From Highway 3 in the community of Kitchener, turn north onto Leadville Road about 12.1 kilometres east of the junction with Canyon-Lister Road just east of Creston or 19.3 kilometres west of the junction with Highway 95 near the World's Worst Gas Station (Hummer Gas and Diesel).  Drive 500 metres and cross a bridge over Kitchener Creek where pavement ends and Leadville Road becomes Goat River Forest Service Road (FSR; 2WD gravel).  Continue driving north for another 7.5 kilometres to a junction with Leadville FSR to the right.  Keep left and drive another 2.4 kilometres before turning right onto the access road for Mount Cowley.  The remainder of the drive (8.1 kilometres with 664 metres of elevation gain) to the start of the hike is included in my GPS track at the end of this report.

After camping the previous night at nearby Goat River Canyon Recreation Site, Zosia and I drove up the access road for Mount Cowley in the morning and had no serious difficulties reaching Boulier's starting point at a large pullout (49.27240, -116.33123).  From there, we started along a forestry road branching off just before the pullout.  About 300 metres further, we abandoned the wide forestry road and turned right onto an overgrown logging road which is easy to miss.  The first 700 metres or so of this logging road are intermittently bushy and nearly reclaimed in places.  Still, we have thrashed through a lot worse, and the encroaching vegetation did not really impede us too badly.  Eventually, the vegetation receded from the road for good, and we settled into a long and steady grind up Mount Cowley's southwest ridge.  Where the trees begin to thin out, a piece of flagging tape marks the spot where we abandoned the road and hiked off-trail to gain the summit ridge.  Mount Cowley's summit ridge is comprised of three distinct peaks, but we initially ignored the south peak which is the lowest of the three.  Easy hiking brought us to the top of the middle peak which also happens to be the gazetted summit of Mount Cowley.  From there, the north peak looked nearly as high, and since we still had a lot of energy, we decided to go verify its height.  The traverse between the middle and north peaks entailed a bit of route-finding to get through a short but steep section with loose rocks but was otherwise straightforward.  As it turned out, we found that the north peak is indeed lower but not by much.  Because the north peak is also partially treed, we opted to return to the middle peak before stopping for a break.

For our descent, Zosia and I backtracked along the summit ridge, but before regaining the logging road, we took a short detour to tag the south peak.  Hiking down the southwest ridge felt long especially under the warm afternoon sun, but we had no issues even in the overgrown sections lower down.  We eventually popped out onto the wide forestry road and had an easy walk back to our car.  The ensuing drive out also went without a hitch.

	Zosia begins hiking along a good forestry road with the top of Mount Cowley visible in the background.
	Sonny thrashes his way up an overgrown logging road. Photo courtesy of Zosia Zgolak
	Further up the ridge, the logging road is less bushy and easier to hike.
	Lupines are in abundance throughout the mountain on this day.
	The route leaves the logging road near this formation of rocks.
	Off-trail hiking is easy on the summit ridge.
	Zosia approaches the final rise to the top of Mount Cowley.
	Zosia and Sonny stand on the summit of Mount Cowley (2045 metres).
	Zosia descends from the summit and heads toward the north peak.
	The top of the north peak is not nearly as open as the summit.
	Zosia stands on the high point of the north peak (2043 metres).
	Zosia descends from the north peak and heads back to the summit.
	A lone bear grass is in full bloom on the connecting ridge between the north peak and the summit.

Here is a zoomed-in view of mountains to the northwest from the summit.

 

Here is a zoomed-in view of mountains to the north from the summit.

 

	Zosia descends from the summit and heads for the distinctly lower south peak at left.
	Sonny raises his arms in triumph on the high point of the south peak (2012 metres). Photo courtesy of Zosia Zgolak
	Total Distance:  10.1 kilometres Round-Trip Time:  5 hours 46 minutes Cumulative Elevation Gain:  632 metres GPX Data