Last Dollar Mountain (11,140), Whipple Mountain (11,922), & Bald Mountain (11,868) by Brian Schultz Monday August 29, 2022

Last Dollar Mountain:
Roundtrip mileage: 1.45 miles from Last Dollar road
Elevation gain: 600'
Start to finish: 1 hour 20 minutes
Participants: Tim Briese, Brian Schultz

From Montrose we drove Hwy 550 to Ridgway, west on Hwy 62 to just past Dallas Divide and then left on Last Dollar road. Last Dollar road from this direction passes through lots of ranch properties and the road is somewhat slow, but we weren't in any hurry because the weather forecast was exceptionally nice today. We parked on the opposite side of the road from the Alder Creek trailhead and as we readied our packs, a group of mountain bikers were flying down the Alder Creek trail.

The route to Last Dollar Mountain begins on an old road across from the Alder Creek trailhead, which wasn't shown on any of the maps we had. We started up at 8:15 AM on this road and then turned onto a trail that was faint but discernible before becoming a good path to the summit. It's steep in areas but easy.

We arrived on the summit around 8:40 and were treated to excellent views from the summit. Our descent went quickly and we were back at our trucks at 9:35.

Whipple Mountain:
Roundtrip mileage: 2.75 miles from the Whipple Mountain trailhead
Elevation gain: 1,200'
Start to finish: 3 hours 20 minutes
Participants: Tim Briese, Brian Schultz

We drove down the road to the Whipple trailhead, which only took a couple minutes. We began on the excellent trail at 9:55 AM, gained the slopes easily, and exited the trail at the Whipple/"S-10" saddle to another trail leading to the summit. We took a super long break on the expansive summit. The views were outstanding and we enjoyed watching airplanes take off from the Telluride airport below. As we looked over to "S-10" and its sketchy ridge, we decided not to climb it, but for anyone inclined to do so, the gnarly ridge can easily be avoided by climbing the slopes to its left. After a satisfying stay on top, we departed and were back at the trucks at 1:20.

Another short drive down the road brought us to the gated road for Gray Head. We didn't like the signage at the gate and decided to skip it, not wanting to chance being cited in case it was being monitored. We took a long break here scanning maps for other peaks to consider climbing since we had much of the afternoon remaining and the weather was clear and sunny.

Bald Mountain:
Roundtrip mileage: 2.05 miles from Alta Lakes
Elevation gain: 675'
Start to finish: 1 hour 30 minutes
Participants: Tim Briese, Brian Schultz

We decided on Bald Mountain because it wasn't very far away. Driving down the Last Dollar road to Telluride was slow with lots of mountain bikers to be mindful of. We turned onto Deep Creek road and followed it to Hwy 145. A short drive south on Hwy 145 brought us to the Alta Lakes road (FR 632), which we drove to Alta Lakes. This road had some rough sections that made the driving slow and annoying but eventually reaches the lakes.

We began at 3:45 PM and followed an old road north that we departed as soon as it turned left because we saw a trail hoping it would lead toward Bald Mountain. We followed it to an open area before beginning a short bushwhack through the woods. When we happened upon a trail, we followed it and sure enough, it went all the way to the summit. Had we stayed in the open area and continued up to the saddle, we would've found the trail without bushwhacking. Bald Mountain is a ski area and there are signs (photo 1, photo 2) identifying the trail near the aforementioned saddle.

Under beautiful clear skies we summited at 4:30 and stayed for fifteen minutes enjoying the terrific views (photo 1, photo 2, photo 3, photo 4). The descent went quickly, thanks to the fine trail, and we were back at our trucks at 5:15. A fun day today with easy peaks and great scenery.