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This was a beautiful hike. Lots of wildflowers blooming and bright blue skies (in the morning). A couple of easy stream crossings so your toes might get wet. A few bugs helping the flowers, but not bad. There didn’t seem to be a real “end” to the hike, as the trail went further than the GPS map showed. For me, 5.5 miles.
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The hike begins in the valley at the old mine and proceeds up a steep section to a knife ridge. Exposure is on both sides and is passage is possible without technical gear for a careful and skilled mountaineer.
Great views, avoid the afternoon lightning and showers.
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8 miles Round trip. Impressive water falls about 3.75 miles in. Only a few people on the trail
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This is a great way to get a base camp for the El Diente Wilson Traverse. Note we back tracked because there is no higher camping with easy access to water.
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Great trail to hike with dogs as there is lots of access to the creek along the way. The climb is gradual and not too steep. Hiked this trail at the end of May and it was in great shape - not muddy and lots of wildflowers in bloom. Trail passes through patches of shade but large sections of the trail are exposed to full sun.
The last half-mile on the road to the trailhead is on a very rough, bumpy road. The road might be gated. You may need to open the gate to pass through. From the parking area, walk straight ahead to the first trail sign. Continue straight until you see a sign for First Fork to the left. Cross over the stream and pass through a gate to access the trail.
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Great trail to hike with dogs as there is lots of access to the creek along the way. The climb is gradual and not too steep. Hiked this trail at the end of May and it was in great shape - not muddy and lots of wildflowers in bloom. Trail passes through patches of shade but large sections of the trail are exposed to full sun.
The last half-mile on the road to the trailhead is on a very rough, bumpy road. The road might be gated. You may need to open the gate to pass through. From the parking area, walk straight ahead to the first trail sign. Continue straight until you see a sign for First Fork to the left. Cross over the stream and pass through a gate to access the trail.
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Great trail to hike with dogs as there is lots of access to the creek along the way. The climb is gradual and not too steep. Hiked this trail at the end of May and it was in great shape - not muddy and lots of wildflowers in bloom. Trail passes through patches of shade but large sections of the trail are exposed to full sun.
The last half-mile on the road to the trailhead is on a very rough, bumpy road. The road might be gated. You may need to open the gate to pass through. From the parking area, walk straight ahead to the first trail sign. Continue straight until you see a sign for First Fork to the left. Cross over the stream and pass through a gate to access the trail.
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Rode this loop on mountain bikes. The Jones creek trail is fun and flowing (and makes a good out and back for a shorter ride). The Pinkerton Flagstaff trail connecting the top of Jones Creek to Dutch Creek is steep and rocky in places that are hike a bikes. Dutch creek makes a fun downhill run but be aware it has a number of fairly technical rock gardens. Also has several creek crossings that will be deep and fast spring and early summer (my group did it late fall so no problems). Final stretch back is on the Hermosa trail. Aside from fairly short climbs it relatively easy and has some fun downhill stretches.
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Enjoyable hike with lots of scenery. The trail follows a beautiful creek with Icy blue water. The waterfall is cool!
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This is our trip to Silverton. The hiking was awesome. We really love the fall foliage, aspen trees, snow pine trees, especially the ice lake basin. This lake is very clean, blue and peaceful with the mountains around with some snow on the tops. Exceptional!!!
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Great place to drive in and camp. Plenty of space along the steam.
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Super friendly to new hikers. All types of terrain to hike on and plenty of views to enjoy. Pretty popular place for young families to enjoy a day out.
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Beautiful Views, very low traffic if any, some dispersed camping along the creek and a good ascent with shear drop offs. A couple areas along the south of the trail get a little tight do to fallen/falling rock. Definitely recommend for a nice trail between Durango and Ouray.
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Awesome trail, steep and narrow on the Rico side. Not much traffic. Few Mtn bikes and some atv’s when we left. Would not do in spring or when wet.
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New trail up at Boggy Draw. Great 5 mike loop with views of Bean Canyon, McPhee and House Creek.
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Dispersed camping areas very dirty. It was sad to see so much garbage and human waste in such a beautiful area. We stopped to purchase firewood at the campground and would recommend staying there if in the area.
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Not sure what to say. It takes too long to arrive at the trailhead probably 3 to 4 hours before starting the hike to Dollar Lakes. Find another way to Dollar Lakes
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As a local I would rate this as an easy hike. Did it in 2 hours (actually less forgot to turn off my trail recording), the top has what I would describe as easy rock scramble that you could do up right without hands. Enjoyed it and will add to my “quick hikes”. Hope this helps someone out there!
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I love this trail! Forgot to start gps at beginning of hike so I started it on the return leg of the trip. Hiked to the camp site at the creek. Rayne and Kim hiked with me. Harsh rain storm on the way out.
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Started hike about 7:30 am, we were camping at South Mineral Creek Campground. There were not many others on the trail. Over the weekend there had been at least 60 cars parked at the trailhead and along the road. The hike has two fairly steep sections near the beginning and end of the trail, with a nice low incline section in the middle through a gorgeous alpine meadow, with water spilling off the mountain slopes all around you. Overall the hike was quite strenuous, and incredibly beautiful! Best to start early in the morning, and during the week if you want to avoid the crowds and have some solitude.
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Long drive to the trailhead but we’ll worth it. The view at the top is spectacular!
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This was my first time hiking this trail and it was great! We started around 1:30pm and it was pretty hot since there isn’t shade for about 1 mile. Then the trail went through the trees for a while with shade here and there. About 2 miles in there was a creek where I let my dog play and cool down. We turned around at that point.
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The Triple Crown is three ridges in two different mountains in the La Platas that earn 4,500 vertical feet of skiing on excellent trees terrain.
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Fun technical XC climb where you can break trail about a mile in on the right. The road was frozen so account for extra time getting out. Amazing scenery. The blue and green trails are well groomed without being giant walls. Good for all levels.
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The hike was wonderful and the views very pretty. I picked a bad day. It was very cold and along the ridges and at the top the wind was so strong it knocked me over on a crumbly part of the trail where my footing want secure! I’ll do it again on a better day!
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Great loop trip of Deadwood and Silver Mountains. Route finding ability a must.
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This is one of my top hikes. You will see lots of mountain waterfalls, small lakes and wild flowers. We did this hike in September so it wasn’t packed. It rained and hailed which made it challenging at times, but well worth every step. The only drawback was that it was very windy at the top so we couldn’t hang out at the amazing blue lake.
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Great, short hike. Nice elevation gain on the east trail; 500 feet or so. Beautiful hike. Good trail conditions. 4 stars given due to incessant flies. Biblical; old testament stuff this year probably due to high water. We camped above the falls and bailed early am (before 10:30am) just when the flies started moving. Hike will be much better after a hard frost.
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Great trail, not as steep as I anticipated. The flowers around Engineer Mountain were beautiful.
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Just an absolutely gorgeous drive with lots of side trips and amazing vistas!!
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This one is a good trail. As of 7/23/19 the road is closed about .5 miles to the lake. Easy hike if you’re in for some beautiful views!
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This is great hike and good work out. last mile with lots of vertical. Took me 4 1/2 hrs RT.
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Easy hike up the access road to the low lake with expansive views of the valley to the West and Potato Hill to the East. Purgatory resort is also viewable.
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