 |
| Me, standing in an amazing field of flowers! |
Now, enough gushing, onto the posting.
My parents are now retired and spent a month in Breckenridge to visit us and enjoy the mountains. It was a treat to spend each weekend in Breck and to hike with my dad. It was finally our weekend to do a long hike and the group chose Miners Creek trail to the top of Peak 6. My dad had thought the hike would be 4-5 miles, I believed him, but it ended up being much longer.
Getting there: From I-70 at Frisco, drive south toward Breckenridge for 1.6 miles (from hwy) and turn right onto Peak One BLVD. Take the next right onto Miners Creek Road and go left immediately. It pretty much looks like you are about to drive down the bike trail. After just a few yards there is the first trailhead on the left, but you can continue driving through the gate and up the road, drive across the actual bike trail and next the road makes a sharp left turn. You'll see the parking lot on your right for Miners Creek. However, if you have a good 4Wd vehicle, you can drive up farther to the end of the 5 mile road (or as far as you can continue, it gets pretty bumpy) and hike the road to intersect the Miners Creek Trail. We continued to drive up the road as far as we could make it, a mile or more past the Rainbow lake parking lot, and stopped when we got to a creek crossing that looked deep. We parked and crossed the Creek to where we knew the Peaks trail to be and hiked that to Miners Creek Trail which was well marked with signs. However, later we realized it would be just easier to hike up the road directly to the Miners Creek trailhead at the end. We added over an hour of hiking our way, but it was beautiful. Here is the link to the 2nd parking lot on google maps.
Note: We had a 4WD SUV, but couldn't quite make it all the way up in our vehicle. There is also open national forest camping available past the posted sign on Miners Creek Road, about 1-2 miles up. Hiking with me that day were my husband Josh, my dad, and our family from Montana Jim and Deb. My dad, Jim and Deb are hiking the Appalachian Trail next summer (I am jealous!)
We got started hiking on the Peaks trail (which goes from Breckenridge to Frisco), the reason we knew the Peaks trail was nearby, was simply because my dad hiked the Peaks trail the prior week and it crossed Miners Creek road. The Peaks trail continued through the thick pine forest and next to a creek. It was a beautiful morning and I was loving every minute of this hike, it was a long time coming for me. I started my runkeeper app, set to hike mode and started up the trail, eager to track my actual mileage and location. But little did I know, that technology I was relying on, ended up failing me and stopping after just 0.8 of a mile. I didn't realize this until the end. Huge disappointment. What are your favorite hiking apps?
***
After we had hiked at least a mile, probably a little more, we came to the sign for the Miners Creek trail and we turned right and started up that. We were greeted with more pine forest, which would open up into flowered fields, and then back into the forest. I was waiting to get above the treeline, I love to have the views galore, but it took us several hours before we reached that high. Above you can see some of the flowers and the first few peaks on the Tenmile range.
***
It was great to hike with family, catch up and enjoy the beautiful nature around us. We started the hike around 945am, we had hoped to be back by 2pm, but it was becoming apparent we were farther behind than we planned due to the longer drive in.
***
Miners Creek trail is part of the Continental Divide trail and the Colorado Trail systems. We met a young man who had hiked from southern New Mexico and was hoping to hike all the way to Canada, by himself. It was great to chat with him and to hear some of his stories. He was on his way to Frisco for a burger and beer.
***
Around 1pm we stopped in this field to eat lunch. This photo does not do the beauty justice. The field was filled with wildflowers of all kinds, with the trail and river winding through the valley. It was one that will stand out in my memory.
***
I got just a few shots of this amazing valley. Here are a few of my favorites.
***
After lunch we continued up the trail, which has a long steep section from the valley until you reach above the treeline.
***
Above the treeline, coming out of the woods (the photo on the left) and the photo on the right is looking back across the tundra. You can see my husband coming up over the ridge.
***
You can see the Frisco Res in the photo above. Once across the tundra, you continue up switchbacks to the bow of the mountain. Looking up from here you can see is Peak 4, but we were heading to Peak 6.
***
The photo on the left is my dad standing on the bluff or saddle, you can see it better looking back, in the photo on the right. It was about this time that we were deciding whether we should head back down, or continue to Peak 6. My dad wanted to keep hiking and since I have a lot of his adventurous spirit in me, I also was agreeable to keep hiking. The rest of our group were going to walk a little farther and enjoy the views and wait for us to come back down. Josh said after a while a herd of elk came out and played in the fields below them, they watched them for several minutes.
***
Dad and I continued until we reached the base of Peak 6 and then realized we still had a major hike up switchbacks to reach the summit. At this point dad decided he was going to go back and I decided to go on by myself. We split up and I went up, he went back.
***
I am at the saddle in the photos above. Looking south in the photo on the left, toward Peak 7 and Peak 8. The shot on the right is looking over the other side of the mountain.
***
I still had a bit to go to reach the top, and at this point, I decided to head back. The clouds were coming in and the lighting this season is a bit freaky.
***
I called Josh to tell him I was hiking back his way and to wait for me. Dad, Jim and Deb started down slowly. We hiked back down Miners Creek trail until we intersected Miners Creek road and we walked down the road and back to our car. It eliminated at least 1-2 miles of hiking on the way back. Even so, it was nearly an 8 hour hike, with a larger group that traveled at different speeds. It was still a perfect day hike and I have several more in Breckenridge to blog about soon.
***
I estimate we hiked 7-8 miles and it took us nearly 7 hours.
I'd love to hear about your favorite and most accurate hiking apps. Thanks for reading and helping this blog grow!
No comments:
Post a Comment