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 photo
Bald 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