Horse Ranch Park, Colorado

I have a lot of exploring to do in my new state, it's almost hard to pick where to go, with so many options, but I finally decided on Horse Ranch Park at Kebler Pass outside of Crested Butte, Colorado. It was a great choice! I did four rides and there are three more that I will go back and do another time. I have the Saddle Up Colorado book and it only mentions three rides, so originally I had thought I might move to another camp, but I ended up staying put. The National Geographic map for that area shows all of the trails, but the downside is those maps don't have mileage.

On the Beckwith Pass Trail.

I left on a Monday, I figured this could be a busy camping area and I didn't want to arrive on a weekend. As I was climbing a steep hill near Blue Mesa Reservoir, my truck suddenly lost a lot of power and the fuel filter light came on. I pulled over and waited for a minute, while it coughed and spluttered, then it regained power and I kept driving until I found somewhere to park. My truck is a trooper and I've had clogged filters before, and one time the alternator was going out on it, but my truck always keeps driving. I was prepared and already had a replacement filter with me, but I could not get the cap off, it was really tight and I did not have the correct tool. So I stopped in Gunnison at the Napa and they didn't have the tool either, but they were kind enough to put together something long enough to leverage it off with, the new filter was put in, and voila, problem solved. Happy truck!

Once I finally got to Horse Ranch Park I pulled in, found a great spot right away, got tacked up and went for my first ride.

There are two trailheads, one right in the camping area, and one across the road. The one across the road is the Cliff Creek Trailhead and I decided to do the ride to Lost Lake. According to the book I could do a 15 mile lollipop loop around three lakes. 

The Cliff Creek Trailhead, across the road from HRP.

The Cliff Creek Trail climbs, with steep sections, to a junction with the Beckwith Pass Trail, which I took, then when I got close to the lakes, I turned left to Dollar Lake first. I ran into a large group of ten riders, mostly on mules, coming back down. Dollar Lake is really beautiful so I hung out there for awhile, and then continued on the Three Lakes Loop. Lost Lake was next, a very swimmable lake I would like to return to, for swimming purposes, and then lastly Lost Lake Slough which is the biggest lake and has a campground. 

On the Cliff Creek Trail.

Lost Lake Slough.

Dollar Lake.

Marcellina Mt. and Lost Lake Slough.

Lost Lake

Right before I popped out at the campground I went over a weird low bridge that didn't seem super horse friendly, which made me suspicious. Sure enough when I got to the end of the trail, there was a sign saying "no horses". Remember my book quite clearly said you can do this as a loop...so I thought perhaps I was supposed to have taken a left on another wider trail, also heading towards the slough, but that trailhead sign also said "no horses". So I guess things have changed. From that point the Beckwith Pass Trailhead is right below the campground, which you ARE allowed to ride, and so I continued the loop back that way.

On the Beckwith Pass Trail.

When I got back to camp, I saw that the large group of mostly mule people I had run into were all camped in one large spot, that they had managed to squeeze five rigs into.

Horse Ranch Park is a large loop and it is a designated horse camping area, but it is free, so consequently anyone else can camp there as well. If you come in from Crested Butte, (I can't speak for coming in from the Paonia side, because I didn't drive it) the road is in good shape. There is a bathroom, and there are 5 official spots that either have hitching rails or feeders, or both, but no corrals. There are several water sources, a creek across the road, you can either walk horses to, or use a truck to haul water. The third spot, clockwise on the loop, has it's own large pond, and lastly the Dark Canyon Trailhead has a few smaller ponds very close by the camp. There is no cell service whatsoever. The trailheads in the area have maps of the trails. Descriptions I read before arriving make this camping area seem larger than it is, but if all the spots are taken, you can park in the middle of the camp loop in a grassy area. One of the spots has an older travel trailer parked in it, which has a sign stating it belongs to outfitters, but you can still use that spot. In fact no one ever saw any of the outfitters while we were there. This area is at about 8800 feet and some days it can be quite hot, but you ride higher in elevation from there. 

Horse Ranch Park.

My spot at Horse Ranch Park.

