In a continued effort to train for our upcoming Switzerland hiking adventure, Lisa and I decided to hike in a 12 mile loop around Summit County's Buffalo Mountain. We started at the very top of Wildernest (the Buffalo Cabin trailhead) joined up with the Gore Creek Trail, hiked up and over Eccles Pass (directly west of Buffalo Mountain), dropped down onto the Meadow Creek Trail, cut through the woods and joined the Lily pad Lake trail, returning to our car about 7.5 hours later. The hike was long, but the day was fantastic - not too hot, not too cool... we started with an anxious hiker warning us that he'd seen an angry bear on the trail, blocking his path (he decided to turn around)...we continued with extreme caution on bear alert but thankfully saw none. We did, however, spot a moose (largely because we were paying so much attention to our surroundings) and a long-tailed weasel along trail - more wildlife than we usually see!
An old miner's sluice in the forest A moose in the forest Someone earlier on the trail had mentioned a bear sighting, so we were on high alert walking down the trail...and we spotted this guy...The northern flank of Buffalo Mountain South Willow Creek Falls Brian Lisa at the falls S. Willow Creek Falls and Buffalo Mountain The craggy northern side of Buffalo Mountain A nice panorama of Summit County A few colorful wildflowers still remain Lisa An unnamed peak between Eccles and Red Buffalo Pass The full northern face of Buffalo Mountain Lisa The trail leading up to Eccles Pass Looking down the valley between Red Mountain (left) and Buffalo Mountain (right) Red Buffalo Pass, Red Mountain, and Buffalo Mountain Brian just below the north side of Eccles Pass Lisa, Red Mountain in the background The path leading up to Eccles Pass The summit of Eccles Pass The south side of Eccles Pass Bald Mountain, Peak One, Quandary Peak, and Copper Mountain all visible in this photoBald Mountain (above Breckenridge) in the distance, beyond Peak One The back (west) side of Buffalo Mountain Red Mountain Lisa on Eccles Pass Indian Paintbrush Hiking down the south side of Eccles Pass Brian taking this picture... Eccles Pass across a small tarn Gentian Switching from the spruce forest back to the (now dead) lodgepole pine forest Grays and Torreys above Lake Dillon Our route around Buffalo Mountain
