Peak(s):	Mt. Antero - 14,271 feet
Date Posted:	05/30/2012
Date Climbed:	05/28/2012
Author:	shmaig

Mt Antero - Baldwin Gulch Route - 2012 Memorial Day
Mount Antero - Baldwin Gulch Route - May 28th, 2012 We got a late start (about 9:00am) on this trip as the weather looked good and didn't seem to have the prospect of afternoon thundershowers this early in the season. Wife and I were hiking today with two of our boys (ages 11 and 12) and yellow lab Sierra (4 years old). The first thing that we would recommend is that if you plan on driving any part of the jeep road, please make sure you have decent clearance and a good 4x4. I'm sure that off road 4x4 enthusiasts could knock this road out without blinking an eye, but for us weekend warriors it got our blood pumping in a few places. We drove the road in our Ford Explorer and it bottomed out in a number of places. Due to the low snowpack this year there was no snow along the jeep trail up to timberline. We also were able to do both creek crossings in our vehicle with no problem as they aren't running as high this year due to the low snow pack. We parked our vehicle just below timberline and started hiking from there. Just continue following the jeep road as it switchbacks up the mountain for the next few miles. At around 12,800'ish on the long section of road/trail that heads south, you will see a trail that people have cut off to the left going up over the ridge. Once you reach the top of the ridge you will see a number of trails below you criss crossing the valleys and ridges below you. Thank you to 14ers.com route description that told us the easier route is to continue down the other side of the ridge and ultimately hook back up with the main jeep/atv trail. From there just keep following the signs to stay on trail 278A and stay left at a couple of trail junctions as you head up the mountain. We ran across a few places where there were minor lingering snow fields, but these were nothing you can't walk over or around this year. We never felt the need to pull out our Yak Trax on any section. The ridge section around 13,800 is completely free of snow this year, and provided some fun, easy scrambling for the kids and beautiful views off both sides. The final 400' scramble to the summit still has a pretty large snowfield on a section of it, but we stayed to the left of the snowfield and just scrambled up that section. After about 2 hours of hiking, we reached the summit giving our two boys there sixth 14'ers each. It was very windy the entire trip, but we hardly ever saw so much as a cloud anywhere in the sky. Was nice hiking this time of year and not feeling like we were going to have to race a thunderstorm back down the mountain! Back at the vehicle we knew the drive back down the jeep road still loomed in our future. Took us almost an hour to drive back down the 4 mile road. But we were going pretty slow as I was still hoping I would be able to get the Ford Explorer back down the mountain in good enough condition to drive it to work on Tuesday morning! Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

Mt Antero - Baldwin Gulch Route - 2012 Memorial Day

Mount Antero - Baldwin Gulch Route - May 28th, 2012

We got a late start (about 9:00am) on this trip as the weather looked good and didn't seem to have the prospect of afternoon thundershowers this early in the season. Wife and I were hiking today with two of our boys (ages 11 and 12) and yellow lab Sierra (4 years old).

The first thing that we would recommend is that if you plan on driving any part of the jeep road, please make sure you have decent clearance and a good 4x4. I'm sure that off road 4x4 enthusiasts could knock this road out without blinking an eye, but for us weekend warriors it got our blood pumping in a few places. We drove the road in our Ford Explorer and it bottomed out in a number of places.

Due to the low snowpack this year there was no snow along the jeep trail up to timberline. We also were able to do both creek crossings in our vehicle with no problem as they aren't running as high this year due to the low snow pack.

We parked our vehicle just below timberline and started hiking from there. Just continue following the jeep road as it switchbacks up the mountain for the next few miles.

At around 12,800'ish on the long section of road/trail that heads south, you will see a trail that people have cut off to the left going up over the ridge. Once you reach the top of the ridge you will see a number of trails below you criss crossing the valleys and ridges below you. Thank you to 14ers.com route description that told us the easier route is to continue down the other side of the ridge and ultimately hook back up with the main jeep/atv trail.

