Taylor Canyon and the Fossil Ridge Wilderness

Near Crested Butte, almost July and snow is still on the mountains

It's Columbine time!

North of Gunnison on the way to Crested Butte, Colorado Hwy 135 climbs gradually into some beautiful and rugged territory in the Gunnison National Forest.  We had never been to this part of Colorado and decided to spend several days in a forest campground in Taylor Canyon.  This beautiful canyon, cut by the Taylor River, starts at the small town of Almont and ascends into the high country, ending in a gorgeous lake created by an earthen dam at the head of the canyon.

Taylor Lake

Letting tons of water out of the lake into Taylor River

We stayed at Lottis Creek Campground, just a few miles from Taylor Lake.  Lottis Creek flows into the Taylor River right at the campground and both rivers were running very high.  Many rivers in the West are at record highs because of the late snows this year.  It’s a good thing we enjoy the sound of running water because there was no getting away from it.  But fortunately, in our opinion, it doesn't get much better than sleeping next to a river.

Union Park Trail -- wet and rocky!

Our days went by fast as we took several hikes, did some car touring to Taylor Lake and an afternoon trip into Crested Butte for sight-seeing and ice cream.  We checked out other possible campsites north and a bit west of Crested Butte, but decided we didn’t want to torture Silver.  The roads were rough in places and although Silver could have made it most of the way, there were some serious potholes and rocky areas that would have been a challenge or perhaps even potential damage to Silver, so we decided to stay in our campsite by Taylor River and Lottis Creek.

Yes, this is the trail -- not the creek

We took three hikes although two of them were short.  The first day our goal was to hike the Lottis Creek Trail from our campground into the Fossil Ridge Wilderness.  The trail started out easy enough following the creek through a meadow for about half a mile before it split, with the Union Park Trail climbing about 7 miles to a huge high-country meadow and the Lottis Creek Trail climbing Fossil Ridge into the wilderness. 

River (left) and trail running side by side

We should have known by the high levels of all the creeks and rivers we’ve seen so far this spring that crossing the creek would be a problem.  However, we didn’t know there wasn’t a bridge and we weren’t prepared for just how high the water was running.  (Many Texas rivers don’t have as much water in them as this creek did.)  After a bit of scouting up and down, we decided against the crossing.  Maybe if we had brought sandals to change into, we would have attempted it but the idea of walking the rest of the trail in sopping wet boots and socks or crossing barefoot with all those slippery rocks wasn’t appealing. 

Arnica

Phlox and wild strawberry blooms -- Flowers were beautiful along the trail

Instead, we opted for the Union Park Trail which also followed Lottis Creek but didn’t cross it immediately.  The water was so high in the creek that it overflowed its banks and the trail had water a foot or deeper for much of the way.  It was also extremely rocky and not much fun to walk.  We slogged on for a bit and eventually got to the creek crossing only to see it wasn’t going to be any easier than the first crossing.  It just wasn’t our day.  

Cows in the forest

On the way back down, we ran into a heard of cows being driven up to Union Park for summer grazing.  (Many of our National Forests are open to grazing.) Two cowboys and two dogs were hurrying those cows right along.  It was fun to watch the dogs and cowboys at work.  We wished for Maya as she would have enjoyed the cows and working dogs.  But considering trail conditions, we were glad we left her napping.

Maya gets to go on a longer trail with us!

The next day we tried to enter Fossil Ridge Wilderness via the Summerville Trail, about five miles down the road.  Success at last – we got into the wilderness!  The trail followed a creek that truly was a creek and easy enough to cross in most places.  The first mile was a moderate climb and much less rocky than the Union Park Trail.  We hit a long series of switchbacks that were more challenging to climb but we eventually topped out.  However, we could see that there would be more climbing if we continued.  We enjoyed the view, rested a bit then headed back to have lunch with Maya.

One of the perks of hiking -- a swim

Since the Summerville trail was so enjoyable for that first mile, we decided it was suitable for Maya.  The next morning as we were loading our packs, Maya got excited.  She knew she was going hiking with us.  We all had a lovely walk of about 2 miles round trip and Maya did great.  That dog does get up a head of steam going downhill though and we must slow her down as she can lose control and start to roll.  She was one tuckered dog that afternoon and slept very well that night.  The next morning, she was none the worse for wear, so we think we can take her for longer distance hikes if the trail is an easy one.  We will just see…

After the hike -- one tired dog!

David’s Stats:

Days Hiked   3

        
Total Miles Hiked   9.26  
Ave. Miles per Day     3.09
Total Elevation Gain     1,627
Ave. Elevation Gain per day  542