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| | | Fiddlehead - Soda - Ditch, CO | | | |
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Fiddlehead - Soda - Ditch, CO
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| Snowshoeing | 4.03 Miles |
490 AEG |
| | Snowshoeing | 4.03 Miles | 2 Hrs 10 Mns | | 1.98 mph |
| 490 ft AEG | | | | |
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| no partners | | Not a lot of info online about these named FS trails-- I'll get them posted on HAZ in due time.
For my afternoon adventure today, I headed up to the Dry Lake Trailhead. In the summer, there's an open dirt road that crosses Buffalo Pass a few miles east, the only other driveable crossing of the divide in the Park Range besides US 40 over Rabbit Ears. In winter, the road is closed at Dry Lake and the summer driving route is groomed for snowcat skiing and other motorized snowplay. There are, however, non-motorized areas and that's where I headed, enjoying a nice loop combining the Fiddlehead, Soda Creek, and Ditch trails.
While signed, these trails are not as well-marked as those on Rabbit Ears so where the track was not established it was a bit tricky to find. But that's part of the adventure! It turned out to be a really nice loop and one I would definitely do again. The forest here was much healthier with a lot more large aspen groves than farther south near Rabbit Ears. Daily snowfall had kept things fresh, fluffy, and deep, and while only light snow fell during my loop, the higher elevations above were getting pummeled. 
I wasn't sure what to expect from this one, but would come back for sure. There are other options that really start to grind the 2100 feet of elevation gain from the trailhead to the divide at Buffalo Pass if that's what you're in the mood for! |
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| I'm not sure what my spirit animal is, but I'm confident it has rabies. |
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Route Editor
Route Scout
) I'd done a snowshoe loop from this trailhead a couple of years ago and with a few inches of fresh snowfall overnight I figured this area might be nice. 
