Mill Creek
We saw snow on the trail on Mill Creek, even though we didn't see any on Red Elephant Hill. That made things even more interesting, and we had a blast on the rocks. The trail starts out bumpy and stays pretty bumpy, making it a bit more challenging than Red Elephant Hill and Bill Moore Lake.
We played on the rocks along the trail and enjoyed the scenery, even though it's primarily a dirt and rock trail surrounded by pine trees. We noticed that there wasn't much pine beetle damage in this area, which is nice to see.
We soon came to the big clearing by the creek where we've had lunch before, but we all decided we'd rather eat at the Empire Hilton. It was probably 30 minutes away, but we could wait. We were making really good time.
There was just a little bit of ice at the edges of the first creek crossing, with water still flowing nicely. It was very scenic as we crossed it.
At the Empire Hilton, we all parked and explored a bit before settling down for lunch. The sun was out every once in awhile and it wasn't windy at all, but it was pretty cold. We chatted and enjoyed our leisurely lunch, but we soon packed up because we were all freezing.
The Empire Hilton was full, and everyone noticed lots of mouse droppings in almost every area. It didn't smell bad, but if you stayed there you'd definitely have company.
The clouds were moving very fast above us, and every once in awhile the sun would come out as we drove along the trail. We had a few hills to climb that had a bit of snow on them, but nothing was too difficult.
We were picking up another group on the CB and we hoped they were on Bill Moore Lake. We didn't know how much snow there would be on that trail, so we asked where they were. It turned out they were over on Cascade Creek, easily 7 miles away across I-70 and more than a few mountains. We had a good conversation with them, and it sounded like they didn't see too much snow, either. It's always cool to pick up another group on the CB.
The second creek crossing was almost completely frozen. Our Jeeps broke through the very top, but we didn't see any water in our tracks. It was in the sun, but solid ice.
The rest of the trail was fun as we climbed up to the end of Red Elephant Hill. We did the last bit of that trail to intersect with Bill Moore Lake. Mill Creek really is a great trail, and we had a fun time.
Reports from Other Days: 5
Use the arrows or dots to flip through the previews of the other reports for Mill Creek. Click one of them to read more and see all of the photos from that day.
