Mount Antero - 14269' - Class 1
Cronin Peak - 13870' - Class 2
June 2011
This was one of the last day climbs Mandy and I did shortly before we parted at Conundrum Hot Springs on the first of July. After we did San Luis Peak we decided to head to the Sawatch in search of less remaining snow. The drive to the lower trailhead was long once again and we parked the car well after midnight and only got a couple hours of sleep. At 4am we started hiking up the Baldwin Gulch jeep road. This 3 mile walk was boring but we got to the junction and creek crossing just at the beginning of twilight and I snapped the photo seen at left of Mount Antero and Baldwin Creek. I had to take my shoes off to wade across Baldwin Creek and the water was cold! We continued up the Antero jeep trail to treeline and beyond. For some dumb reason we kept following the road as it switchbacked up low angle turns and we added probably a mile to the hike but once at the saddle we left the road and finished the hike up the ridge to the summit of Antero which was actually very pretty. It was only around 8am when we got to the top and there wasn't as much smoke. Across the valley, Cronin Peak was an interesting orange color. Mandy decided to head back down to the car but I also wanted to run the ridge to Cronin Peak. So I ran back down to the broad saddle where the road ends and made great time running up the 800 feet to the summit of Cronin. it was about 11:00am by the time I reached Cronin and I was racing the storm clouds as I saw them to the west the whole time. As a nice detour I continued down the southwest ridge instead of the north ridge. From Cronin I saw Baldwin Lake in the next valley over and just had to pay a visit. Plus I knew the other road continued to Baldwin Lake so I would have an easy hike out. After about 3/4 mile down this ridge I reached a saddle and descended steep loose talus to the lake. What a beautiful place this basin is. I took a bunch of photos at the lasy as the nice puffy clouds passed by above. Just as I started hiking down the road the clouds quickly built and covered the sky. The remaining long hike out was uneventful.
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