Brewery Hill (11,370), Humbug Hill (11,100) & Chalk Mountain (12,020) by Brian Schultz Sunday August 18, 2019

Brewery Hill & Humbug Hill:
Roundtrip mileage: 4.5 miles from the Sallie/Barber trailhead (French Gulch road)
Elevation gain: 1,200'
Start to finish: 2 hours 15 minutes

From Dillon, I drove to Breckenridge and turned onto Wellington road, which turns into French Gulch road, and followed it east to the Sallie Barber trailhead. There is an information kiosk at the parking area, which I vaguely remember from the last time I was here but at that time I drove up the road to Humbug Hill and wasn't paying much attention to it. This time I walked the road which is just past the kiosk on the left. Several signs here can fool you if you're not paying attention. Ignore the Wire Patch trail sign (do not take this trail), as well as the Yellow Brick road sign, and walk (or drive) road GH61 (Humbug Hill road) just past both of them. A couple from Breckenridge showed me a local map with good detail of the area.

I began at 9:15 AM and walked up road GH61 (Humbug Hill road) to its intersection with road GH66. Humbug Hill road is steep and I had to take a short break at the top to catch my breath. I followed road GH66 to another road junction at ~11,000', where remains of a shack marked the beginning of my bushwhack up Brewery Hill. This was a very easy bushwhack thru mostly open trees. I crossed other roads, not sure where they originated from, before stepping onto the summit at 10:20. There are no views to speak of from the top and I only stayed 10 minutes before departing.

Although Humbug Hill is an unranked summit, it's worth the short hike from road GH66 to its summit. A couple mines at the top are interesting to walk around and after covering the several easy highpoints, I headed back down the road. I was back to the trailhead at 11:30.

Chalk Mountain:

Roundtrip mileage: 5.25 miles from Forest Road 134 & Highway 91
Elevation gain: 1,460'
Start to finish: 2 hours 5 minutes

I thought this peak was on private property when I started up the road two years ago and immediately turned around when I saw private property signs. At the time, I relegated the peak to my "do not bother with" list but a comment on LOJ's site by Kevin Baker said the private property referred to only the land on either side of the road and this turned out to be true. It's a road hike to the top and the views are amazing from the summit.

I started at 1:40 PM after hiking Brewery Hill and taking a lunch break. The road is quite good (photo 1, photo 2, photo 3) and can be driven with a stock 4x4. There are some steep areas and one rough slabby section around 11,650' but otherwise it's very manageable. I wasn't alone on the road, there were several others descending while I hiked up. I reached the high point just off the road at 2:50, where the views of Fremont Pass and the Climax molybdenum mine (photo 1, photo 2) were spectacular.

Twenty minutes later I departed and was back to my truck at 3.45. This worthwhile peak only takes 2 hours time, a nice peak to do on its own or to combine with others.