The Flat Tops have been on my radar since before I even moved to Colorado, but there was a large fire burning for awhile this summer outside of Meeker, and so smoky conditions kept me out of the area, until just now. I started at the Mirror Lake Trailhead, and then moved to Marvine briefly.... you will notice this blog does not have Marvine in the title, more about that later.
 |
| Some fall foliage in the Flat Tops. |
It took a little while to get out to the trailhead, so I didn't get started riding until about noon. It is 40 or so miles outside of Meeker, on a good road, for once! It's actually paved for quite awhile and then becomes well maintained dirt.
Mirror Lake Trailhead is very small but there are several areas where you can disperse camp in the first .01 of a mile before you get to the actual trailhead, (you cannot take trailers past a certain point), and some are better than others to get into. The most open spot in a meadow, is right off the main road, can accommodate any sized rig, and it was available, so that is where I parked. There are no amenities, water, or cell service.
 |
| Mirror Lake Trailhead. |
The trail has public access through private property for about a mile, and then eventually it enters the wilderness. There had been a lot of rain the night before, and as I started climbing up the steepest part of the trail, it was a muddy mess. Part way up it got kind of chilly, there had been recent storms and there was even a dusting of snow on some of the higher peaks.
 |
| A narrow, but horse friendly bridge on the Mirror Lake Trail. |
 |
| On the Mirror Lake Trail. |
Once I arrived at Mirror Lake, which is a beautiful blue/green, when the sun hits it, I followed the trail alongside the lake and up over a ridge. This particular section of trail is not on any map, but it continued on for awhile and I got some mountain views. If I hadn't started the ride so late I would have looked for Paradise Lake that is nearby, off trail, or I would have gone back to the junction and continued along the Big Ridge Trail which takes you to Sable Lake, and beyond.
 |
| Mirror Lake. |
 |
| Mirror Lake is a lovely blue/green. |
 |
| The trail continues, with mountain views. |
I turned back eventually, enjoyed the views at Mirror Lake again, passed by the smaller Shamrock Lake, and then did the slip and slide on the mucky trail back down to camp.
 |
| Going back along Mirror Lake. |
 |
| Shamrock Lake. |
 |
| Almost back to the trailhead. |
That night was pretty nippy, but the next day was very nice, and I decided to do the Snell Creek Trail, which entailed riding on the road for about a mile and a half to get to the trailhead. It's a little too close for driving over, but there is a good amount of parking by the creek, just a little further past where the actual trail leaves the road.
This was a great trail, no mud, not rocky, and a gradual climb with lots of mountain views.
 |
| No parking right by this sign, but there is a big pullout by the creek. |
 |
| On the Snell Creek Trail. |
 |
| On the Snell Creek Trail. |
This trail is actually not in the wilderness, so it is motorized, but it is a single track and does not look like it gets much motorcycle traffic. I saw no one out there the entire day. Eventually I reached the junction with the Pagoda Lake Trail, which is a two track, and I veered off of it to take the side trail over to see the lake.
 |
| On the Snell Creek Trail. |
 |
| Reaching the junction with the Pagoda Lake Trail. |
 |
| Pagoda Lake. |
Back on the original trail I passed Pagoda Mountain and then I ran across a bull moose and cow. Shortly after that, I arrived at the Chinese Wall/Pagoda Lake parking area, which is huge, and you can disperse camp there. I like loops, if possible, even if it means road riding for awhile, so I started down Rd. 8A, stopping to check out the views at the Ripple Creek Overlook. This is where I ended up seeing the most fall colors of the entire trip.
 |
| Pagoda Mt. |
 |
| On the Pagoda Lake Trail. |
 |
| Found this guy! |
 |
| At the Ripple Creek Overlook. |
 |
| Fall colors! |
 |
| Looking at the Chinese Wall. |
When I got back to camp I had to put my corral back together, cows had come by while I was away, and happily destroyed it for me.
