Brookside-McCurdy Trail

Views from the first accessible Campsite on the Bailey side.

The Brookside-McCurdy Trail is another close-in local hike to the Bailey area, and offers miles of beautiful Colorado backcountry access in the Lost Creek Wilderness area. The trail is a major North to South transection of this immense wilderness area, and offers everything from a nice day picnic hike to a 35 mile trek that could be stretched out to a week. The terrain varies nicely from mile to mile, heading through pine and aspen forests and high-mountain meadows alike, and you'll see some some splendid views along the way.

The trailhead can be accessed from either the Bailey or the Jefferson side of the park, or it can also be picked up at other spots along the way, including Lost Park Campground. From the Bailey entrance, it's a rather nice hike, offering several very accessible miles, with a mellow elevation gain, although the trail does get more aggressive after two miles or so in. As you can see from the attached image, the picnicking prospects are great here, and the first few miles provide a very nice experience for hikers of all different ability levels.

To get here, heading South on 285, take a left at the bridge by the Ace Hardware store in Downtown Bailey. You'll follow that Co Rd 64 past the Community Church and through a little neighborhood. When you hit the "Y" in the road, head left, and follow that dirt road for about another mile. You'll see the trailhead on clearly marked to the left.

Rosalie Trail

Changing Leaves on Rosalie Trail

In my last post about Rosalie peak and the surrounding area, I mentioned that, to get to the top of Rosalie, when you reach about 3/4 of a mile point in the hike, you should stick to Tanglewood Creek Trail; however, the alternative sign there points to "Rosalie Trail," which might justifiably be the cause of some confusion. Rosalie Trial really just skirts the base of Rosalie Peak, and takes hikers through the Mount Evans Wilderness Area, all the way up to the Mt. Bierstadt parking lot at the top of Guanella Pass. It's a gorgeous hike, and well worth your time.

This past weekend, we took the kids up for a longer hike to investigate the area. With the leaves changing quickly up here, we were in for quite an explosion of color, and the weather was perfect. After diverging from the Tanglewood Creek trail, there's a sold climb for a half mile or so, but then the trail flattens out in a lovely and dense Aspen forest. There are a bunch of great hike-in camp sights all along this section of the trail. After the forest section, it opens up a bit, with some great views of the 12 and 13 thousand foot peaks that surround the rest of the hike. This portion of the hike actually presents hikers with a bit of a descent, and you'll begin to hear the faint trickle of Deer Creek, which follows the lower portion of the trail for some time. We made it about three miles in on this particular trip, and then stopped for a play-filled break and a picnic at an shockingly green camp sight (the kind that inspires fairy stories) that butted up to the creek.

Although the six miles round trip was a bit tough on both our five and nine year olds, the views and amazing discoveries that we made along the way made it all worth while.

To get there: Heading South on 285 before Bailey, you take a right at the "Loaf'n'Jug" on Co RD 43 (Deer Creek Road). You take 43 all the way to the end (be careful where it intersects with 47--you want to stay to the left), where you'll see a "Fee Area" national forest campground. Pass the campground to the left, and stay on that road until it ends at the parking lot, which is the "Deer Creek Trail Head."

Tanglewood Trail

Tanglewood Creek

In preparation for some bigger hikes, the family and I decided to spend a few hours this week exploring the Tanglewood trail, which is one of the main entrances to the Mt. Evans Wilderness Area from this part of the 285 corridor. We were pleasantly surprised to find this lush, green hike nestled in so close to home. The trail follows Tanglewood Creek for the first three miles or so, and the well fed plants and constant trickle of the stream provided one of the nicest hikes I've been on in some time. You begin the hike well below treeline at a clean bright parking lot, and immediately see some great camping spots right off the beaten path--they're close-in, but feel secluded and private. As you head up the hill, there are tons of little hidden escapes like these, which are perfect for picnicking or a longer overnight stay.

We immediately began noticing the great variety of flora along the path, and topping the list were countless mushroom and toadstool varietals. It was fun getting the kids to pick out all the different types of fungi along the path--we turned it into a fun little naming game, in fact. My favorites were the ones that looked like new red potatoes, but I think my daughter liked the burnt marshmallows the best. For mid-August, the number of flowers still in bloom was quite impressive, and the kids found a ton of wild strawberries and raspberries along the way.

Brightly Colored Toadstool

We did pack a lunch on this trip, but really only planned to be out there for a few hours. It turned into a great 4-hour excursion, and the kids (who are 4 and 9) actually wanted to just keep going all afternoon. This was meant to be a scouting excursion for the upcoming Rosalie Peak trip I have planned with some friends for later this month; but, as serendipity would have it, it turned out to be a great full-day family excursion. The trail ultimately branches off, after treeline, to offer day trips to either the summit of Rosalie or to Roosevelt Lakes, both of which I plan to do this Autumn.

To get there: Heading South on 285 before Bailey, you take a right at the "Loaf'n'Jug" on Co RD 43 (Deer Creek Road). You take 43 all the way to the end (be careful where it intersects with 47--you want to stay to the left), where you'll see a "Fee Area" national forest campground. Pass the campground to the left, and stay on that road until it ends at the parking lot, which is the "Deer Creek Trail Head."

The Falls at Wellington Lake

For our first close-in camping trip of the year, we decided to stay the night at Wellington Lake. It's about 20 minutes outside of Bailey (or less, depending on the washboards), and a very nice wooded drive in. The Lake is first-come-first-serve camping, and they charge per person for day or overnight access (it's all the same price). The lake is nice, although a bit barren looking upon first entering the area; however, the campsites range from lake-view sites (they told me at the front desk that these fill up by Thursday on most summer weekends, so get there early), to some nice large and secluded forest spots. We didn't have our canoe, and so happily opted for the second choice. It was very secluded and quiet--a great spot.

Wellington Lake Falls, from Above

Anyhow, in the morning we woke up at 8-ish and had a little breakfast, and took the advice we'd received from the lady at check-in to do the Waterfall hike. Although not overly strenuous, it's a gorgeous little walk. The trail begins in a very green and flowery meadow, and  quickly is covered in dense wet forest. It's magical feeling, really, almost like a trail in Oregon or like something out of a Grimm story. The hike heads up the hill, and branches off to the longer Castle trail hike, which we didn't take this time, but rather went to the falls and hiked next to them for another half mile or so. There are some gorgeous cave-like structures under some of the falls, and the views of the lake and hills beyond from the boulders above are quite nice.

On the way out, we stopped in at the Cutthroat Cafe for a more proper breakfast. I believe I had the breakfast burrito, which is about my favorite thing after a nice hike. Overall, it was a fantastic day.

To get there: Heading South on 285, take a left immediately at the bottom of Crow Hill (right before you get into Downtown Bailey) and head take the road that follows the Platte out of two for 11 miles.