Tuckaway Mtn. by accident

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Sunday the 6th of May, I decided to race the continuing showery weather and try to bag a new local peak. My intended target was Cameron Cone, via North Cheyenne Cañon and Jones Park. It’s a long route, but my plan was to start before sunrise, and hopefully be back before afternoon precipitation began.
I left the Gold Camp Road parking lot trailhead a few minutes before sunrise (5:45 MDT) and headed up the Seven Bridges Trail. The sky was clear as a bell when I started, with temps around or just above freezing.
I made fairly good time to Jones Park, but by the time I approached the point where I would have to leave the trail, and bushwhack over a small ridge to reach the southern slopes of Cameron Cone, the sky was already filling with clouds and the sunlight was coming and going. At that point, I decided that, if I was going to have to bushwhack anyway, and also worry about the weather closing in on me, I might just as well bushwhack up Tuckaway Mountain. After all, it was right there in front of me, and it’s actually higher than the Cone.
The climb from the trail is, indeed, just a bushwhack, through trees and mixed terrain which includes more and more rock outcroppings as you ascend. A little snow still lay on the slopes, but only deep, and soft, enough to sink into in a very few places.
I reached the summit just after 9 am MDT, with light snow now falling and the sky mostly overcast. I lingered only long enough to snap two pictures--one of the summit rock, and one of Cameron Cone with snow squalls moving in on it.
I returned via a loop route down Bear Creek Cañon, and back over the east ridge of Kineo Mtn. It took me just under 2½ hours to make the return trip. A nice workout, and I got another significant local peak. I’ll put what I learned to use on a warmer day to bag Cameron Cone. The few pictures I took are at:

http://new.photos.yahoo.com/cftbq/album/576460762400707477

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