July 21, 2020

By Tim Briese

3.4 miles, 1800’ elevation gain, 4:30 roundtrip time

Gunnison and Crested Butte were very busy as throngs of people came to the mountains to escape the pandemic, even though Brian and I were there on weekdays. We truck-camped along the Brush Creek Road southeast of Crested Butte and found crowds of campers there. The next morning as we drove up the Washington Gulch Road toward Paradise Divide there were campers everywhere there, too. We drove up to Paradise Divide and parked there to embark on our climb of Mount Baldy. This scenic place has become a favorite of mine over the past few years. We began our climb at about 11,300’ at 8 am and headed southeast up grassy slopes toward Baldy’s west ridge.

we hiked up to the ridge at the far right, then went left along the ridge crest to baldy, at the far left.  (photo taken on the descent.)

a nice view of some elk peaks as we ascended

The grass soon turned to very steep and loose scree, in some places so steep that progress on the loose footing was difficult. This was supposed to be a short and easy climb, but the 1300’ of elevation gain in 0.9 miles up to the west ridge was tedious. However, once we reached the ridge at 12,600’ it was great fun hiking the trail along the crest of the ridge over several ridge bumps the rest of the way to the summit.

the ridge to the summit, which is at the far left

a panoramic view to the south from the ridge of the crested butte area.  gothic mountain is at the left.

there was very little vegetation growing on the ridge, but this flower was thriving there

getting closer to the summit.  photo by brian schultz

The descent from the final ridge bump before we got to the summit was quite steep, with a move bordering on class 3, but it too was fun and very manageable.

view of the summit from the final ridge bump

brian coming down the steep section

looking back at the steep section

We stepped on top about 1025 and enjoyed the spectacular scenic views from the top on this beautiful morning.

view of gothic mountain and the east river valley from the summit.  note the two butterflies at the top of the photo!

view of the east river valley and the schofield pass road, with a sea of peaks beyond

elk peaks on the skyline, including south maroon, pyramid and others

view of paradise divide from mount baldy, with purple mountain at the upper right

While we were on the summit three 20-something year old girls from Gunnison came running up the ridge to the top. After visiting with them for a bit we headed down. On the way we met an older couple from Crested Butte coming up with their dog and the girls came flying by on their descent too.

hiking back on the ridge.  photo by brian schultz

The steep scree was much easier to manage on the descent and we avoided the worst of it by going down around it to the right on steep grass for a few hundred feet, an alternative that would have been handy to use on the way up had we known about it.

some wildflowers on the descent, with purple mountain above

We got back to our trucks around 1230 and rested and visited for a while before we parted company and I headed for home.