Summit Elevation (m): 1910
Trip Date: June 05 2021
Elevation Gain (m): 425
Round Trip Time (hr): 2
Total Trip Distance (km): 8.5
Quick ‘n Dirty Rating: Class 2 – you fall, you tripped on your untied shoelace. Pay attention!
Difficulty Notes: Easy hiking up a series of logging roads right to the summit.
Technical Rating: TL2
GPS Track: Gaia
Map: Google Maps
After a wonderful day spent in the heart of the Upper Clearwater / Ram PLUZ on Mount Bramwell and Hummingbird Peak Cornelius and I found ourselves hiking back to the car under blue skies and brilliant sunshine. We absolutely should have been on a close by, much larger and nicer objective near our camp that morning but for a variety of reasons this didn’t happen and now it was time to try to salvage the day. This was my 3rd weekend in a row driving all the way out here and I wasn’t content to simply drive all the way home on such a nice day! This spring has found me doing many of the smaller foothills just east of the PLUZ and I still had a couple left so we decided to go with these. I hadn’t done any research on Baseline Mountain but my downloaded map had a ton of trails in the area and it looked like a road right to the fire lookout at its summit. We decided to try it first.

We arrived in the parking lot to see at least 8 vehicles and a dozen downhill mountain bikers. There was even a mobile bike shop sitting there! Apparently Baseline Mountain hosts the Baseline Mountain Bike Club and is a pretty sweet place to ride! We inquired about the best route and were advised not to hike up the downhill trails for obvious reasons. We decided to hike up the road instead – made more interesting by all the trucks lugging bikes up to the summit. I commented more than once that we should have just driven up.
Even though I would have much rather been on a real mountain the morning was nice and we chatted about life and other adventures as we easily hiked the ~400 vertical meters to the summit. Thanks to morning clouds (it was cloudier to the east than in the mountains) we had essentially no views. We briefly thought about hiking to the “old lookout” but I wasn’t in the mood to tag an outlier with no views.

We descended the road back to the truck and thought about what to do next. Baseline Mountain isn’t my favorite peak in the area but should be considered for anyone who finds themselves in bad weather after a long drive – it’s still a (small) mountain and likely has decent views on a reasonable day.
Hey Vern, did this yesterday (and Idlewilde). Was wondering why you didn’t go up to the Old Fire Lookout and cross over?
Its a much better hike. Half way up theres a nice ridge and rocky out croppings. Plus the foundations, nails, bit of glass, the steps carved into the rock and the writing in the rock. Always like to research my trips on your site. Thanks!!