Boulder - South Boulder Mountain - Bear Peak r2

About a month ago, I tried to get Green Mountain, Bear Peak, and South Boulder Mountain under my belt in one day.  I ran out of time that day and returned without Bear Peak and South Boulder Mountain completed.  Today, I started from a slightly closer trailhead and gave myself a bit more time.

I started my hike at the Green Mountain Trailhead.  This trailhead had limited parking on the side of the road, but I was early enough that I had no problem finding a spot.  However, when I returned there were vehicles everywhere along both sides of the road.  The trailhead is used mainly by people who want to tackle Green Mountain, but without the serious elevation gain of starting near the Chautauqua trailheads.

Required TH picture

About a mile into the hike there is a trail junction which you can take to descend into the Bear Creek Valley and then ascend to Bear Peak and South Boulder Mountain.  I quickly got to Bear Creek and began a steady ascent to the base of Bear Peak.  About a half mile from Bear Peak the trail steeply ascends a spine up to Bear Peak.

The climb to Bear Peak

The ascent is about 600ft in about 0.4mi (2000ft).  That is a steep climb, especially over rock and boulders.  I did plenty of three and four point hiking.  That is what I call it when I have to use one or both hands to stay stable and get up the hill.

About 150 ft from the summit of Bear Peak, the trail forks.  The south fork will take you down to the saddle between Bear Peak and South Boulder Mountain then back up to the summit of South Boulder.  This area has been burned so the scenery is not the best to look at.

South Boulder Mountain from saddle

However, once you summit South Boulder, the views to the south are nice.

South from South Boulder Mountain summit

Southwest from South Boulder Mountain summit

You can get a good view of Bear Peak too.

Bear Peak from South Boulder Mountain

I turned back to make the summit of Bear Peak and then head back to the truck.  I had a nice lunch in a small shaded nook on Bear Creek, then on to the truck.

Bear Creek lunch spot

All in all it was a great day.  After a couple of fits and starts, I finally got South Boulder Mountain under my belt.

Overall Track Statistics for Boulder - SBoulderBear r2,   1437 data points

 Length 9.500 miles  :  Garmin Length 10.301 miles

 Start Elevation - 7689.60 feet

 Maximum Elevation - 8501.84 feet

 Minimum Elevation - 7158.37 feet

 Date of Hike - Apr 14, 2017

 Start Time - 08:28 AM

 End Time - 01:33 PM

 Total Duration -     5:05 hours:min

 Total Ascent - 2889.04 feet

 Total Descent - 3104.92 feet

 Net Ascent - -215.88 feet

 Maximum Grade - 34.37%

 Average Speed -  1.87 mph :  Garmin Average Speed  2.02 mph

 Maximum Ascent over Mile - 1013.09 feet

 Maximum Speed over Mile -  3.02 mph

 Maximum Gain over Mile (%) - 16.01%