn Mountain.  I eventually stumbled on a trail, and was happy to have it most of the way to the top of this peak.
Without snow on the ground, I could now see that the trail continued beyond the summit of Rams Horn.  I kept on it, staying close to the ridge.
Gianttrack Mountain is a pretty tricky one to get.  While the summit lies in RMNP, it is completely ringed by private property.  As you descend north, you'll find the kind of indistinct trail becomes a really great trail that someone has obviously spent some time building and maintaining.  It looks like it gets a fair amount of horse traffic.  Up until around 630 feet until the lowest point of the saddle you are still on NPS property, and completely legal.  From the saddle it's around 680 feet until you are back on NPS property.
Thus, you need to cross about .25/mile of private property, which is not signed or fenced.  How to do so?  Use the Larimer County Land Locator, find the owners of the saddle, and ask for permission.  Or maybe miracle yourself to the top of Gianttrack and back.  Or maybe go in the middle of the week when no one is around.  I'm sure you'll figure it out.  

Gianttrack Mountain, Rams Horn visible behind.
Bushwhacking this in reverse wasn't so much fun, and I was glad to finally hit the Lily Ridge Trail again.  I decided to take a relaxing stroll around the lake.

Jurassic Park as visible from the Lake.
I got back to the car.  I took a nice break here, and thought about whether to continue on or not.  The traverse of Lily Ridge had been time consuming, but the weather looked and was predicted to be good.  I felt slightly tired, but not too bad.  I drank an entire 3L bladder of water already but had more.  Ditto for food.  I'd be able to move alot more quickly on the well defined trail to Twin Sisters.
I applied more sunscreen, refilled my water, and left anything I felt wasn't essential behind. 

As I got above treeline, I could see a blanket of clouds hovering over the front range.  Pretty cool!

The trail goes directly to Twin Sisters Peaks West, 11413 feet.  There were two other people here.  It had taken me exactly 1.5 hours to get here from the lower parking lot.  Again, take in great views of the Longs Peak area.
If it matters to you, West is not the true summit though the trail goes directly to it.  Get back to the saddle and make a fun second class scramble up to East, which is fifteen feet higher, and therefore has geographical prominence.

Twin Sisters Peaks East, 11428 feet.

East and Twin Sisters Mountain, 11384 feet.

Looking back to Lily Ridge.  It looked tiny from here.  It didn't feel tiny while traversing it.

West from East.  Click to zoom in and you can see the two people still on top.

I looked to Twin Sisters Mountain.  While not included in Fosters book, this peak does lie within RMNP.  I headed east off of East, and then worked south as I could.  This brought some second class scrambling on mostly solid talus.  

The benchmark on the top of Twin Sisters Mountain.  

Twin Sisters Peaks from Twin Sisters Mountain.
Rather than go back up and over East, I stayed down in the saddle between the two.  I don't think either route was easier, and both were fun.  I topped out into the saddle between the peaks and then started down on the trail.
Just two more things to visit!
I've been up Twin Sisters multiple times now, and had always though I'd missed a sign or trail for Lookout Springs.  I finally realized there wasn't one.  But I did write down a GPS point that should give me a pretty good chance of finding it.  After a short bushwhack, I came upon this:

This small seep was the only flowing water I could find in the general vicinity of where Lookout Springs is supposed to be.  Honestly, I expected more!
Foster also lists The Crags as a destination.  Since this is a larger indefinite area full of towers of various heights and loose rock, I decided that visiting the 10831 foot high point would count.  It was a short and easy bushwhack to the summit.

Much to my surprise, I found the first summit register of the day here, calling this "The Highest Crag".  I guess a few others had the same idea as I did!  

My visit was cut short due to mosquitoes, but this summit again held some magnificent views.  Here see Lily Lake and the climbing areas above.

