Colorado Mountain (10,870) & California Mountain (10,636) by Brian Schultz Wednesday August 26, 2020

Colorado Mountain would be a great warm-up peak to begin my week of climbing in Colorado and the weather was looking fine for a late start. Even if the weather took a turn for the worse, it would be a short hike with a high start and I'd be mostly in the trees.

I followed Eureka Street in Central City to Apex Valley and then to the townsite of Apex. A left turn on Elk Park road (County road 4N) brought me to the same area where I climbed Montana Mountain four years ago. I parked just off the side road leading toward Montana Mountain, crossed back over CR 4N, and hopped the wooden fence. The property to the right of the fence is posted private so I stayed west of it as I began at 12:50 PM.

The bushwhack to the top was pretty easy but the waypoint I set for the summit in my GPS looked a little lower when I arrived so I kept walking. The area around a dilapidated cabin ahead was higher by 5-7 feet according to my GPS. I stayed for a few minutes and began my descent.

I wasn't paying attention and suddenly happened upon the house and other buildings on the private property that I was so careful to avoid on my way up. I quickly veered to the right and stepped around an elevated metal cable with private property signs posted on it. Thankfully, I didn't see anyone.

It only took a few minutes to contour around the private property and head up the short distance to unranked California Mountain. I was surprised to see a large travel trailer parked on the flat summit and construction activity taking place. Again, nobody was around but I wondered if it would've been a messy confrontation if the owner was there. I recommend avoiding this peak.

The descent didn't take long and I was back at my truck at 2:15. I headed back to I-70 and onto Leadville, where I was treated to a rainbow just south of town.