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So we just moved to Arvada from Parker and I was out scoping some potential quick hikes or climbs and was wondering if anyone had any information about anything cool off of highway 72. I was looking at Ralston Buttes (from 93 it looks like a big upside down boot and massive slab) and couldn't find any access from Blue Mountain Estates and also noticed Crescent Peak as potential for some scrambling or class 3 practice. Anyone done these areas? Is it legal to just find an off turn and park and go on up? I noticed there are fences with open space signs on them and up through Blue Mountain Estates there are signs that say 'No Open Space Access' so I'm guessing there is access somewhere else?

On the same note, if anyone has some cool ideas for conditioning hikes or climbs in that area I'm all ears! Thanks everyone for your wealth of knowledge!

East Blue, Blue and Baby Blue are three peaks just to the south of 72. I've only climbed these from the south (coming from Golden Gate State Park) but I had heard of them being accessed from 72.

Baby blue and "west" blue offer some scrambling. To get all three, it might not be a particularly "quick" day, but still nice peaks.

http://www.summitpost.org/blue-mountain/235321

Baby Blue was a lot of fun, Greenhouseguy on his way up:


--Derek

Crescent Mountain is one of my all-time favorites. The best (in my opinon) route is to park at the putllout on the right side of 73 near a curve, cross the creek and just head up! The scrambling is amazing on bullet hard quartzite. Careful though as the quartzite is slicker than snot when wet. There are some grouchy landowners to the east of you but totally avoidable. I agree with Derek that the Blues are a great group as well. Coal Creek Peak to the east of Crescent is also a nice hike. One of my favorite shot training hikes is Mt. Galbraith down near Golden. Good trails, great views.

Ralston buttes is "closed" open-space if I understand correctly. It's a bit convoluted but I believe there is no "easy" access. I might have once perhaps hyptothetically gone up via the blue Mtn estates on a weekday and besides getting chased by a dog for a bit it was pretty fun. To get to the top of Ralston Buttes requires a class3/4 scramble (or so I hear ).

Thorodin and Starr are good ones if you have a hankering for a snowy grunt. During the summer it is far more pleasant.

As per Ralston Buttes, I can't speak for the northern access, but:

We were able to climb and map the entire Ralston Buttes area last year, but we had to get special permission to access the area from the east (gated with key code access on Indian Head Road). I guess they had a liability issue in the past where somebody fell into a clay pit/mine on South Ralston, causing them to fence the eastern slopes off.

We were able to access the area easily from the south via Glencoe Valley Road with a couple of options available for gaining or going around the Hogback. There are wire fences closer to the Schwartzwalder mine and Ralston Res. I do have some fuzzy memory of possibly needing key code access on the road (mega-mansion territory) but that may have been somewhere else.


You can see Glencoe V. Rd. going by the reservoir here before going behind the hogback (hard to make out from this side as it dips to the east and overhangs on the west - the tree area in this pic). From the road, you can either bypass the hogback on the south by the reservoir and then hop on the visible road behind the red ridge, or you can continue north on the Glencoe road and gain the hogback/buttes saddle.

If you look at the ralston buttes under the right conditions from the east and you'll see why they are known to the locals as the sleeping indian.

I grew up in Arvada so I've always admired the view of these mountains. It's nothing technical but I've put Mount Tom on my list for sentimental reasons.

So it your thinking I could access Glencoe Valley Rd from say 56th to the south eh? I'll have to check that out tomorrow after I drop my son off at school. Also, just to confirm, if there is a pull off on 72 (or any highway I guess), it's okay to just leave the car there and go straight up the mountain? I've done it once going up through Morrison and didn't get in trouble but that was during a single life where there were no kids and jobs and didn't care if the car was towed...

Has anyone done Blue Mountain from Brumm trail road or what is at the end of it? Looks like you can gain access from Blue Mountain Estates again.

Thanks for the other suggestions too everyone! I'll post day trip dates if I go anytime soon if anyone wants to join me/us.

Yes, 56th from 93 works. Pine Ridge Road also looks like it'll take you there. If there is a gate on Glencoe (which I don't think there is but all of the gated areas just seem to blur together), then you can park at the White Ranch Open Space Parking Lot at the end of Pine Ridge Road and hop on Glencoe with a mountain bike (or just walk). Glencoe is surprisingly rugged past the reservoir, but a vehicle with decent clearance should have no problem. White Ranch is also a great place to explore and trail-run, although I've spotted numerous cat signs closer to the reservoir.

On a side note, Mr. Jeanmard just posted a helpful 1/28/11 TR from Blue/E. Blue on 14erworld - he mentioned starting at the Chapel in the Hills parking lot and bush-wacking up the north ridge (private land - inch or so of snow) until he hit a dirt road to Blue's summit (~2hrs). Traversing to E. Blue (scrambling and route-finding) and then bushwacking north down the drainage from the Blue/E Blue saddle to Coal Creek Canyon Rd gave him a total RT of ~ 5 hrs.

As for leaving your car on the side of the road for a half-day - you're not gonna have any problems as long as it isn't parked hazardously (right on the shoulder after a blind curve, etc). Rock climbers, scramblers, ice-climbers, hikers, kayakers, etc leave their cars all over the Front Range canyons every day. Nobody would think twice about it unless it is left there overnight.

So I just got back from exploring Brumm Trail Rd in Blue Mountain Estates area and am pretty much concluding that while it would be an awesome way to get Blue Mountain, it would be illegal. There are private property and no trespassing signs everywhere (even a 'video monitored' no trespassing sign). At any rate, I thought I'd post some pics of the awesome fast freezing we experienced today.

I've been following this thread out of self-interest, as these and other Jeffco peaks are interests of mine these days.
However, these frozen french fry photos deserve some props.
Thanks for posting!

Thanks! Here's a few more. So cool how weather can turn a pretty humdrum scene into something otherworldly.

Those are some great pictures!

Amazing photos. I am not worthy of my Nikon DSLR