The first two spots had campers in them and I eventually ended up meeting and talking to both of those groups, exchanging trail information etc. Most everyone was from pretty far away, four people from Minnesota and at least some of the people in the spot with five rigs were from Missouri. The Minnesota people said it took them 20 hours to drive there, in comparison it took me 2.5 hours. But they are committed to doing several long trips per year and seeing as much of the country as they can.

The next day I did the Dark Canyon Trail, this can be done as a 16 mile loop coming back on the Silver Basin Trail, but as I was riding, the trail seemed less used, less maintained and overgrown in places. I ran into a guy riding solo, he was very friendly, but there was a bit of a language barrier. He came over to give me a fist bump, but since he was riding in a halter, and consequently didn't have much control, his horse proceeding to try to stick it's head up my horse's butt, which she didn't appreciate, so I moved on down the trail. I put two and two together, (once I came upon some sheep), that he was the local sheepherder.

The Dark Canyon Trailhead.

On the Dark Canyon Trail.

A large beaver dam on the Dark Canyon Trail.

Saw this little guy swimming around.

A viewpoint on the Dark Canyon Trail.

After awhile the trail goes through a couple of ravines and you are riding right past Marcellina Mt. But this trail is the only one that actually drops in elevation and it was a hot day, so I turned back once I got to Silver Creek. I decided I would rather do the Silver Basin Trail another time so I can veer off onto the Oh Be Joyful Trail into Buck Basin. On the way back it got stormy and rained a little bit, which cooled things off.

Marcellina Mt. on the Dark Canyon Trail.

On the Dark Canyon Trail.

Silver Creek.

Marcellina Mt, up close and personal.

Heading back along the Dark Canyon Trail.

Taking a break in a meadow.

The night before I had been awakened by something running past my trailer, and then one of the Minnesota people's horses started neighing.

So that evening I wandered over and asked them if they had had a horse get loose the night before. They said that something had run through their electric fence and one horse did get out. Then they told me that about an hour after I had left to go riding that morning a big bull moose had wandered through camp. So it's possible that the moose was the culprit from the night before, since the animal that I heard run past my trailer was definitely not a horse.

I missed seeing the moose but while on a walk that evening I saw a couple of mama elk with their little bitty babies going down to the creek to drink.

The next ride was the Dyke Trail to Lake Irwin. This trail is steep in places and climbs up past a rock formation called The Dyke. When I had left my home in Montrose, there were three fires burning, including one in the Black Canyon National Park. I live on the other side of the valley from the park and was not getting much smoke at home, but ironically the smoke was blowing in the direction of Horse Ranch Park, so there were a few hazy days, but this day was the worst, and it was pretty smoky as I was heading up the trail in the morning, luckily it blew out of there later in the day.

The Dyke Trail veers off from the Dark Canyon Trail.

On the Dyke Trail. Can you spot someone?

This guy!

The Dyke Trail is very lush.

The Dyke.

Once you get to the top the trail ends, and you have to ride through a rustic campground to see the views of the Ruby Range. There are little connector trails through the area that are marked for foot and horse traffic. It was peaceful up on the hill looking around at the views but then I rode down to Lake Irwin, unfortunately even on a Wednesday, this place was very busy. Cars, people, paddleboarders, everywhere, so I took a quick look at the lake and retreated.

At the top.

In the campground looking at the Ruby Mts.

The Ruby Mt. Range.

Lake Irwin.

Heading back down.

So many flowers.

This is an out and back and is about 13 miles if you do not go any further, but there are a couple options to ride along the lake or in the other direction into a cirque area below the Ruby Range.

Most of the other trails from Horse Ranch Park either go into the Raggeds or the West Elk Wildernesses, but this one does not, and it is shared with bikes. I ran into cyclists three separate times and all of them were very polite, especially the first group who had two adults and seven kids. The adults had told the kids to get off their bikes and to be quiet around the horse, which was nice of them.

Thursday was a day off for my pony and so I decided to hike a six mile loop that is partly on the Dark Canyon Trail, then it veers off on the Silver Basin Trail and back down the last part of the Dyke Trail. You could do this loop on a day when you wanted to do a shorter ride, but it does have some steep sections. 

