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| Hiking | 11.37 Miles |
3,303 AEG |
| | Hiking | 11.37 Miles | 9 Hrs 46 Mns | | 1.31 mph |
| 3,303 ft AEG | 1 Hour 7 Mns Break | | | |
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| no linked trail guides |
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| no partners | | He smiled and all his teeth
Were covered with tobacco stains
He said, "It don't do men no good
To pray for peace and rain"
"Peace and rain is just a way to say prosperity
And buffalo chips is all it means to me"
This hike went to the summit of 2 13ers:
1) East Buffalo Peak (elevation of 13,302 feet and prominence of 479 feet)
2) West Buffalo Peak (elevation of 13,330 feet and prominence of 1,996 feet)
These 2 peaks are in the southern part of the Mosquito range and are in the Buffalo Peaks Wilderness area. West Buffalo is the high point of the wilderness.
The last few miles to the TH were on an unpaved road. It wasn't the greatest road that I have driven, but it is ok for a crossover SUV when dry.
I did a lasso loop hike, going to East Buffalo first and then West Buffalo.
The first 2 3/4 miles were on a trail that was mostly an old road bed. Then I went up a steep talus slope towards a ridgeline; this part was a pain and I wish that I had taken an alternative route to avoid the talus.
I ascended East Buffalo on a ridgeline to the northeast. It was very, very steep and covered in talus; this made for a slow ascent for me. The ascent was mostly class 2. I eventually made it to the summit and enjoyed the nice views.
I then dropped down a little over 500 feet to a saddle between East and West Buffalo. The descent was more on tundra than talus, and wasn't too bad.
I then had to climb over 500 feet to get to the summit of West Buffalo. This was on a rocky ridgeline covered in even more talus. There is no trail and no cairns or painted arrows, but as KC might say: that's the way, uh-huh, I like it, uh-huh.
The ascent up to West Buffalo was mostly class 2, but there was one class 3 section that was very short, and might have been avoidable if you dropped down a bit. Once past the class 3 climb there was much less talus, which was a relief.
There were nice views at the summit of West Buffalo and I enjoyed the views up there.
I descended down the north side of West Buffalo, and then looped around to the east to get back. There was very little talus on the descent and it went fairly fast. I was in open country until I got back down the treeline, and had to make my way through a fairly dense forest for a mile or so. I eventually got back to the road, and it was a piece of cake hiking on the road back to the TH.
Synopsis
With all of the talus, this hike was much tougher than I envisioned. If I had it to do over again, I think that I would skip East Buffalo and hike to West Buffalo only in order to avoid hiking on all the talus. There were great views on the hike and it was an interesting hike, so I am glad that I did it |
| _____________________
| Civilization is a nice place to visit but I wouldn't want to live there |
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