Pennsylvania Mountain (13,006) & Mount Bailey (9,089) by Brian Schultz Saturday July 18, 2015

Pennsylvania Mountain:

Roundtrip mileage: 5 miles from Mountain View road (~11,700' elev.)

Elevation gain: 1,465'

Start to finish: 3 hours 15 minutes

The trailhead on Mountain View road is reached by driving north of Fairplay and turning left on County Road 1. The roads are a bit confusing but here's the short version to the trailhead: stay on CR 1 to Valley of the Sun road, which winds around like crazy, then turn right on Mountain View road. Continue to the parking area at the end of Mountain View road. I tried finding the trailhead in the dark and almost gave up until finally digging out my GPS. I set up for an overnight in the parking lot.

The trail starts straight ahead from the end of the road. I began at 6:55 AM under clear sunny skies, knowing this would be a short day with minimal elevation gain. The trail, actually old road tracks, leads toward Pennsylvania's southeast ridge. Soon after the road started descending, I departed it and began a bushwhack through the willows. On my return, I noticed I could've stayed on the old road a bit further to a more open area before bushwhacking. Regardless, there are plenty of alleys to keep the willow bashing to a minimum. Once I ascended higher it was an easy hike up the slopes, with wildflowers in full bloom, to the southeast ridge.

From the ridge, the distance to the false summit is on a mix of grass and talus. I wondered why a huge cairn was built on the false summit because the actual summit is still 0.65 miles away as the crow flies. I dropped down about 75' and hiked across the tundra to the actual summit, passing by a mine on the way over. I arrived on top at 8:35 and stayed for twenty minutes. The return to the false summit was fast and I departed the from there at 9:15.

I stopped often to take pictures of the flowers (photo 1, photo 2) on the slopes and when I neared the trailhead I met the first of many hikers. I stopped to chat with some of them, not surprised at their late start because the weather was so nice, and reached the parking lot at 10:10. It was full of cars and trucks and the street was lined up with many more. A large group of people gathered near a woman who appeared to be leading them on a flower viewing expedition.

Mount Bailey:

Roundtrip mileage: 1 mile from the playground off Burland Drive in Bailey

Elevation gain: 400'

Start to finish: 30 minutes

This was a nice easy peak to hike up on my way back to Denver. I used Jeremy Hakes' brief trip report to find the approach and started from the Bailey playground at 12:45 PM. A trail goes all the way to the top on public land (there are no trespass concerns on this peak) and I met a trio of hikers just returning when I began. It's an excellent trail with lots of switchbacks and I stepped around the communications tower to get to the highest point (photo 1, photo 2) at 1:00. I headed back down a few minutes later and arrived at my truck at 1:15. This is a cool little summit and offers some nice views.

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