When I got back to camp, I noticed some search and rescue vehicles had arrived. As the day wore on the people with the five rigs from Missouri had not returned at a normal time, so I figured something had gone awry. Finally at about 8pm they all returned, missing one rider, and a mule was being ponied back.

Unfortunately an older lady had come off her mule, was badly injured, and was air lifted out.

My pony grazes at Horse Ranch Park.

The last ride I did was back up the Cliff Creek Trail, but this time I went over Beckwith Pass and then from there I had several different directions to go. I started out by going over Swampy Pass, but didn't follow it anymore once it started dropping down to it's original trailhead.  Then I followed the North Castle Trail, which dropped into a gorgeous meadow with a view of The Castle.

On the Cliff Creek Trail.

The side view of East Beckwith Mt.

The West Elk Mts.

This ended up being my favorite ride. At one point the ground was swarming with Mormon Crickets, just in one area. I was surprised to see them there, the last time I saw that many in one place was in the Owyhee's in Idaho. Other than the crickets I had the area entirely to myself, only passing one group of backpackers all day.

Part of the Anthracite Range.

On the North Castle Trail.

The Castle.

East Beckwith Mt.

Aspen art.

The flowers are so tall.

The Anthracite Range.

On the way back a storm rolled in but I managed to stay pretty dry, I always carry a slicker, but once back at camp it really came down for awhile. Then the sun and blue sky returned and I went over to chat with the Minnesota people, since we both were leaving the next day. We decided just for kicks and giggles to all pile into their truck and take a quick drive over to a couple of the other trailheads in the area, to see if they were horse trailer friendly. 

It was Friday night and all of a sudden the fairly low population at camp changed drastically as eight more rigs pulled in. All the official spots were taken so they made themselves at home in the grassy area in the middle of the camp loop.

I'm glad I had arrived on a Monday!

GPS COORDINATES TO HORSE RANCH PARK

Cassidy Trail, Tropic Reservoir, Kodachrome Basin State Park, and Grandview Trail, Utah

In October of 2019 I took a horse camping trip into the Bryce Canyon Area, at the time I dispersed camped at Losee first, and also stayed at Coyote Hollow Equestrian Campground. I did the three most popular trails, Losee/Casto, Thunder Mt., and Willis Creek, but then I dropped down into Kanab to escape the chilly upcoming temperatures. To read about my first trip to this area click here: October 2019 Trip Now that I live significantly closer, I decided to go back and ride some more of the trails in the area.

On the Ledge Point Trail.

This time instead of chilly it was a little hotter than they had originally forecasted, but I camped along Tom's Best Spring Rd. at a nice high elevation, and it was quite pleasant. On the drive over, which was very scenic, like driving through a postcard, I made a quick stop at Butch Cassidy's boyhood home.

Stopped to see Butch Cassidy's boyhood home.

My spot on Tom's Best Spring Rd.

Tom's Best Spring is a good driveable road directly across Hwy 12 from the road that goes to Coyote Hollow Equestrian Campground. There are numerous dispersed spots to choose from, although some, especially on the right side of the road have a small but deep trench you have to drive through. I watched countless RV's bottom out pieces of their trailers while crossing over it. I camped on the left side that has easier access, right near a meadow with grazing cows....more about them later! There is no water and no amenities, but lots of cell service. If you wanted, you could ride to the Thunder Mt. Trailhead from this area, passing right by the horse camp.

A scruffy Antelope near camp.

Some nice views from camp.

My plan was to trailer out daily, and so on Monday I drove the whopping 4 miles over to the Red Canyon Trailhead to do the Cassidy Trail. This ties in eventually to the Losee/Casto Loop, but there are some side loops you can do on the way, the Rich Trail to Ledge Point and Brayton Point. Endless gorgeousness! It was a good time to go, I saw no one all day on the trail.

At the Red Canyon Trailhead.

On the Ledge Point Trail.

On the Ledge Point Trail.

At Brayton Point.

Hoodoos at Brayton Point.

Great views at Brayton Point.

My red dun pony in the red rocks!

On the Rich Trail.

