Mount Baldy
The weather was nice out for a trail run up Mount Baldy and Bull Park. It was sunny with an occasional breeze, so it wasn't too hot out. Temperatures were in the 50s and 60s.
We met Walt at the trailhead for Mount Baldy at the intersection of Forest Road 379, at Frosty Park and Gold Camp Road. There were five other Jeeps and off-roading vehicles at the trailhead parking lot. It was a nice day, so we came across multiple other off-roading groups throughout the day.
The trail itself was very dry, with only two muddy spots. The larger of the two had ice on top due to the cooler temperatures at night. When we came upon the larger of the puddles, the group we saw at the trailhead had caught up to us but they did not want to pass us, so we continued on.
We turned right on a sharp turn onto Forest Road 379.A, Almargre. We stopped at the overlook so that everyone could get some photos. About five minutes after we stopped a silver Jeep TJ came up and joined us. They were from another state and had gone ahead from their group as they were still occupied further back along the trail.
Continuing along the trail the tree cover opened up to the shelf road portion of the trail, which at first was not as rocky. As we got closer to the section that had been blocked off by a rockslide a few years prior, the trail became much rockier and narrower. There were four to twelve inches from the edge of the road to the side of our tires.
After a blind and tight corner, we had larger rocks and small boulders to go over at times. The last quarter mile of the trail that leads to the gate was the most challenging part of the trail, and we needed to be mindful of where our tires were and how much clearance there was with our vehicles. All of our Jeeps had at least 35-inch tires with a minimum of two-inch lifts, and we had to be careful.
We took a 30-minute break at the end of the trail for lunch. Then, we turned right before the gate to go down a rocky section that ended with a large open space that overlooked Colorado Springs and Pueblo. There was a side trail that led back to the main trail from this open space that we could have taken if we chose not to go back up the rocky section to the gate, but we decided to go back up the trail we had just gone down. We saw part of a boulder that they drilled into to break apart and clear a path for the trail.
Overall, Mount Baldy is not a difficult trail. Still, we needed to be careful along the narrow section of the shelf road with the blind corner. When we got back to the trailhead we headed to our next trail.
Reports from Other Days: 9
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