GC74MFP Traditional Cache LSA #11: Baker Mountain
Type: Traditional | Size: Micro Micro | Difficulty: 1.5 out of 5 | Terrain: 1.5 out of 5
By: aCacheologist @ | Hide Date: 04/16/2017 | Status: Available
Country: United States | State: Colorado
Coordinates: N40° 21.281 W106° 34.117 | Last updated: 08/30/2019 | Fav points: 0
Scenic view  Available during winter  Park and Grab 

A small roadside geocache.  Be careful when pulling off the road.

Baker Mountain was a small, family ski area that operated from 1950 to 1953 in this remote corner of Middle Park.  Two Kremmling ranchers (Joe McElroy and Willard Taussig) were tired of hauling their family all the way to Winter Park to ski, so they cut some tress, rigged up a couple 500-foot long rope tows and opened for business.  The area was described as having "aspen, open parks, ample snow and no wind,"  A lifetime membership was said to cost $70.  It closed after 3 years, in part, because it was too much of a struggle to plow the access roads.

If you look northwest from the geocache location, you are looking right at Baker Mountain.  You might even be able to make out the traces of the east-facing ski runs and lift cuts.  You can access the mountain from a parking lot on the south side of Hwy. 40, about 1.5 miles west of the junction of Hwy 40 and 14.  I will probably return this summer and place a geocache at the old base area, then make this one into a multicache stage.  So if you want to claim an easy park & grab, you better act fast!

One final historical note:  McElroy is generally credited with first use of the term "Champaigne Powder" to decsribe the snow on Baker Mountain. The term is now copyrighted by, and exclusively used by Steamboat Ski Resort, 30 miles to the northwest. 

 

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 Logs

10 Logs: Found it 10  

Found it 05/25/2019 By HuskerMagna
Enjoying a family vacation with Jynjur and ToOzEl22. Picking up some caches along the way. Started in New Mexico and going through Arizona, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Wyoming and Nebraska. Enjoyed the stop at the cache site. SL.

Found it 05/25/2019 By ToOzEl22
Found with my grandma (Jynjur) and grandpa (huskermagna) on my end of the year field trip to the Petrified Forest, Grand Canyon, Hoover Dam, Valley of Fire, Zion National Park and Bryce Canyon. We started in New Mexico and traveled through Arizona, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Wyoming and Nebraska. TFTC

Found it 05/25/2019 By Jynjur
Had a wonderful trip with HuskerMagna and Toozel22. We ventured through the Petrified Forest, Grand Canyon, Hoover Dam, Valley of Fire State Park, Zion National Park, Bryce Canyon, Moab, Arches National Park and Canyonland. We drove through New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Wyoming and Nebraska. Figured it out and signed the log. T4TC

Found it 05/15/2019 By GeoTed1
Was expecting magnetic... not the friendly side of the road... but quick find.

Found it 09/19/2018 By Mc*2
Had to look for a while but we finally found it. Thx!

Mc*2

Found it 08/14/2018 By MAGICN3
Interesting history. TFTC.

Found it 08/09/2018 By wogunhiker
On our way to Longmire Days in Buffalo, spent the night in Kremmling and nabbed this cache. Thanks for giving us something to hunt!

Found it 07/31/2018 By Mr, Peabody
Fun history on the way to Steamboat. TFTC

Found it 07/31/2018 By VirginiaS
Thanks for the history. I love champagne powder!

Found it 07/29/2018 By Cache Crazed
Found this one to be in great shape. TFTC