UN 7231 and UN 6485, 3/16
6mi RT 2100' EVG
Since I was on spring break I decided to do this one with my dad to get my legs back into shape. UNs 7231 and 6485 are both on National Forest land and are only a short distance from the Hewlett Gulch trail which is a popular, well maintained trail. We started at the trailhead and followed the broad path that lead along the creek. I was surprised to see how much water was in Gordon Creek at the many crossings, but happy that the snowpack has already started melting for good. There are a few old cabin foundations along the way that were left over from the days the valley was homesteaded by several families. At each of the foundations there were large cottonwood trees that I believe were planted as shade trees, since there weren’t any other big trees like them around.
Farther up the trail there was a good view of the Aiguille du Greyrock, or at least the majority of it. The trail passes through a narrow point in the valley where a wide ridge rises up to the aiguille. Here there are two mines dug by the homesteaders, the Green Rock Mine and the Spalding Mine(?). The Green Rock is the obvious tailings pile a few feet west of the trail, and the Spalding is just across the trail up above the other side of the creek bottom. The work was much more extensive here with a deep shaft dug into the ridge, there is a locked gate and also a geocache just inside the tunnel.
A way up from the mines was the intersection for the loop, we headed up the trail to the west. The map shows the trails as being 4WD roads but they are just single track now. The trail took many switchbacks up to the top of the ridge before following along it to an overlook of the next meadow. From here we could see the small pass where we’d leave head directly to UN 7231. Farther along in the meadow we met the small intersection where the loop trail took a turn the other way and a very narrow trail continued towards the pass. It was clear this trail wasn’t used much other than the animals and an occasional hunter or hiker. At the pass we turned and climbed through the rocky hillside covered with burned trees. The summit was obvious and had good views of the Greyrock group and other nearby peaks in the canyon and beyond.
The drop down to the saddle with UN 6485 was steep and took very little time to weave between cactus patches and outcrops. From 7231 I was seeing some different looking geology at the saddle and confirmed my suspicion that there was mine there once I was down. The chipped out rocks were mostly quartz, I looked for beryl but couldn’t see any. UN 6485 rose steeply above the saddle and we began the final climb to the summit. The climb was as usual and the summit had nice views of Poudre Park and the river below. Just before the summit there was a big hole dug out of the ground; another mine here and another on the descent of the ridge back to the trailhead. There were quite a few more cars in the parking lot than when we left, though we’d only passed three people the whole day.
Since I was on spring break I decided to do this one with my dad to get my legs back into shape. UNs 7231 and 6485 are both on National Forest land and are only a short distance from the Hewlett Gulch trail which is a popular, well maintained trail. We started at the trailhead and followed the broad path that lead along the creek. I was surprised to see how much water was in Gordon Creek at the many crossings, but happy that the snowpack has already started melting for good. There are a few old cabin foundations along the way that were left over from the days the valley was homesteaded by several families. At each of the foundations there were large cottonwood trees that I believe were planted as shade trees, since there weren’t any other big trees like them around.
Farther up the trail there was a good view of the Aiguille du Greyrock, or at least the majority of it. The trail passes through a narrow point in the valley where a wide ridge rises up to the aiguille. Here there are two mines dug by the homesteaders, the Green Rock Mine and the Spalding Mine(?). The Green Rock is the obvious tailings pile a few feet west of the trail, and the Spalding is just across the trail up above the other side of the creek bottom. The work was much more extensive here with a deep shaft dug into the ridge, there is a locked gate and also a geocache just inside the tunnel.
A way up from the mines was the intersection for the loop, we headed up the trail to the west. The map shows the trails as being 4WD roads but they are just single track now. The trail took many switchbacks up to the top of the ridge before following along it to an overlook of the next meadow. From here we could see the small pass where we’d leave head directly to UN 7231. Farther along in the meadow we met the small intersection where the loop trail took a turn the other way and a very narrow trail continued towards the pass. It was clear this trail wasn’t used much other than the animals and an occasional hunter or hiker. At the pass we turned and climbed through the rocky hillside covered with burned trees. The summit was obvious and had good views of the Greyrock group and other nearby peaks in the canyon and beyond.
The drop down to the saddle with UN 6485 was steep and took very little time to weave between cactus patches and outcrops. From 7231 I was seeing some different looking geology at the saddle and confirmed my suspicion that there was mine there once I was down. The chipped out rocks were mostly quartz, I looked for beryl but couldn’t see any. UN 6485 rose steeply above the saddle and we began the final climb to the summit. The climb was as usual and the summit had nice views of Poudre Park and the river below. Just before the summit there was a big hole dug out of the ground; another mine here and another on the descent of the ridge back to the trailhead. There were quite a few more cars in the parking lot than when we left, though we’d only passed three people the whole day.
