Another early season hike up Avalanche Creek

I've posted a few times to this blog about my favorite early season hike.  Because it's relatively exposed, and tops out at only 9,000 feet, the Avalanche Creek trail is a great one to do when the others are muddy or choked with snow fields.

We saw a number of folks out enjoying the trail yesterday, as it was a Saturday and the weather was great.  Here are a few shots showing the scenery and high water.

panorama from the overlook

Hell Roaring creek

shooting stars

The Avalanche Creek trail begins at the eastern end of the USFS Avalanche campground, several miles east of highway 133, between Redstone and Carbondale, Colorado.

Duley Park on the Avalanche Creek trail

About four and a half miles up the Avalanche Creek trail is Duley Park, an open expanse that looks like a great place to build your dream home.  For day-hikers, this is a great spot to enjoy lunch and take photos.  Backpackers could make camp in the pines near the creek.  On the other side of the clearing the trail continues its gentle climb toward Avalanche Lake - the last mile and a half of which is rather steep.  There's also a junction with a trail that goes over a pass into Lead King Basin.

I often hike Avalanche Creek early in the season because of its low elevation and southern exposure.  September is a nice time too, as the golden fields compliment the blue skies and puffy white clouds.  In a couple of weeks, the aspens that cover the northern slopes of the valley will be ablaze in color, and I may return to photograph them.

The Avalanche Creek trailhead is in the campground at the end of the USFS road that turns east from Highway 133 about ten miles south of Carbondale, Colorado.

Avalanche Creek 2011

Thank goodness the trail stays north of the water, as it's running very high and fast this year.

Plenty of wildflowers abound, especially shooting stars.

 

The trailhead is at the end of the Avalanche Creek Road, on the east side of the USFS campground.  The road joins Highway 133 about ten miles south of Carbondale.

Avalanche Creek, in the Crystal River valley

I'm thinking I should hike up Avalanche Creek this week.  It's a great early-season hike because of its low elevation and good exposure to the sun.

The trailhead is about ten miles south of Carbondale, Colorado, and provides great access to the west side of the Snowmass-Maroon Bells wilderness area.  Hikers will find many wildflowers in the meadows and clearings.

Avalanche Creek - great early season hike

Once skiing is done, we in Colorado refer the next few weeks as "mud season."  Like the name implies, the retreating snows leave behind a lot of muddy trails.  One of my favorite early season hikes is Avalanche Creek.  It works well for a few reasons.  The first is its elevation.  The trailhead starts at 7,400 feet, which isn't too high.  By mid-April, that area is usually snow-free.  The east-west orientation of the valley also works toward its favor, as it gets sun all day long by then, and dried out quickly.

Because of the seasonal closure of the Avalanche Creek road (to protect the bighorn sheep), you might need to park at the gate and walk a couple miles to the trailhead.  The walk itself is pleasant enough.  Crossing Bulldog Creek is easy, and the first mile of the trail past the campground ought to be dry. 

In May, when higher elevation and northern-facing trails are still holding much snow, you can hike all the way past Duley Park (but not too much farther).