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