Baldy Mountain is on the east side of the North Thompson River, standing above Dunn Lake and west of Dunn Peak.   It is part of the Dunn Range, a series of rocky peaks with Dunn Peak in the center at 2595m (8513 feet), the highest peak of our area.   We drove to Little Fort and took the reaction ferry across to the east side.   The ferryman had many helpful hints for us about going up Baldy.    We drove the 7 km gravel road to the north end of Dunn Lake.   Finding all the right turns up the mountain is not easy and we took two dead-end routes and had to backtrack, but we worked it out with the help of a GPS (not very accurate on the backroads).   We drove up a high-clearance road for 15 km and parked at the end of a cutblock, just below the steepest part of the route.

At about 11 km we could see the tailings of Windpass mine.   Most of the buildings were out of sight in the woods, but this older building was close to the road.   We think it was probably a bunkhouse for the miners.   The mine operated from 1916 to 1939.   Ore was transported down the mountain in an aerial cable car.

The mine site was again drilled in 2009 and gold ore was found, but the company did not pursue a futher venture way up on the mountain at about 1577m (5100 feet).

BC Archives

Above the mine site, we drove through a cutblock and parked our trucks at the bottom of a steep, rocky track.   Some vehicles drive to the top in 4×4’s or quads, but we thought the track was too rough for our vehicles and we wanted the hike instead.     At the top is an old forestry lookout, now maintained by a snowmobile club.   .

Baldy Mountain is the western ridge of the Dunn Range, a series of 7000 ft plus peaks to the east.

Baldy is really a long alpine ridge extending  5 km in a SW to NE direction

In the alpine meadows and fell fields we spotted a family of ptarmigans.   The hen hustled 2 chicks off to safety among the alcoves in larger boulders while the male stood guard, ready to lead us away from the chicks.

In the lower spots below the meadows were a series of small tarns, filled by meltwaters from the snow fields above.   Drainage goes south into Dunn Creek -Dunn Lake – Joseph Creek – North Thompson River and north into Joseph Creek – North Thompson River.

We enjoyed the wildflowers and butterflies in the meadows on our way back down the mountain, returning to our vehicles in about 4 hours.

This was our first time up Baldy Mountain and we could see that we will need to return to explore the old mine and the towers from the airtram, the meadows that extend north, and some of the tarns in the  basins.   We will wait for a smoke-free day so we can also enjoy the views to the north and the west.