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| Hiking | 12.03 Miles |
3,248 AEG |
| | Hiking | 12.03 Miles | 8 Hrs 21 Mns | | 1.63 mph |
| 3,248 ft AEG | 59 Mns Break | | | |
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| partners | | These trails need a LOT of love. It's a little bit sad. The worst is the connector trail. The connector trail starts just past the signed junction of pumpkin trail and the connector. The trail vanishes almost immediately. The GPS track is invaluable. The tread comes and goes but for large swaths of trail there is nothing. There are quite a few large Cairns, but they are oftentimes obscured by tall grass and shrubs. The trail can be found but it isn't a trivial exercise. We didn't find it to be too difficult, it just results in slowness.
The Trailhead is easy to reach. It was a smooth 3 hour drive from the valley to the Trailhead. After leaving Parks, the roads are unpaved but in pristine condition, probably due to the multitude of houses and ranches along the way. The last road, FR149, is smaller 2 track, but still in decent shape. The parking lot has the standard 3 panel Trailhead sign, and there is room for a number of cars. There were no cars when we arrived.
Pumpkin trail starts from the Trailhead. It is easy to follow to the junction. The connector skirts around Bull Basin (at this point you can already see the Kendrick summit in the distance with the fire tower on top), slowly going up before making a drop into another valley and heading to the junction with the Bull Basin trail. We had a snack at the junction and continued on.
The Bull Basin trail is decent. There is some dead fall in places, but not too bad. Lots of old burned tree skeletons. As you head up in earnest, there is a thicket of young aspens. Hundreds and hundreds of them. You can see nothing but an Aspen tunnel for quite some time as you continue to switchback up the mountain. After gaining elevation, you dump out of the Aspen tunnel into a small flat meadow, but then it is back into the aspens for a short time before you are clear and the views return. A bit more uphill, and you are on the flat area on top. The trail passes right next to Bull spring, but we saw no water. The area is a lush meadow with lots of wildflowers. There is more dead fall to navigate in this area, but it's not terrible. A bit more uphill, and the cabin comes into view along with the Kendrick trail junction.
We had lunch at the cabin before climbing the last uphill section to the pumpkin trail junction and the fire tower. Up to then, we had seen no people at all, but after leaving the cabin and arriving at the fire tower, we saw 4 people. Kendrick is a very popular trail!
We enjoyed the views from the helipad and continued up to the fire lookout deck. I was pleasantly surprised that it was open. We enjoyed the wonderful views and signed the logbook. It was sad to see 2 broken windows in the fire lookout.
The wind was crazy at the lookout, and we started down the pumpkin trail. We were lucky previously being sheltered by the mountain, but no more. The wind gusted and roared the remainder of the time until we reached the car. The pumpkin trail is definitely less used, but still mostly easy to follow. I am glad we went up Bull Basin, as pumpkin switchbacks very steeply. There were some great wildflowers while coming down the steepest part of Kendrick. In general, there were quite a bit of wildflowers overall. It was delightful!
After descending Kendrick, the pumpkin trail levels out and heads through a meadow. There is dead fall but mostly there are workarounds. The trail is lost sometimes, but not for significant distances. The GPS track is also handy for this trail as well. Soon you reach the area above Bull Basin and you can see the trail all the way until it descends into the basin itself. It is easy to move quickly here, as there are no trees or dead fall. There is one switch back through another Aspen thicket, but maintenance was done to allow the trail to pass through. After that, down down down down to the junction with the connector trail. More down to the Trailhead. We arrived at the Trailhead to one other car besides our own, but still only saw the 4 people in the very short trail section between the cabin and lookout.
Overall, it was a bit of an adventure with trail finding and Aspen forests, but the weather was phenomenal (even with excessive wind in the back half). It was so nice to get out of the heat. And there were wildflowers for almost the entire loop length so that was a real treat! Hopefully some trail maintenance can be done soon! |
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Wildflowers Observation Substantial
Flea bane, penstemon, Columbine, purple bells, and many others! |
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Route Editor
Route Scout
Route 
The purple clematis is very pretty.
I will have to keep that in mind while planning future hikes that he will attend! I was hoping he would be okay sitting in the front seat on the way back, but no dice.
