Mount Bailey

Overview

Mt. Bailey is the visually prominent peak you see every time you drive east bound through the town of Bailey on your way to Denver and the Front Range plains.

Peak Stats, courtesy ListsofJohn.com:

Bailey, Mount
Elevation : 9,089'
CO Peaks Rank : 2874
Counties : Park
Quad : Bailey
Prominence: 549'

This is a nice ranked (>300' of prominence) peak that has a nice public trail, completely surrounded by private property. This peak makes for a nice excursion for when you have limited time but still want to get out and don't want to drive far, or when you want to add it on to the end of a shorter day.

Getting There

From Denver, drive on Highway 285 west (signs say south) through Aspen Park. Continue to Annex Lane (about 26 miles west of C-470/285 intersection). Turn south and drive on CO RD 72, turn right (south)on Burland Dr. Drive until you see the parking area and the playgound (about a mile).

Red Tape & considerations

This area is surrounded by private property, and the only known public access is the trail leading to the summit. The cliffs, while appealing for rock climbing, are also private property.

Once at the viewpoint, the summit area is dominated by the communications tower area, recently ringed by a new fence, complete with barbed wire. Please do NOT enter the communications area - disturbing the private property could jeopardize everyone's access to this peak.

This trail, while nicely constructed, is not really a good trail for mountain bikes or horses. Further, it is only a half mile each way, and thus not really worth the effort of bringing a bike here. There are MUCH better biking trails than this.

It should be mentioned that this trail gets LOTS of use by locals (which is great!), but when it snows, it gets packed down and turns icy. So microspikes or other traction devices are highly recommended.

Camping

Not to be dismissive of this peak, but this is not really a destination peak for camping and back country. This is more of a day hike as a short trip when you have time constraints, or added on to a shorter day.

The Route

From the parking area at the playground, this is a hike of about 1.2 miles and 375' of gain.

Images

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