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Add your own trip Report!
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Date: 2005-10-08 11:05:00.0
Difficulty: Hard
Number of People Encountered: 0-10 ppl
Recommendation: Highly
Fairly good trail for horses though extremely rocky and rough. My wife and I rode to the top and back. About 15 miles round trip. Couple good places for water for the horses.
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Date: 2004-02-20 16:37:00.0
Difficulty: Hard
Number of People Encountered: 0-10 ppl
Recommendation: Neutral
Living in this area, we have passed the trail
head for the Ben Tyler Trail (606) off Rt. 285
numerous times and, finally, decided to give it
a try. There is ample parking along both sides
of Rt. 285.
1. The 11 switch backs at the trail terminus
make the initial elevation gain fairly easy. The
trail is fairly flat for the next two miles and
eventually follows along side a fast moving
stream. Actually, you enter the Lost Creek
Wilderness along this lower portion; therefore,
this trail can be used for hiking and horse
back riding only - no mountain bikes. At
about 2 miles, the trail crosses the stream; the
elevation gain here was only about 800 feet.
2. And then, the trail gets fairly rocky and
begins to steeply climb through a damp aspen
grove. The trail follows the stream for about 1
mile and then turns away; except for a few
small rivulets, this is the last water on the
trail.
3. As you trek up the steep trail, if you look
towards your right, you can just see a
towering rock cliff face . Further up, you get
good views of a whole mountain side covered
with aspen; this is the largest grove of aspen I
have ever seen and looked to me like it will be
absolutely gorgeous this autumn. I did not see
a sign that said "Craig Park Trail 1.9 miles".
4. The trail junction with the Craig Park Trail
was at 6.25 miles for us, not 5 miles as the
write-up says. The elevation gail was 2,700
feet. The fairly new sign now points to where
the Craig Park Trail and the Ben Tyler Trail go.
5. The best view of the Ben Tyler gulch is half
a mile further along the Ben Tyler Trail. You
can see the Bailey school complex, the
Snaking Gulch burn, the Platt River valley, and
the mountains to the north. Since we normally
hike the Mount Evans Wilderness, to us, this
was a new aspect of our beautiful area. The
towering rock cliff that we looked up at on the
way up was now very, very far below us giving
us a good idea of just how high we had
climbed.
6. The trail continued to steeply snake
through a Bristle Cone Pine forest and crossed
a fairly flat saddle. The trail becomes fairly
indistinct through here. We could see the
saddle dropping off and continued along the
trail until we could see the view of South Park
and the high mountains that edge South Park
to the west.
7. After hiking down the steep, rocky trail,
one of the best parts of this hike was sitting
on a log over the stream and dangling our feet
in the cold, cold water. What a treat! I felt
refreshed and renewed for the last 2 miles to
our car.
Our stats: 3,200 feet gain, 15.35 miles, 7
hours, 4 very tired feet.
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Denver Area - The largest city in Colorado, Denver is a major transportation hub for those coming to the mountains.
Pike and San Isabel National Forests - The Pike San Isabel National Forest is an administrative compact between the two forests southeast of the Continental Divide in Colorado.
Pike National Forest - The Pike National Forest encompasses over one million acres of land in south central Colorado. This region includes 14,000 foot mountains, gold-medal fishing streams, wilderness areas, campgrounds, scenic byways, ski resorts and hundreds of miles of trails.
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