Mt Pisgah (10,081) & Sante Fe Mountain (10,537) by Brian Schultz Sunday August 26, 2018

Mt Pisgah:

Roundtrip mileage: 1.1 miles from the John Hicks trailhead
Elevation gain: 600'
Start to finish: 1 hour

I had time to climb a peak before picking up my grandson Tyler at the airport and this peak fit the bill nicely. I drove the back roads from Idaho Springs toward Central City and headed up the Eureka St/Upper Apex road to the Columbine Campground road. The Columbine Campground road is signed and I turned left on it. To the left just before the campground is a 4x4 road (Forest Service 739.1) which goes to the trailhead. I followed this road, which is very popular with the ATV folks.

There is a large parking area for Mt Pisgah and a trail on the other side of the fence but for some odd reason the John Hicks sign for Mt Pisgah is further up the trail. I began at 9:05 AM and followed the excellent trail to the top. At 9:25 I was on the summit, a short 20 minute jaunt from the parking area. There was a Colorado flag flying on top and a metal ammo box register with two books inside but no room to sign in. This is a very popular hike and the masses have jotted their names in every available spot.

I enjoyed the surprisingly good scenery before departing at 9:40. I poked along on my descent and reached the parking area at 10:05. Had I known my grandson's flight was delayed, I would've hiked over to Bald Mountain.

Santa Fe Mountain:

Roundtrip mileage: 5.6 miles from Beaver Brook Canyon road parking area
Elevation gain: 2,035'
Start to finish: 3 hours 25 minutes
Participants: Brian Schultz and grandson Tyler

Tyler's flight to Denver was delayed substantially so it took much longer to get started on this peak. We exited I-70 and took the Beaver Brook Canyon road to a public parking area for our starting point. Parking isn't otherwise allowed along this road but it was just a short walk anyway to the road/trail that we wanted. We began at the late start of 3:05 PM but the weather was perfect.

We hiked for a ways and when we saw a cut-off trail to the right, we took it. This trail could easily be called "The Pipeline Trail" because signs were posted at periodic intervals and it headed in the westerly direction that we wanted. It's a good trail but we momentarily lost it in the woods and had to bushwhack back over to it. The trail follows the drainage southeast of the peak and becomes relatively steep as it gains elevation. When we were south of the peak, we bushwhacked to the summit and arrived at 4:55.

We only stayed ten minutes on top, not much for views up there, but it didn't matter because we were hungry and wanted to get back. It took nearly an hour and a half for our descent. On the lower flat part of the trail we saw a mountain biker wanting to go further. He wasn't deterred when we told him how steep it was ahead. We got back to the truck at 6:30.