Mayflower Gulch

January 2, 2021

Hike 2/52

#52hikechallenge2021

This hike has been on my list for a while, but I never made it out to Frisco this summer to check it off my list. This was a great hike that wasn't too hard, since I had done another hike, the day before! Mayflower Gulch ended up being just as beautiful as I thought it would be, from looking at photos! This is definitely one those those hikes I want to come back and do, again, in the summertime.

The drive to the trailhead was easy and beautiful. We arrived at the parking lot around 10:30am and the outer edges were full. The middle was filling up, and luckily we got a spot! We packed on the layers and headed up the trail - which is really the 4x4 dirt road that you can take further up, in the summertime.

There were a lot of people out on the trails. A lot of them were skiing up, snowshoeing, or had on microspikes. We wore microspikes and it was perfect. The main "trail" was packed down all of the way up to the cabins. Right before the cabins, it veers off to the left or the right. The skiers went up to the right and were skiing down the mountain. I'm certainly not an avalanche expert (I do have an online course that I'm doing soon) but the snowpack has been really dangerous this year, so I'm not sure if that's a choice I would make, but there were a lot of tracks. A friend was previously up at Mayflower Gulch the week before and said there were cracks in the snow, which can trigger an avalanche. There were a couple reviews on AllTrails that also mentioned seeing cracks in the snow. We took the trail up to the left and walked around the cabins and took photos.

The mountains were stunning. I think they're prettier with snow on them than when it's fully melted in the summertime. The views looking back down the trail, towards Copper Mountain, were beautiful too. Honestly, I feel so blessed to live in such a breathtaking state.

We walked back down to where the path splits and walked a little ways up to get a better view of the mountain where people were skiing. We didn't stay too long and headed back down the trail, through the evergreens. The weather was perfect, there was no wind, and it was a sunny, warm, winter day. It was quite the glute and hamstring workout on the way up, due to the incline, but the way back down was super easy.

We got back down to the parking lot, decided to head up to Vail, and had a late lunch. We ate at The Red Lion and I got the biggest burger I've ever seen in my life lol. We walked around the river, looked at some of the shops, had a beer on the street, and people watched. It was such a great day! The drive back to Denver took almost 3 hours due to ski traffic (on a Saturday night?) and it was less than ideal. Thankfully, we made it safely, so that's what really matters!

All Trails: https://www.alltrails.com/trail/us/colorado/mayflower-gulch-grand-traverse

All Trails Stats: 6.1 miles / 1548 feet elevation gain / rated: moderate

Personal Stats: 4 miles

Parking: There's a pretty large parking lot for this trail and it's easily accessible right off of the highway. According to AllTrails, there's an upper lot that you can take to the old mining cabins (if you have 4x4) but that road is closed during the winter.

Dogs: I will preface this by saying I love (most) dogs. There were a ton on the trail and I stopped to pet a lot of them. That being said, please keep your dog on a leash. If your dog is not well trained, is aggressive, or runs away, please don't even bring them on the trail with you. There was one very large dog, he weighed around 100lbs, who was very aggressive towards other dogs. It was honestly scary. He was lunging at one poor girl who was squatted down holding on to her 40lb dog (who was leashed) to protect him from the larger dog. The larger dog was growling and trying to attack the smaller one and the smaller one did absolutely nothing to provoke the larger dog. Once the large dog had moved on, we stayed there to check on the girl and her dog. Her dog was shaking because he was so scared. The owner of the aggressive dog said it was "too hard" to ski and have her dog on a leash. She had a shock collar on her dog, but it did absolutely nothing. I'm sorry, but if your dog is aggressive towards other dogs, multiple times (that we saw - there could've been more), PLEASE keep them at home.

I've seen one guy almost get knocked off a very steep, rocky trail, because a (very friendly) large dog came up to him and made him lose his balance by knocking into him. I've also seen a dog almost roll off the side of a mountain because he was rolling around on the ground. Both of those dogs were also unleashed. Please train your dog and keep them on a leash - even if you're on a trail that doesn't require it. Some people are scared of dogs, there are all kinds of wild animals in the mountains, and accidents can happen.