Salt Creek
We had a weekend of wheeling based in Johnson Village near Buena Vista, and we decided to run a couple of trails on the way to the KOA Campground. There were three vehicles on the trail that day, and the number and people would change every day until the end of the weekend. We met in Conifer and had lunch in Fairplay before heading for the trailhead for Salt Creek.
There was room to air down, so we were stopped right next to the highway. We talked about how we'd be chatting on the CB if we drove by some Jeeps airing down on some random dirt road. It was cool to finally check this one out, and it wasn't long before we were heading up the trail.
It started out easy and soon it was in the aspen trees. We weren't sure what to expect from fall this year after so much rain and flooding weeks before. We saw a few yellow aspen trees but most of them were green, and the grasses were still green. We even saw some flowers here and there.
We planned on checking out all of the spurs in the network from east to west so we headed up 435 first. It was a long and steady climb to the parking area at the end. It looked like it was specifically for people hiking the Salt Creek trail, but we didn't see anyone there.
We headed back down and then turned on the first spur. The trail got a bit more fun as it climbed up a hill and wandered around. The trail wasn't nearly as well maintained, and that made it better. We took a short spur up to a campsite that had a tent in it, turned around, and then headed down to the end at the creek camp. We hung out there for a while because it was so perfect. The breeze blew through the aspen trees and it was relaxing there in the shade. The area was flat and nice, and it would have made a great lunch spot. We explored the area a bit and then headed on our way.
The next spur into Brush Park was short and the views were gorgeous. We stopped at the end to take it all in and chat. There were some very pretty spots on the trail and we were really enjoying it.
The other half on forest service road 436 was also nice, but it was in more evergreens compared to all of the aspens on the other side. We headed up to the ridge camp and went by a nice, private cabin. It was small but it would be a fantastic place to stay. The ridge camp itself was big and nice, and we hung out there for a while.
Our last stop was at the collection of cabins. It must have been a small town at some point. There were lots of mining prospects in the area and this may have been where they lived. It was pretty cool.
We finally backtracked to head down Chubb Park. It was a great start to our weekend.
