SOTA outings by KØMOS and contributors

Tag: Golden Gate State Park

  • WØC/FR-Ø49 (Centralia Mountain) – 2986 m / 9795 ft

    W0C/FR-049
    Centralia Mountain
    2986 M / 9795 FT
    Sep 26, 2013 First Activation
    May 26, 2014 Second Activation

    by KX0R

    Centralia Mountain is a prominent peak located just south of Golden Gate Canyon State Park west of Denver.

    Centralia from Visitor Point
    Centralia Mountain from Visitor Point

    There are several roads to the Park – start by driving to Golden. Follow Highway 93 to the north side of Golden, and turn west onto Road 70, Golden Gate Canyon. Follow this winding paved highway up into the mountains until it drops down into the Ralston Creek Drainage – there is a sign for the park and the Visitors Center. Unless you have a pass, buy one at the Visitors Center, and drive east along paved Road 57, which leads down Ralston Creek. After about 3 miles there is sign for the Nott Creek parking area – turn north and park immediately in the first parking lot. Be sure that your State Parks Pass is displayed in your vehicle’s front window. This is the best place to start your climb up Centralia.

    Centralia Mountain is partly surrounded by private land, and there are no designated trails to the summit. Climbing and activating this peak requires good navigation and route-finding skills. There are probably several reasonable ways to climb Centralia, but private land and limited access reduce the good options. I found a surprisingly efficient off-trail route up from Nott Creek.

    Walk south from the parking area, cross the paved road, and then cross Ralston Creek on a foot-bridge west of the large barn.

    Bridge over Ralston Creek
    Bridge over Ralston Creek

    Look carefully and find an informal path that leads up the steep ridge south of the children’s play area.

    Start of Trail at Playground
    Start of Trail at Playground

    Climb about 100 vertical feet up to the ridge top, head uphill and west, and ascend near the top of the ridge. Continue climbing for several hundred vertical feet, and reach a large area where the forest has been cleared, probably for wildfire prevention.

    Cleared Forest on Centralia looking NE to Blue and East Blue Mountains
    Cleared Forest on Centralia looking NE to Blue and East Blue Mountains

    Stay within the cleared area, and climb south to the highest point that has been cleared. This leads to an interesting ridge that is easy to climb.

    Centralia Ridge Ascent Route
    Centralia Ridge Ascent Route

    There are several rocky points along the ridge that must be passed on one side or the other. The last of these “maxima” – near 8920 feet – has an exposed rocky knob from which you get a good view of the east side of Centralia Mountain. Take a good look, because visibility is somewhat limited in the forest. Backtrack down and pass the knob on the south side. The remaining part of the climb is forested, but the lower part is relatively open.

    Centralia NE Top Part
    Centralia NE Top Part

    The last thousand vertical feet up the east side of the mountain may be climbed directly. An ascending traverse heading southeast works well. Aim for a point several hundred feet southeast of the actual summit. If you aim for the summit, the slope is steep and covered with rocks that have come down from the top. The lichens on the rocks are slippery when wet. Heading southeast of the summit is more pleasant and avoids the rocky areas, and there is a natural route that goes right up toward the summit. There are useful game trails up there, and although there are some downed trees, most of them are easy to get over. This is an incredibly easy off-trail route, considering the length and the 2200 vertical feet of ascent required. A GPS is good for route-finding on the last steep section – the summit is not visible from down in the woods.

    It’s only about 2 miles and 2200 vertical feet to the summit of Centralia. I climbed it in 1-1/2 hours, when the woods were cool and damp, with hail from the previous day’s storm still on some of the slopes and near the summit. Don’t mess with this mountain, unless you’re OK with off-trail hiking and have the required level of fitness!

    The summit ridge is long and rocky, with a very steep slope on the west side.

     

    There is a nice flat spot southeast of the summit, within the Activation Zone, with several useful trees and a sheltered spot to operate from.

    The peak is very prominent, has low RF noise, and propagation is good in all directions. It should be a great site for VHF/UHF across most of the Denver Metro Area and beyond, as well as HF all over the world!

    Very few people visit this special summit. It’s a SOTA Classic!