From there just keep following the signs to stay on trail 278A and stay left at a couple of trail junctions as you head up the mountain.

We ran across a few places where there were minor lingering snow fields, but these were nothing you can't walk over or around this year. We never felt the need to pull out our Yak Trax on any section.

The ridge section around 13,800 is completely free of snow this year, and provided some fun, easy scrambling for the kids and beautiful views off both sides.

The final 400' scramble to the summit still has a pretty large snowfield on a section of it, but we stayed to the left of the snowfield and just scrambled up that section.

After about 2 hours of hiking, we reached the summit giving our two boys there sixth 14'ers each.

It was very windy the entire trip, but we hardly ever saw so much as a cloud anywhere in the sky. Was nice hiking this time of year and not feeling like we were going to have to race a thunderstorm back down the mountain!

Back at the vehicle we knew the drive back down the jeep road still loomed in our future. Took us almost an hour to drive back down the 4 mile road. But we were going pretty slow as I was still hoping I would be able to get the Ford Explorer back down the mountain in good enough condition to drive it to work on Tuesday morning!

Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

Comments or Questions

HarknessHooligans	Great job with the kiddos! 5/30/2012 2:41pm What a fun family trip. Im impressed with your kids 6 14ers under their belts. Congrats to all! We did this last year and drove our Subaru Forester up the jeep road and across Baldwin Creek. Made it with no issues but would never do it again. Glad you guys had a great day!
shmaig	Subaru 5/30/2012 3:03pm Thank you! These two boys hike like mountain goats! They always seem to beat us parents to the top by a few minutes. Yours must have been the trip report about the Subaru last year...we commented on the drive up that we couldn't imagine how you made it up that road in a Subaru! You must have some serious driving skillz! Ha!
DrewCO	Good job! 5/31/2012 6:16pm I just read the two most recent trip reports, and dillonsarnelli's indicated that there were trees across the 4WD road. Did you encounter trees on the road? - DrewCO
shmaig	Trees 5/31/2012 9:34pm Hi DrewCO! No, didn't experience any trees across the road. Whatever was there previously must have been moved. Just a lot of bumpy rocks! Good luck!
RckyMtBob	How far up the Jeep road go 5/31/2012 9:48pm Have not done Antero but looking for a fairly easy peak that I haven't already done to start out on this summer How far up does the Jeep road go? I read that it stops at about 12K but the pictures look like the trail is really a road up to the saddle at about 13K+. Is there a gate somewhere along the way or just an obvious stopping point. I have a old Jeep CJ5 (short wheel base, a slight lift and good big tires). Curious how far I can get. Thanks for any feedback
cfb	Great for Kids 5/31/2012 11:21pm Sounds like a great trip for you and the kids. It was nice of them to let you join them. Hope you didn't slow them down.
shmaig	How far up the Jeep road 6/1/2012 2:52pm RckyMtBob, The jeep road has a wide spot at about timberline where there were three other trucks parked that day. The wide spot was about 4.2 or 4.4 miles in from the trailhead by my odometer, and you will want to find a place to park around that area. You will find that it's just more of an obvious stopping point because after that the jeep ”road” becomes more of a ”wide ATV trail” carved into the side of a steep mountain . But it does continue on up the mountain to about 13,800. In your Jeep CJ5 you'll be just fine going up the 4.2 miles of jeep road.
Lalong	How big a vehicle can I drive up the road?? 6/11/2012 4:39pm I have a F-150 truck,four door, short box; is it small enough to make it up the baldwin gulch road? I know that there are a few switch backs to negotiate.
shmaig	F-150 pickup 6/12/2012 10:52pm Hi lalong, you will be just fine in an F-150. None of the switchbacks are that tight. We saw a guy up there with an extended cab long bed full sized pickup who made it to timberline. Have a good trip!

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Mount Antero - Baldwin Gulch Route - May 28th, 2012

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