Bald Mountain Scenic Area
 Its name conjures up an image of a mountain summit that is windswept,
rocky and barren. If you hike to the 7,160 foot summit of Bald Mountain,
you will discover wind and rocks, but not a barren landscape. You will
find a magnificent view and a variety of wildflowers.
Because of the summit's shallow, coarse soil, strong winter winds and
hot dry summers, few trees can survive on Bald Mountain.
Bald Mountain Scenic Area has a multi-use trail
and picnic tables available for visitors.
It is located about 5 miles west of Boulder.
History
Pioneers grazed livestock, mined and logged in this area. Cattle
grazing occurred on the open space meadows as early as 1886. An old
livestock loading corral and chute still stand near the entrance and were
once a part of the Jones' homestead across the road.
Miners, Frank and John Weist thought Bald Mountain held the promise of
riches. In 1896, they were granted a mineral lease on the mountain and
began mining. Rusted buckets, pieces of tools and exploratory pits are all
that remain of their dreams.
Ponderosa pines of Bald Mountain were in high demand for fuel, mining
timbers and building materials.
Leased from the State Board of Land Commissioners, Bald Mountain Scenic
Area became the Parks and Open Space Department's first public open space
property in June 1973.
Bald Mountain consists of 108 acres of backcountry. Pines
to Peaks Trail is a one-mile multiuse
loop trail to the summit that provides excellent overlooks of the eastern
plains and the Continental Divide. Mountain
bikes, dogs
and horses are all permitted on
this trail.
Several picnic sites with tables and grills are located near the
trailhead.
Bald Mountain Scenic Area is located 5 miles west of Boulder on the
south side of Sunshine Canyon Drive (County Road 52).
Bald Mountain Scenic Area Map:
Because all of our open space properties are environmentally sensitive,
it is important for users to know the rules
and regulations pertaining to
our open space. Once the map is displayed, you can use
the adobe toolbar to fit the map to your window, pan, zoom in or out,
search or print the map on your own printer. The size of the original map
and screen reduction are shown on the lower left hand status bar.
The Bald Mountain Scenic Area map is a 50 KB
file and will require Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is available free from
Adobe. Map may not appear properly in your web browser, for best results, save
map file to a directory on your computer (right click and choose
"Save Target as" in Internet explorer or "Save Link
as" in Netscape) and open using Adobe Reader.
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