So for today's adventure, we stitched together a Buffalo Creek area ride that would give us more than 20 miles of riding and about 2,000 feet of climbing. It worked out well and we all had a great time. Click here to see our route. We started up the Buffalo Creek Road, a mostly closed road that follows Buffalo Creek upstream for about four miles, while gaining an easy 500 feet of elevation. At the top, where the Gashouse Gulch and Mount Baldy trails depart to the north, we stopped for butterfly break.
We followed Gashouse Gulch Trail uphill through a large burned area until we reached Redskin Creek Trail, and re-entered the forest. Even though we'd started at 9 a.m., the sun was hot and we were relieved to find shade in the forest. This area burned about 20 years ago, yet there are almost no new trees sprouting up. It's a stark landscape, dominated by gravel, grasses, and small shrubs. The round pink lumps of granite add texture. It's wonderful.
Redskin Creek Trail connects with Gashouse Gulch Trail at about mile six. We'd just reentered the forest, having climbed about 1,000 feet in the sun. Redskin Creek Trail wound quickly down to the Creek, descending about 150 feet. It was a really nice smooth, roller coaster sort of flow trail. A pleasant surprise.
But before we got going on Redskin, we spent a little time slurping water and being silly.
Redskin Creek Trail took us to the Colorado Trail, which we followed back to the east for about eight miles. It climbed, mostly gently, for about 1,000 feet, and then began to descend. The Colorado Trail is really nice. Most of it is within the forest, running along the north-facing slope above Redskin Creek. The trail is mostly smooth and gravelly with lots of roots and a few rocks to keep it interesting.
By the time we finished our eight miles on the Colorado Trail, Quinn was beginning to feel a little dizzy or light-headed. We weren't sure exactly what the problem was; he'd had plenty of water, we'd had a good snack along the trail, and it wasn't overly hot. Still, I was worried about possible heat exhaustion, so we stopped at a picnic table at the Little Scraggy Trailhead for fairly long break so he could cool down and, we hoped, start feeling better. He had a snack and rested, and improved somewhat, but still didn't seem to be quite 100% when we got back on the trail. Since the rest of the ride was downhill, I figured he be alright. And he did indeed improve, but was left with a bit of a headache.
We went north from the Little Scraggy Trailhead on the Buffalo Burn Trail. The view out across the valley was incredible, with puffy clouds moving in as predicted.
When the lightning began, we felt too exposed on Buffalo Burn and the Nice Kitty Trail, but that just helped us pick up the pace towards the valley.
Abbey is lost in the forest of skeletons on Nice Kitty Trail.
Nice Kitty is a new trail, but is fairly similar to other Buffalo Creek trails. Lots of smooth flowing trail punctuated by interesting rock obstacles. Quinn took this one easily, of course.
We did not get struck by lightning. The bridge at the north end of Nice Kitty Trail takes us across Buffalo Creek and connects to the Buffalo Creek Road, just about a half mile up from the parking area. Of course, we hit the parking area just as the rain hit, so we spent some time sweating in the truck while we waited for the rain to pass.
It was another great trip, ending up at about 22 miles, just under five hours, with about 2,000 feet of total climbing. Very fun; very pretty. As for Quinn and the dizziness, our best guess is that he was just getting tired and hungry. So next time, we'll try to feed him more often, but otherwise we'll just keep at it and see how it goes.
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