Overview
Cheesman Mountain is by far not the most challenging mountain, but if you want to see how 60,000 acres of burnt forest look from above - then Cheesman Mountain is your place.
In June 08, 2002 a national forest employee (in charge of preventing forest fires) burnt a love rejection letter in a fire ring and did not extinguish the fire...which turned into the largest forest fire in the history of Colorado - affecting 120,000 acres in total and turning 60,000 acres of forest and 533 houses to ashes. It will take centuries until this ghostly landscape is covered again by a mature forest .
Getting ThereTravel South on US 285 - west bound (Hampden Av. within city limits) to the small town of Pine Junction.
Turn south on County Road 126, pass through Pine and Buffalo Creek.
TRAILHEAD FOR EAST SLOPE:
Turn right into the parking lot for the Upper Cheesman Canyon Trail when you reach the valley bottom of Wigwam Creek (right before crossing the creek).
TRAILHEAD FOR WEST SLOPE:
Drive on a couple more yards and turn to your right on Forest Road 211 (3 miles before Deckers)- look for the sign to Cheesman Reservoir.
The unpaved Forest Road is very narrow and windy on its first 2 miles, you will drive constantly along dropp offs.
After two miles you reach a junction (marked by several oversized post boxes).
You might be able to squeeze in a car along the road right before the junction ,otherwise proceed in direction of Cheesman Reservoir (to your left), where you find two parking lots.
Mountain Condition
The mountain can be climbed year round.
Lots of dead trees around you - sooner or later they will all fall - do not hike on windy days.
Not much shade and no water on the mountain - definitely a hot hike in the summer.
Plenty of thornscrubb. Count on rattle snakes inhabiting the mountain slopes.
The dirt road to Cheesman Reservoir is maintained in the winter as it is the only access road to the reservoir. It is very steep and windy - be prepared for icy and slippery road conditions - you don't want to slide off the road, would be a pretty deep fall.Camping/Red Tape
No camping allowed at Cheesman Reservoir and in the Upper Cheesman Canyon.
Danger of falling trees makes camping anywhere on Cheesman Mountain not advisable - besides that spots which are flat and without rocks and scrubb are hard to come by .
Closest Campgrounds are along CR 126
Lone Rock - close to Deckers
Kelsey - between Buffalo Creek and FR 211
The campgrounds along FR 211 (Goose Creek and Molly Gulch) are closed because of flashflood danger.
Cheesman Mountain is partly on land of the Pike National Forest and partly on land owned by Denver Water - please abide to all rules and regulations. Images
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