Mountains of the World Photo Gallery

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• Class 2
• From Echo Lake Trailhead:
  14.0 miles, 4,600 feet

This route avoids most of the Mount Evans Road and is the normal route for mountaineers. From the Echo Lake Trailhead, walk south into the open woods near the southwest corner of the lake. You also can reach this point from the east end of Echo Lake by following a trail on the lake's south side.

Find the Chicago Lakes Trail near the slight ridge southwest of Echo Lake. Look for old blazes on the trees. Follow the Chicago Lakes Trail, cross to the west side of the ridge southwest of Echo Lake, descend southwest and switchback down to reach Chicago Creek at 10,300 feet. This point is south of the private property at Camp Shwayder.

Cross to the west side of Chicago Creek on a three-log bridge and walk southwest up the valley on an old dirt road to the Chicago Creek Reservoir at 10,600 feet. Continue on the road around the west side of the reservoir and enter the Mount Evans Wilderness south of the reservoir. Hike southwest on a trail to southernmost Chicago Lake at 11,750 feet. From the southern end of this lake, climb south up a broken slope for 0.6 mile to Mount Warren's west ridge at 13,060 feet. Descend 0.2 mile south to Summit Lake at 12,850 feet. The Mount Evans Road passes Summit Lake, and this is a popular place in summer. Continue up the Northeast Face Route to the summit.

• Variation: From the southernmost Chicago Lake at 11,750 feet, ascend the slope directly into the 12,876-foot saddle between Mount Warren and Mount Spalding. This requires a little Class 3 scrambling. Do not stray onto the slope west of the saddle, because the difficulty increases rapidly in that direction.
• Extra Credit: From Summit Lake, climb northeast for 0.5 mile to the 13,307-foot summit of Mount Warren.