    George Carey Fuller
    KX0R

    ATTENTION !! WARNING !! There are old mountaineers, and bold mountaineers… there are no old-bold mountaineers. Hiking and mountain climbing are potentially hazardous activities particularly in Colorado with its extreme elevations. I am not accepting responsibility for any death or injury resulting from activations based on my trip reports. Proper training, experience, and personal capability assessment is required – enjoy!

  • WØC/SR-Ø54 (Tremont Mountain) 3160M / 10388 ft

    W0C/SR-054 (Tremont Mountain) 3160M / 10388 ft
    Sep 7, 2013 First Activation

    Tremont Mountain is conveniently located near Gap Road in beautiful Golden Gate Canyon State Park, west of Golden, Colorado. I climbed it from a designated parking spot about ½ mile east of Panorama Point, on the south side of Gap Road. A fee and pass are required to park in the State Park.

    For this trip you need a topo map, compass, and good navigation skills; a GPS is helpful. The hike is moderately strenuous, but it’s only about a mile each way.
    The route appears to be an off-trail bushwhack trip almost 1000 vertical feet all the way up. However, if you’re sharp, you can find old abandoned logging trails that go directly up, almost to the top. I found two of these trails.

    Go south from the parking spot and immediately intersect the hidden Mule Deer Trail. Hike west and climb slightly on this maintained trail about ¼ mile, and find an old trail or trails heading off uphill to the south. I found two of these unmarked trails. If the Mule Deer Trail is descending to the west, you have gone too far. The western of the two routes works pretty well – I descended that way. The route goes up directly, east of the craggy northern ridge of Tremont Mountain. These trails resemble gullies and may have been used decades ago to drag logs down from the mountain. There are old cut stumps near the summits.

    Climb up the old trail, and try to stay with it through occasional thickets of new growth. There are significant trees growing in this trail – but it’s a much better route than the off-trail ascent I did through fallen trees, rocks, and bushes. The old route is an obvious game trail. Stay east of the northern ridge, until you get near the summits.

    The name “Tremont” may mean “three summits”, because that’s what’s up there. The northwestern summit at 10,388 feet is the highest – but I couldn’t see through the trees, so I climbed the southeastern knob first, then the middle one, and then the northwestern summit before knowing which crag was the top. It’s easy scrambling over large rocks up the northeastern side of the northwestern summit. The actual peak is out at the northwestern end of the slightly exposed granite summit ridge. It’s a spectacular place, with views of the high Front Range peaks, Boulder and Gilpin Counties, Thorodin Mountain, Pike’s Peak, Mount Elbert, and the Eastern Plains.

    Despite being included in the Sawatch Range group of SOTA peaks, Tremont is far from the Sawatch area – it’s really in the eastern Front Range.

    Tremont is a fine SOTA peak! There are small trees along the summit ridge, and if you bring an antenna pole, you can just stick it in a tree. Even with no pole, the trees could support a wire 6-8 feet above the granite ridge-top. I used a 66 foot end-fed wire supported by a Black Widow pole at 18 feet above the rock, with the NW end tied to a tree. I got 57 contacts of 40, 20, 17, and 15M CW. The solar flux was only 101, and I still managed to get six S2S contacts on 20M, 42 contacts on 20M, DJ5AV on 17M, and 5 contacts on 15M.

    This eastern peak has nice coverage of much of the Denver Metro Area, and I made good local contacts, as well short and long skip Q’s. This is surely a great VHF/UHF peak.

    Tremont is very prominent and should be avoided if there is any threat of electrical activity! It was nice while I was there, just breezy, but it’s often very windy during the colder months. There are sheltered spots near the ridge-top with some protection from the wind. Since the ascent described here is totally on the cold north side of the mountain, a winter ascent would probably require a strenuous hike on snowshoes. A much longer and stronger south-side ascent might be practical as well.

    I would never have climbed Tremont were it not for SOTA, but it ranks high on my list of fun summits!

    George Carey Fuller
    KX0R

     

     

    ATTENTION !! WARNING !! There are old mountaineers, and bold mountaineers… there are no old-bold mountaineers. Hiking and mountain climbing are potentially hazardous activities particularly in Colorado with its extreme elevations. I am not accepting responsibility for any death or injury resulting from activations based on my trip reports. Proper training, experience, and personal capability assessment is required – enjoy!