I stopped at the Losee junction where there are some hitching rails and a small outhouse. This is only about a ten mile ride, but it was getting hot so I turned around, taking the other side of the small loops, so I had different scenery on the way back.

Hitching rails at the Losee Canyon junction.

At the Losee Canyon Junction.

The following day I drove over to East Fork Rd. which takes you to Tropic Reservoir, and beyond. You can also disperse camp out there, in designated spots only, and it is a lovely area at this time of year, quite a few streams, and lots of green grass. Right past the reservoir there is a pullout at Tropic Spring, which I was absolutely delighted to see. I parked there because after the ride my plan was to dump out all my crappy city water and fill all my jugs with fresh wonderful spring water. In Oregon I had a well, which was great, but Colorado is not big on wells, ( must be a reason), and so city water it is, even living outside of town.

I started by riding around the whole reservoir and then I crossed over the dam. I was on the Paunsaugunt Trail briefly, and there is also the Great Western Trail and the Fremont Trail in the area, which are actually roads, and used by ATV's.

Tropic Spring.

Started out by riding around the reservoir.

Looking back at where I had parked.

Tropic Reservoir.

After crossing the dam, I decided to follow another road onto Whiteman Bench, this eventually brought me to a nice overlook. There was a group of ATV riders having their lunch at the top, but I wandered over and took a quick look. Then I tried to loop back, I saw another way down from up top, but when I started heading that way it wasn't long before I came across a random locked gate. Seemed an odd place to be blocked off, and that forced me to return the same way, but only after hiding out under a tree for awhile during some thunder and rain.

Storm clouds started to gather.

Looking down on the reservoir from Whiteman Bench.

Riding back down the same way.

Lots of greenery, but also some red rock.

The weather cleared up again, as it tends to do, and I filled my jugs and drove back to camp. 

Hanging out at Tropic Spring.

Tropic Spring.

The cows: I had an issue with some young bulls when I was at Coyote Hollow in 2019, they were trying to get into my electric corral, but at that time, being fall, there was hardly any grass, and so it made sense for them to be interested in my hay.

On this trip, the adult cows all left me alone, they had more than enough green grass, but there was a gang of little young white cows, not the black ones, not the brown ones, just the white ones, that were super mischievous and wanted to mess with my horse's fence. Putting it in their mouths and jiggling it, (it's not electrified) and they were small enough that they could just go under it. This mostly happened either really early in the morning or just near dark. So I would go out and chase then off. One evening quite late, a few white cows strolled by and had a stare off with my mare. Then suddenly a whole herd came galloping, bucking and kicking over the ridge running straight at my horse. They veered past, at the last minute, and my horse being as old and wise as she is, reacted by putting her tail in the air, snorting at them several times, and then resumed munching her hay. One morning I awoke to see my fence was down, cow related obviously, but my good pony was still inside, she won't step over it, even if it is completely on the ground.

They look so innocent while napping, but they are very mischievous.

The third ride was at Kodachrome Basin State Park. This was the farthest I had to drive and I dropped down in elevation quite a bit, so it was much hotter. What's done is done, but had I known there was only a 4 mile loop for equestrians I would not have gone. I had seen a post on FB from someone who rode there in 2022 and there were around 11 miles of trails at the time. Clearly that has changed. I pulled in, paid my $10, they told me where to park and then after I was tacked up I saw the map by the trailhead that mentioned the mileage. The parking area is now just a large dirt loop area, and if it were at all wet and muddy, you would never get in there.

So I dragged out that four miles as slowly as possibly, taking lots of photos and enjoying the scenery. I suppose I could have done the loop a second time, my horse handles the heat well, but I was a sweaty mess by the end of the first go around. 

On the loop at Kodachrome State Park.

 Kodachrome State Park.

 Kodachrome State Park.

 Kodachrome State Park.

Some views across the valley, from Kodachrome State Park.

 Kodachrome State Park.

There are a couple of detours to scenic vistas, one is a little cliffy, and another one is steep, but both are worth doing.

The last part of the loop has some disc golf course baskets, so I suppose it's possible you could get a frisbee winged at your head, for some extra excitement. 

On the cliffy scenic overlook at Kodachrome State Park.

