Plans to bag two 1,000' prominence peaks (Devil's Head and Ormes Peak) along Rampart Range road fizzled when the ranger turned me around at the road entrance due to wet conditions. Luckily I put all my remaining Jefferson County Summit Waypoints in my GPS for a backup plan. Skull Rock was reasonably close continuing on highway 67, though I wasn't sure about the technical difficulty of the climb. Driving along the Platte, I got my first glance of Skull Rock From Trumbull where the face looked a little intimidating. I parked at a convenient legal pullout just before the bridge crosses the Platte. A quick bushwhack would deposit me underneath Skull Rock where I could better ascertain a route to attain the summit. On the right is the summit block from the south. From a scientific/philosophical standpoint, one could argue about which of two points is the summit. This is the case with many named summits just about anywhere when taking a decent sampling. The placement of the summit name on the map is on the lower, easier southern ridge. For practical purposes, my approach to claming named summits is that the higher summit takes precedence, regardless of the placement of the name on the map. Both North and South Table Mountains in Jeffco are other good examples of this problem. In any event, I was surprised to find an easy scrambling route to the top from the northwestern aspect of the summit block. Below, sun shimmers on the Platte from the summit. With a lot of time left in the day, I thought I'd pick up another named summit on the way home. I scouted a few peaks, and ultimately parked in Tiny Town to make an ascent of Mount Lindo.
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