Pennsylvania Mountain Trip Report 07/25/2020

Report Type	Mini
Peak(s)	Pennsylvania Mountain - 13,013 feet
Date Posted	07/25/2020
Modified	07/27/2020
Date Climbed	07/25/2020
Author	overthe59hill

Quick Hike
Trailhead: Pennsylvania Mountain Trailhead on Mountain View Drive. No restrooms. This is reached by an easy 2wd dirt road. Not a large lot, but room for 8 or 10 cars, and parking is available along the side of road. There were 12 people on the hike up and about 8 more on my way back down for only 20 hikers at the time, before 10:30 am. Begin Hike: 7:50 am Summit: 9:10 am Leave Summit: 9:25 am Return to Car: 10:30 am My 10th 13er. This is a quick and easy, class 1 hike - a good one for beginners. There are some steep parts, but it doesn't involve dangerous, exposed areas or boulder fields. The one point I need to make is to be sure to take the right trail at the beginning or you will get off course a little, as seen in my MapMyFitness app illustration below. The map illustrates how I got off trail early in the hike but turned left and regained the trail. I encountered a three generation trio from Kansas. Colorado Columbines - our State Flower The first bump has a couple of cairns. There are two false summits. The third bump is the top. Second bump - no, that is still not the top. Here is ... still not the summit! I read another trip report after writing this one. I have maybe a few hundred more yards. Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

Quick Hike

Trailhead: Pennsylvania Mountain Trailhead on Mountain View Drive. No restrooms. This is reached by an easy 2wd dirt road. Not a large lot, but room for 8 or 10 cars, and parking is available along the side of road.

There were 12 people on the hike up and about 8 more on my way back down for only 20 hikers at the time, before 10:30 am.

Begin Hike: 7:50 am
Summit: 9:10 am
Leave Summit: 9:25 am
Return to Car: 10:30 am

My 10th 13er. This is a quick and easy, class 1 hike - a good one for beginners. There are some steep parts, but it doesn't involve dangerous, exposed areas or boulder fields. The one point I need to make is to be sure to take the right trail at the beginning or you will get off course a little, as seen in my MapMyFitness app illustration below.

20424_01 — The map illustrates how I got off trail early in the hike but turned left and regained the trail.

20424_02 — I encountered a three generation trio from Kansas.

20424_03 — Colorado Columbines - our State Flower

20424_06 — The first bump has a couple of cairns. There are two false summits. The third bump is the top.

20424_05 — Second bump - no, that is still not the top.

20424_07 — Here is ... still not the summit! I read another trip report after writing this one. I have maybe a few hundred more yards.

Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

Comments or Questions

Sbenfield	Nice! 7/25/2020 9:31pm Fun lil peak!
ryannadire	You might not want to hear this... 7/26/2020 5:53pm But that's not the summit! The true summit is to the northwest.
overthe59hill	Summit 7/26/2020 6:00pm I don't think it went any further. Northwest is... London I think.
overthe59hill	False Summit 7/27/2020 9:27am Now, one of these days I have to get back up there and get the true summit and edit this report.
rrk	My two cents 7/28/2020 1:08pm Partly inspired by your trip report, and thinking I only had a short weather window (not so, as it turned out), I made a quick dash down there yesterday. I was aware of the discussion of the summit location, so I walked around to a number of possible points. The highest point from my vantage was a cairn slightly farther to the right, or northeast, of the ridge line, atop a gradual rounding of the terrain. The cairn was not as large as the one in your photo, and there was a small white plank of wood in a hole next to it. Great excuse to repeat a pleasant hike!
overthe59hill	Two Cents 7/28/2020 2:00pm Thanks for checking and commenting! I guess whoever is establishing trails and summit markers needs to be aware of the confusion about this one. It can happen when summits are large plateaus. I also found it hard to pinpoint the summit on Mt. Cameron.
Chicago Transplant	12871 7/28/2020 5:38pm Yep, unfortunately you were on PT 12871, it seems a lot of people turn around there, however! When you are ready to go back, Chelsea's report from recently shows a picture of the true summit from this false summit. There is also a good report from Trotter that shows the false summit and its cairn with the true summit in the background to the right and a few photos of the journey over there as well as a map. The summit is to the northwest of where you took your summit photo. It drops slightly, maybe 50-60 feet through a broad grassy saddle to the west-northwest, then you turn north and climb about 180-200 feet to the true summit on very gentle slopes. The summits are about 1/2 mile apart, maybe slightly more. You will get it next time :)
overthe59hill	Returned Wednesday 7/30/2020 3:13pm I went back yesterday and this time went through the gorgeous meadow, up to the vast summit plateau of Pennsylvania Mountain, and at about 0.6 mile beyond the 12er, I found the rock wind shelter with a bench, but no rockpile and no geological marker, which I know isn't on all the peaks. My phone elevation app said I was at 13,021' and Penn is supposed to be 13,006'. I think I will write up another trip report.
overthe59hill	New Trip Report 7/30/2020 4:43pm I have added a trip report for my hike to Penn Mtn. My new trip report

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