Corkscrew Gulch
We had plans to do four trails in one day, and if all went well we were hoping to get five trails in before the end of the day. So, we left Ouray at about 8:00 in the morning and headed south on highway 550 for the Corkscrew Gulch trailhead. The sun was cresting over the mountains to the east and gave us a fantastic view of the aspens turning colors to the west. Simply magnificent! We were soon at the trailhead and promptly headed up.
As we were climbing, views of red mountains and changing aspen trees kept our eyes going in all directions. It really doesn't get much better than this! After a brief stop at the pit toilets we kept heading up to the summit.
At the top, we took a right turn on a spur to find out where it ended. The spur provided shelf roads and some tight switchbacks, but nothing that wasn't manageable. We kept going until the road ran out. At the end there was room to turn around several vehicles, and the views were nothing short of spectacular. They were perhaps the best views we had seen on this trip so far. If you are on Corkscrew Gulch, definitely take this spur because it is worth the time and effort.
After spending a bit of time at the overlook at the end of the spur, we headed back to the summit mand proceeded down to the Hurricane Pass road. The views of the valley below proved to be quite spectacular as well. We really enjoyed the trail, but we were soon on Hurricane Pass road.
Reports from Other Days: 4
Use the arrows or dots to flip through the previews of the other reports for Corkscrew Gulch. Click one of them to read more and see all of the photos from that day.
