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.:Getting to the trailhead:. To get to Baldwin Gulch, drive down 285 from Denver, and turn left (south) on 24/285 at Johnson Corner. Continue about 6 miles, just past of the tiny berg of Nathrop. You'll see the sign on the right for the Mt Princeton Road. Turn west on this road and drive 12 miles west to just past the town of Alpine, where you'll see the signed trailhead. For those of you with 2-wheel drives, there is obvious parking on the right side of the road. For those with 4-wheel drives (and a little temerity), you can continue almost to the summit, if you want to. All the mining and rockhounding activity has resulted in jeep trails that crisscross the mountain. The best compromise is to drive the Baldwin Gulch Jeep Trail (see the trail map at right) about 2.8 miles until you cross the Baldwin Creek. However, bear in mind that this is a pretty darned rough road. It's very rocky, and steep and narrow in places. I definitely got a good shake-up during this part of the drive! Anyway, there's plenty of parking and camping in this area, at about 10,850 ft. .:The trail:. .:Trip Report:. Mt. Antero is, from a historical perspective, a miner's mountain. Zillions of dollars in precious gems have been taken off the mountain, and it's a favorite of rock-hounds and geologists from all around. The practical upshot of which is that, on any given weekend in the summer, the place is littered with people. And that was certainly the case on this hot September day. After letting all my internal organs settle back into their prescribed slots from the bumpy ride to the trailhead/parking, I started hoofing it up the jeep trail (which is the recommended route) about 8:15am. The trail stays on the road for the majority of the trek. The road/trail stayed fairly steep and rocky until treeline, when it began to switchback up Antero's southwest flank. At this point, the road smoothes out and levels out quite a bit, making for an easy hike. You'll probably be tempted to shortcut at this point and head straight up some of the washes and gullies, but don't. The rock in these washes isn't very stable, and you won't save any time. Besides, such trailblazing is guaranteed to cause unnecessary damage. Just stay on the road and enjoy the stroll. Anyway, after about a half-dozen switchbacks, the road curves around the south ridge of Antero. After a little initial confusion, I kept on the road, and stuck with it as it rounded towards the southeast side of Antero. After a few hundred yards I came upon a secondary road (much steeped and rockier) that split off to the left (i.e. up the mountain). I decided to take this branch and kept grunting to the top of the chalky-white slope. At the top of this ridge, the roadworks finally ended, and I was able to pick up the summit trail, which followed the south ridge (and was not as bad as it initially looked). After that, the summit was a quick boulder-scramble to the top, which I hit right about 11am. From the top, the views featured Mt. Princeton to the north, Shavano and Tabagauche to the south, and a hazy Arkansas Valley to the east. There was barely a breath of wind, and not a cloud in the sky. Absolutely beautiful. After a quick Clif Bar and the signing of the register, I was off. I must've been an early bird...I saw no-one hiking on the trip up, but dozens on the trip down, many of whom stopped me to answer questions about the trail and how much farther it was, and so on. I trail-jogged down the switchbacks, and made it back to my truck at about 12:45 pm. All in all, a pretty nice hike. All that was left was the bone-jarring ride down to Alpine! |
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