The register had been in place since 2005.  The jar was broken, so I took the paper with me, hopefully to return it as soon as I can.
This was a pretty cool little summit, and it took me about thirty minutes out and back from the trail to get here.  I'd highly recommend it.
The trail down was mercifully unpopulated.  Earlier, I'd had two separate encounters with people playing music on external speakers.  This behavior annoys me to no end.  Why?
I'm sure some of you are old enough to remember the days when restaurants had smoking sections.  Of course, there was no real divider, and if you sit in a large box with a person smoking on one side, you're smoking because you are in that box as well.
It's the same sort of thing.  When you listen to music in this way, you set your environment, but everyone else now has to live in your environment too, whether they want to or not.  So please be considerate and use headphones!  I even liked the band the second person was playing.
I was able to jog some of the flatter sections of the trail and the road back to the lower parking.  I arrived back at the car almost exactly twelve hours after I left it in the morning.  Again, I drank 3L of water on this leg of the day.
What a day!  When I had the opportunity to map it, I discovered this "easier" day was actually the longest mileage wise of the three days I did this week, and had around 1000 feet more of elevation gain than the previous day.  Not bad for never going above 11428 feet!
While it was fun to do all of these peaks and points together, this could easily be broken into two days for something shorter and easier.  The parking lots for Lily Lake and Twin Sisters are directly across the street from each other and easy to get to.  If you want to avoid crowds on either, start early!
Lily Mountain Ridge and Twin Sisters Mountain (distances as part of the hike):
Lily Ridge Trail, 9120 feet: .8 miles in length, 180 foot gain.  Easy.
The Fin, 9510 feet: .65 miles, 570 foot gain.  Fourth class.  Moderate.
Big Ass Slab, 9510 feet: .7 miles, 570 foot gain.  Third class.  Moderate.
Left Hand Rock, 9470 feet: .7 miles, 530 foot gain.  Third class.  Moderate.
Lily Mountain, 9786 feet: 1.2 miles, 846 foot gain.  Second class.  Moderate-.
Rams Horn Mountain, 9553 feet: 2.5 miles, 613 foot gain.  Second class.  Moderate-.
Gianttrack Mountain, 9091 feet: 3.75 miles, 151 foot gain*.  Second class.  Moderate.
Twin Sisters Peaks West, 11413 feet: 11.7 miles, 2480 foot gain**.  Second class.  Moderate.
Twin Sisters Peaks East, 11428 feet: 11.85 miles, 2405 foot gain.  Second class.  Moderate.
Twin Sisters Mountain, 11384 feet: 12.4 miles, 2451 foot gain.  Second class.  Moderate.
Lookout Springs, 10561 feet***: 13.8 miles, 1628 foot gain.  Second class.  Moderate.
The Highest Crag, 10831 feet: 14.2 miles, 1898 foot gain.  Second class.  Moderate.
As a whole, this hike covered 17.14 miles with 6988 feet of elevation gain in up to fourth class terrain.  Strenuous. 
*= Obviously, this will be a bit more than 151 feet of gain when starting from Lily Lake, as you need to go up and over.
**= This figure comes from my GPS at the lower parking right off of Route 7.  There will be less gain the closer up the road you can park to the actual trailhead.  Or just use the lower parking and walk up an easy dirt road.
***= This elevation figure comes from my GPS and likely had a +/- x number of feet status when sent.  Foster says 10550 feet.

Lily Lake, Lily Mountain, Rams Horn Mountain, and Prospect Mountain.

It had been almost a month since I set foot in RMNP, and with warm weather predicted for the day, it seemed like a good opportunity to spend some time here last week.  Of course, with warm weather in the winter often comes wind, but I'd be pretty low- no higher than 9786 feet.
Lily Mountain was something I had been purposely avoiding, as it is a destination that seemed like a good possible point to finish up this website on.  But in the end, something else has been definitively decided on at the suggestion of my good friend Dan.  I think it will be a fitting end to this project, and crazy that after five years I can finally allow myself to think and talk about an end.
Lily Lake is easy to get to, and I arrived in darkness, hence no photographs of it from it.  Head out of Estes Park on Rt 7 and you'll find parking for the lake on your right after a few miles.  There is some additional parking on the other side of the street, at the Twin Sisters trail head.  If you are coming from below, take Rt 7 up past Allenspark, Wild Basin, and Meeker, and find the parking for Lily Lake on the left side of the road before dropping to Estes.
The parking for the Lily Mountain trail is maybe .6 of a mile more towards Estes Park.  I have a picture later to help you find it, as I drove by it twice in the darkness.  Despite that bit of additional driving, I left the car just as dawn was breaking.  Which of course provided some great photographic opportunities.   

Neon sunrise.  The air was warm, but the wind was roaring even at the low elevation. 

More sun.  So pretty and peaceful.
The trail does some undulating in the first bit, with some up and down before taking a sharp left and steadily gaining altitude.  There are several places you can get off the trail and to a few good look out points to capture a nice view of Estes below.
I decided to head over to Rams Horn Mountain first, and left the trail at around 9000 feet to contour around and north to this peak.  I've heard there is a social trail to this peak that can be easily found in summer.  I did stumble upon it, but lost it coming back, so I am not sure where it joins the Lily Mountain trail.  It is marked by cairns and some orange ribbon in the foresty sections.

