Midland Hill (9,556) by Brian Schultz Monday August 20, 2012
Roundtrip mileage: ~5 miles from River Park in Buena Vista
Elevation gain: ~1,800'
Start to finish: 2 hours 20 minutes
This is a short outing on an easy peak. To get to the trailhead, drive Main Street east from the US 24 traffic light in Buena Vista as far as the road goes and turn left to the River Park parking lot. The visitor center in town gives a free map of Midland Hill, which is helpful in identifying the various loop trails.
I started from the bridge over the Arkansas River at 2:05 PM. The trail I followed led to a trail junction, where Trail 6032A turns left, and a trail with a sign indicating "no bicycles" turns right. I took the trail to the right and arrived at another trail junction with Trail 6032 going straight ahead. This the the high point trail that goes to the summit and it's a good one. It neatly threads through large boulders and steep areas where bushwhacking would be challenging.
It was raining lightly when I began and it continued all the way to the summit, which I reached at 3:25. The wet conditions kept my stay at less than a minute but the rain finally let up as I neared the river and it quit when I reached my car at 4:25. An hour later the peak was in the clear. This is a fun, easy hike and the loop trails are obviously popular with the locals. I came across several bicyclists on the way up and a couple runners on the way down.