Bald Mountain
11 December 2024 Bald Mountain D’s “Calendar of Summits” for today was empty, and so our fearless adventurers set forth on a quest to fill it.
One might ask, what is this “Calendar of Summits?” Well, read on. One of D’s many mountain goals is to summit a different mountain every day of the year. These summits don’t need to be completed in a single year, of course. Over the course of many years of hiking, D has completed 363 days of summits. Today, 11 Dec, was yet to be filled (the other two days are in March).
For today’s summit, D narrowed the choice to three candidate mountains nearby, and settled on Bald Mountain as the best option overall.
And because it was Wednesday, S joined him in the ascent. [1]
At 9am our intrepid explorers assembled for the trek. A roughly one hour drive, the parking for the Bald Mountain “trail” is simply a bend in the road. The so-called trail, meanwhile, is non-existent. D found the route on the “List of John” website, and loaded it into his gps device. This, along with a paper map (practically unheard of in this electronic era), guided our fearless adventurers steadfastly along the path.
A rather short hike, but steep, starting up a fairly steep gully filled with grass and branches. Then it turned east toward the summit, through a snow-filled woodland. Numerous sawn trunks and burned timbers, presumably an attempt by the Forest Service to thin the woodland and help prevent fires. Sporadic tracks of various animals, including (presumably) deer, rabbits, mice, and ravens. Great views of the Indian Peaks area to the west.
D kept a close eye on the GPS route, which mostly followed the ridge line from the top of the gully to the summit.
Then it was down again, following steps in the snow, and wending carefully down the gully to the car.
And then, guess what … ?
Phase 2
Yes, you read that correctly, today’s adventure included a Phase 2, at Salto Cafe in Nederland. S had granola, while D enjoyed a BLT. And coffee, to warm the bones.
And back down to Boulder, and the completion of another entry in the Summit Calendar, and another successful BNO.
Notes
Astute readers may recall (as this writer did not) that our fearless adventurers already summited something called “Bald Mountain” in Boulder County. In point of clarification, today’s adventure explored a completely different Bald Mountain, near Jamestown. Indeed, according to the Boulder County Open Space website: “This particular Bald Mountain is one of hundreds of summits of the same name in the country. There are over 300 Bald Mountains in the United States, close to 30 in Colorado and four in Boulder County alone.” For further information, readers are invited to explore this somewhat amusing list of Bald Mountains on Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bald_Mountain