The next day as I was tacking up, a forest service guy drove in and came over to talk to me. Since I had my corral set up in amongst the Aspens, he wanted to make sure my horse wasn't damaging anything by pawing or cribbing, and I said it would never occur to my pony to do any such thing. He said when they see someone camping in the trees with horses, they jot down their license number and if they notice damage they will give you a call. We chatted a bit more, he is a horse person, and the forest service still uses horses and mules in that area. Nice to hear, since in Oregon, where I previously lived, that is just not really done anymore.
More road riding, in order to do a loop, took me over to the double trailheads for Anderson Reservoir and Picket Pin/Lily Pond.
I started by doing the short, but steep trail up to the reservoir. When I was almost there a group of riders were coming back down. They were obviously from the nearby ranch which is the same ranch with the private property that you cross to get to Mirror Lake. This trail was actually not cleared, but I could get around everything. Then I went back and started up Picket Pin. This also climbs very steeply at first but then levels out. If my horse could talk, she would say, "why did we just climb one steep hill, just to go back down and climb another even steeper hill right next to it?"
 |
| The North Fork of the White River. |
 |
| Looking back over towards Mirror Lake. |
 |
| On the Anderson Reservoir Trail. |
 |
| Anderson Reservoir. |
 |
| Looking down onto the private property, Rio Blanco Ranch. |
 |
| Picket Pin Trailhead. |
On the way up it started to rain, I did stop and put on rain gear, but I have learned that a lot of the time, once you are all bundled up, two minutes later the storm will blow over. At the highest point, at a junction, I was just under 12,000 feet in elevation. On the way back down, it started to rain again, but I did not bundle up this time. It was a little bit gloomy out, peaceful, with water dripping off of the trees, just me and my pony, when we went around a corner and there were two hunters in camouflage, standing stock still. They whispered at me to ask if I had seen any bull elk, I whispered back that I had not.
 |
| On the Picket Pin Trail. |
 |
| Picket Pin Park. |
 |
| On the Lily Pond Trail. |
 |
| The lily pond, on the Lily Pond Trail. |
 |
| On the Lily Pond Trail. |
The last part of the loop ended at the Lily Pond Trailhead and the steep descent was very muddy and slippery yet again.
Once back in camp the rain started in earnest and kept up for about an hour. Overnight it froze, so when I tried to exit my LQ in the morning, the door was frozen shut! I had to wait for the sun to arrive to unthaw it. I had originally thought that parking out in the open would mean I would have more sun, but actually, with a hill on either side of me I was more shaded than expected.
At this point my plan was to give my horse the day off, drive over to Marvine Horse Camp and then do the 24 mile loop trail the next day. This did not happen. There are two places to camp with horses, East Marvine and Main Marvine. East has a lot more room with two log corrals and a set of steel corrals, but it is on a hill. There was already someone parked in the one flat area. Main is very small and has a lot of log corrals all jammed together and I have no idea how, if they were all being used, people would be able to fit that many rigs in there. They would be packed in like sardines. Most of the corrals were reserved for the upcoming weekend. They want $36.00 per night, there is no water, other than a creek that is along the road in between the two camping areas. There are bathrooms nearby, but not right at the camp. Also if you have any low hanging tanks you would need to be very careful about how you enter or exit both of these camps.
Over at East, I attempted to find a way to get my rig level on the hilly area, but had no luck, so I parked across the road from the camp in a great completely level area. I wondered if I could stay there and just use the corral in the camp, so I called the ranger district and they said I could. But I thought I would wait and talk to the camp host. I never actually saw him, but two forest service guys drove in, so I asked them. They informed me that they prefer that people park right next to their stock. I told them it was impossible to get level over there, they were sympathetic and informed me that there is a plan in the works to revamp that camp in the future. Meanwhile there is a campground right next to it that I asked about, it was confusing because there is one fee for a spot and an extra fee for a corral, but they informed me that it was just for people without stock. East is slightly cheaper at $31.00, with no water, other than that same creek access, but there is a bathroom in the people campground. This had all taken several hours and I was pretty fed up by then, not to mention I knew that is was going to be another very chilly night, so I decided to scrap staying there...for now. I'll either go back when the camp is fixed up, or I will disperse camp farther away and drive in and out, in order to do this loop, as well as the trails over by Trapper Lake. There is ALOT of riding in the Flat Tops, I barely even scratched the surface of this area.