Another unofficial trail that was good to find.  The snow wasn't too bad though, maybe 8 inches deep and intermittent. 

Some good views of Longs and company.
Here is where I could really start to feel and hear the wind.  I kept thinking I was hearing planes moving overhead or water rushing nearby.  Nope, just the wind. 

Lily Mountain from Rams Horn Mountain.

Rams Horn Mountain.  The true summit is the northern most prominence by just a few feet.

Twin Sisters proved a good subject to look at for most of the day.
From here, I simply followed my footsteps back south, and then took off toward the summit of Lily Mountain.  Deciding that on trail movement would be easier, I crossed the 'ridge' of Lily Mountain and contoured up and east until I hit the trail.  Then I simply stayed on that to the top.
From there, I could see several of the features comprising a climbing area called Jurassic Park.  It lies between Lily Lake and Mountain and holds some nice moderate climbs.  I wanted to check it out, so I found a descent from the summit, and headed south.  Shortly after, I stumbled upon another social trail marked by small cairns.  I followed it the best I could, and arrived at the crag in half an hour or so.

Little Fin and The Fin.  I intended to take the easiest routes up these features, but the wind had picked up, and after doing some second and third class, I decided to call it a day and head back as I was literally being blown off my feet.  That would have been a bad thing when standing on top or or climbing up any of these!

Frozen Lily Lake from above.
I headed back, again having the benefit of my own trail to follow.  The summit of Lily Mountain came quickly enough, but again it was so windy that I was blown over while squatting.
In contrast to some of the awesome old registers I've found this year, this one was filled with business cards, and the two notebooks within dated all the way back to August, 2015, and were mostly full.  The oldest register I've signed this year dated to 1975 and was less than half full.  This was a good day to do this peak and have it to myself. 

Jurassic Park from the summit.  

Twin Sisters and brooding clouds.
I ran into a few people on the way down, and made it back to the car by 1230. 

Here is the parking with the trail heading up on the left.  A good place to get a new start.
I headed into Estes with the goal of heading up Prospect Mountain.  This peak is not within the RMNP boundaries, but was included in Fosters book, so I headed for it.  She talked about gaining permission to climb the peak, but some research showed there is a public access trail that is even on the National Geographic topo.  I guess you can make your own decision there.
Head north on 7 toward Estes, and turn left on Marys Lake Road.  Make a right on Peak View Drive, and find a small parking area on the left near a horrendous green shed.  The roof of the thing is neon green and can be seen from quite a bit away!  This is shortly before Curry Drive.  The trail starts behind the shed- please be respectful of the signed private property on the way up. 

The summit?

The summit?
There were a few places that looked like possible high points.  The first photo above looked like the highest to me.  Again, I could feel the wind, and was eager to make a descent.   

The green shed.
All in, this peak took me a few minutes less than an hour to climb.
I decided to finish the drive into Estes and take 36 back down due to the higher speed limit on it.  It was nice to get home with some sunlight and time left in the day to do a few things!  A change from most of the year. 
Lily Mountain has a whole lot going for it.  The trail head is close to Estes and you don't need a pass to get in, it is short but steep enough to make it feel like you've accomplished something when you get to the top (at least I did!), and there are some great views in every direction.  I can tell why it sees so much action.  Rams Horn Mountain is a fun addition to this, just bring your navigational skills.  Heck, even dropping down to Jurassic Park might be fun even for a non climber, as the rock features are pretty cool to check out and scramble around. 
Likewise, Lily Lake is easy, accessible, and offers some great views of the surrounding area.
Prospect Mountain is fun and short, and as far as I can tell, this is a legal way to access the summit, or at least a way to do so on a early winter weekday when no one happens to be around.  I did see another person up here, so at least I wasn't the only one.  The views here are minimal since the summit is quite well treed in. 
Lily Lake, Lily Mountain, Rams Horn Mountain, and Prospect Mountain:
Lily Lake, 8927 feet: .8 mile round trip via loop trail, minimal elevation change.  Easy-.
Rams Horn Mountain, 9553 feet: 2.9 miles one way, 773 foot gain.  Second class.  Moderate-.
Lily Mountain, 9786 feet: 1.8 miles one way, 1006 foot gain.  Second class.  Moderate-.
Prospect Mountain, 8900 feet: ~1 mile one way, 985 foot gain.  Second class.  Moderate-.