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| Backpack | 15.00 Miles |
2,000 AEG |
| | Backpack | 15.00 Miles | 2 Days | | |
| 2,000 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | This past weekend my wife and I took an overnight backpacking trip in the Blue Range primitive area. We were hoping to see some wolves but only ended up hearing them on Friday night. We hiked a loop consisting of the #73 (Steeple Trail) to #74 (Paradise Trail) to #65 (Upper Grant Creek Trail) to #305 (Long Cienega Trail). We started out Saturday morning and headed down the Steeple Trail. At its intersection with the #65 trail, there were a couple of backpacking tents setup in a nice meadow. I think this would be a good place to camp on a Friday night if you were arriving late.
After 65 we started to climb though meadows and forest that is recovering from a fire. The area is thick with young 4-6 foot aspens, almost as though they were a weed. Most of the leaves had changed to yellow/orange but were only just starting to fall. At 2.8 miles we came to the intersection with the #305 trail and #73 turned right up the hill to the KP rim. At the rim you get some great views. After hiking along the rim for short while we began the long downhill along Steeple Creek. So far the trail was relatively clear and looked like it was recently maintained. As we descended the trail slowly degraded from firm ground to loose rock combined with lots of fire debris. Whoever maintained the trail saw fit to cut the young trees off 4-6 inches above the ground and they make for great trip hazards. A little farther down you add in the thorn bushes, wear pants. We came to a downed tree that looked like it was blocking the trail, but there were actually some switchbacks going down to the creeks edge, water was flowing near the bottom. That's where the trail all but disappeared. We had to bushwack for about a mile, finding and losing the trail numerous times. Route finding was easy, just follow the creek. The trail cleared up shortly before reaching #74. Along the way we did find a spooky pile of old backpacking equipment including pack, tent, bag, and a pile of empty food cans; strange.
#74 is a well maintained trail which gently climbs away from Steeple creek and over to Moonshine Park, a small meadow in a depression. We camped there for the night. In the morning, it was back on #74 following along Grant creek which was flowing nicely. This turned into #65 and kept following the creek. We reached the canyon where I THOUGHT #305 was supposed to be, a small amount of water flowing in the stream. Due to my poor map reading skills, I thought we were supposed to hike directly up the drainage, but #305 was actually a little ways past the canyon exit. So we bushwacked up a short ways and then climbed out of the canyon and stumbled onto the trail - Hallelujah! We had considered turning back. This trail is a little less maintained, but not hard to follow. It takes you up the stream drainage, thru some thick forest so its well shaded. Water flow was intermittent throughout the trail. This trail had been recently cleared as well. Its about 3.5 miles from #65 back to #73 and you get to gain all the elevation you lost. The last ¼ mile of the hike opens up into a long meadow where the trail disappears. We just hiked to the other end and the trail resumed, dropping us at the 73/305 intersection. It seemed like a short hike back to the car from here compared to the slog up #305. We got back to the car enjoyed a cold bottle of Gatorade and some football on the radio.
This was a pretty difficult hike for us since we don't get many chances to go out. But well worth the effort. We got to enjoy some fall colors, cooler weather, and great views. |
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Autumn Foliage Observation Substantial
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Wildflowers Observation Isolated
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