 Kodachrome State Park.

The second scenic vista at  Kodachrome State Park.

 Kodachrome State Park.

Parking for equestrians at Kodachrome State Park.

Since I was there I took advantage of the campground's dump station, and filled up with water, no extra charge for that.

A view on the way back from the dump station.

Thursday was a rest day for the pony. In the morning, a lady came riding by on her Mustang and said hi, I had noticed her drive in the night before, and she was the first horse person I had seen camped there.

I'm not really good at sitting around for long, so later I decided to walk over to Coyote Hollow and see if anything had changed at the horse camp.

It looked the same, the fee has gone up from $10 to $18, and the water was still on. This is a nice, well designed horse camp, but nobody was there.

That evening, while I was waiting on a friend to call, a couple more horse trailers pulled in and a guy with an RV got stuck in the ditch/trench. As I walked out into the meadow to get my horse, she was grazing loose, I looked over and there were huge billowing smoke clouds across the highway. 911 informed me that crews were on it, and that I should be safe where I was camped.

A fire started on Thursday night.

The smoke disappeared before bed, and at 6 AM all was fine, but by 7:30 a lot of smoke rolled into camp. My plan for that day had been to go back out past Tropic Reservoir and ride the Grandview Trail, so I hurriedly got ready and headed out. A few miles down East Fork Rd. there was a notice about those trailheads being closed. It was a bit strange because I thought the original fire was very close, but this one was pretty far away. In any case, I went back to camp and took down my corral, I did not want to be dealing with unbreathable air in case it hung around all day and evening. I also needed to figure out where I could ride that day instead, so I decided to check and see if there was clear air at the Thunder Mt. Trailhead, and there was! That parking area is tight, there was another horse trailer in the one real spot they have, so I squished myself partially off the loop road. You could park in a pullout alongside the highway instead, but the only other larger parking area they have has a "no trailers" sign.

Squished my rig partially off the loop road at the Thunder Mt. Trailhead.

The Grandview Trail is over 70 miles long and since I couldn't do the section of it that I had planned, I rode this section instead. You follow the same trail that goes to Thunder Mt. but after awhile you get to a junction and the Grandview Trail goes straight from there. I was technically riding directly towards the fire at this point, but it was far enough away. 

On the Grandview Trail. You can see the smoke cloud in the distance.

 On the Grandview Trail.

The trail eventually passes through an area that looks like it should be in a Dr. Seuss book, then I came across Hillsdale Canyon, where there was a trickle of water, and a nearby ranch, with a lot of guest cabins and their own private lake.

On the Grandview Trail.

On the left, you can see part of the lake on the private ranch.

I continued past the ranch, there is a junction with the Johnson Can Trail, and a side trail with a steep climb to a viewpoint. I decided my ending spot for the day was when I dropped down into a gully and found a gorgeous meadow with Aspens, and red rock cliffs above.

Hillsdale Canyon.

A little bit of horse drinking water in Hillsdale Canyon.

The gorgeous meadow on the Grandview Trail.

 On the Grandview Trail.

This section of trail does not get a lot of use, I saw no one all day until the very last mile or so. On the way back it was getting quite hot, especially at the trailhead. There was no point hanging around there any longer so I drove about 2.5 hours closer to home, stopping at the Great Western Trailhead to overnight.

Almost back to the trailhead.

Raspberry colored cactus blooms.

The Great Western Trailhead/ Campground outside of Salina, Utah was a nice free camp with 5 spots, a bathroom, and stock water from the river. The spots on the right have the most tree cover and shade, but the spots on the left have the easiest access to the water. The first site on the right has two hitching rails, it is a camp that anyone can stay at, including horse people. The camp is fully fenced, has picnic tables and there is plenty of room for big rigs. You can ride from there, but there was no way I was going to attempt that area in that kind of heat. Another time.... I have a feeling I will be stopping there again. There is no cell service, and it is alongside Hwy 1-70, but even though I am a light sleeper, the overnight traffic noise was not that big of a deal and didn't bother me.

GPS COORDINATES TO TOMS BEST SPRING RD 

GPS COORDINATES TO GREAT WESTERN CAMPGROUND