Saturday, June 25, 2016
A spectacular view of the Ruby Range from Beckwith Pass (9,970).
Since I’ve spent the past two weekends visiting the San Juan Mountains near Ouray, Diane and I decided to make our way over to Kebler Pass today for a little hiking in the West Elk Mountains near Crested Butte. We started just outside of the Lost Lake Slough campground and hiked up the gentle trail to Beckwith Pass, which is a low pass between East Beckwith Mountain (12,432) and the Antracite Range. While the trail never broke 10,000 feet of elevation, there were plenty of clearings that offered great views of Ruby Peak (12,644) and Mount Owen (13,058) in the Ruby Range all the way to Marcellina Mountain (11,348) and The Raggeds. I wasn’t sure what to expect with this trail but the scenery was much better than I had anticipated, plus the wildflowers were just starting to bloom. We will definitely be back to check out some of the other trails in this area, especially in the fall when the colors are changing.
The sign at the trailhead says three miles to Beckwith Pass, but I measured three and a half.
These backlit leaves in the shade caught my attention along the trail.
Diane crosses a log over one of the shallow creek crossings.
Nice clouds moved overhead as we hiked to the pass.
A great view from Beckwith Pass with Mount Owen and Ruby Peak in the upper right.
The sign at the pass at the edge of the West Elk Wilderness.
Before turning around and heading back down, we hiked a little further along the Beckwith Bench Trail and spotted this waterfall in the distance on the flanks of East Beckwith Mountain.
Diane hikes back down ahead of me.
Clouds over East Beckwith Mountain.
A Colorado Columbine along the trail.
Diane follows the trail with Marcellina Mountain straight ahead.
Richardsons Geranium.
Up close and personal with one of the many Corn Lily’s we passed.
Middle Creek was lined with wildflowers as we neared the trailhead.
Below is our GPS track from the Lost Lake Slough Trailhead to Beckwith Pass.