Butler Gulch

Distance: 6 miles round trip
Elevation: 10, 546 ft - 11,963 ft (at the Jean Mine)
Elevation Gain: 1,238 ft
Date Hiked: 14 July 2012
Dogs: Off leash, National Forest
Bathroom at Trailhead: No

Mountain Views on the Butler Gulch Trail

Butler Gulch,  near the large switchback on the way to Berthoud Pass, is a close-to-Denver alpine journey filled with wildflowers, waterfalls, historic mining ruins, and make-me-move-here scenic views. This trail is fantastic!

The parking area is just the road by a gate

While most of the route follows an old road, it  occasionally gets soggy

Columbine near the trail

Another stream crossing

You get to Butler Gulch by first turning off of Highway 40 at County Road 202 and then heading due west towards the Henderson Mine. Just before the mine, a dirt frontage road splits off and parallels the paved road.  Continue on this dirt road until the parking area right at the junction with the Jones Pass Road.  Park along the side of the road by a large gate.

Monkshead along the trail

The waterfall at 1.5 miles

Indian Paintbrush along the trail

Mosses extend like beach sand from the "forest" of this riparian ecosystem

The lower sections of Butler Gulch are soggy and tree shrouded with several stream crossings and numerous stands of wildflowers. As the trail rises, it comes to a long cascading waterfall at 1.5 miles and finally breaks out of treeline at 1.8 miles. From this point on, the trail travels westward across a wide alpine shelf and finally reaches the remains of the Jean Mine at 2.7 miles.

View to the west as the trail breaks out of the trees

Heading across the shelf to the mine

The Continental Divide to the north

More flowers because I could not resist

Wildflowers dot as well as carpet this high altitude play land and I found myself irresistibly drawn to them as our group continued on their way. I would scurry to catch up only to be distracted by the latest colorful bauble.

From the western end of the shelf looking back at the Continental Divide

Getting closer to the mine

The mine tailing come into view

The ruins of the Jean Mine are interesting as well.  Purists may be offended by the piles of metal, old cars, and defunct machinery that covers the area, but this is our Colorado history and it has been part of the landscape for good or evil for the last 100 years.

Playing with an old car

More ruins

Behind the mine and wrapping around the entire area is the Continental Divide.  There is also a small spur trail leading to a shelf that formally contained a small glacial tarn.

Near the mining ruins was a whole field of Indian Paintbrush

When you see clouds like this above treeline, you should run away!  

If you are from the Denver area and are trying to decide whether to petal peep at Diamond Lake in the Indian Peaks Wilderness or on Butler Gulch, choose the latter.  It will be significantly less crowed and may actually have more wildflowers.

Jones Pass Snowshoe

Distance: 4 miles round trip
Elevation: 10,478 ft-11,800 ft
Elevation Gain: 1,322 ft
Dogs: Off leash

Jones Pass

You won't find Jones Pass in any snowshoe books, but don't lets its absence deter you. This location near the Winter Park Ski Resort is a keeper. The bowls surrounding the pass are some of the most stunning winter scenery I have ever seen. It certainly rivals Saints John near the Breckenridge Ski Resort and Mayflower Gulch near the slopes of Copper Mountain. The downside of the area is the snowmobiles, which periodically zoom around the bowl and a snow cat service that takes backcountry skiers to the upper reaches of Jones Pass Road.

Starting up the trail from the parking lot. Note the well traversed snow.

The junction between the Jones Pass (to the right) and Bulter Gulch (to the left) trails

The turn off to leave the road. The Forest Service marker is barely visible in the shade.

The noise and exhaust of the machines can be avoided, however, by leaving Jones Pass Road and following a tree shrouded, blue blazed winter trail up a creek drainage. This route also has the advantage of cutting a mile off the journey.

A typical segment in the trees

This is the spot where we avoided the more well traveled trail that went back to the road and instead started breaking trail up the narrow shelf.

The snow cat passed us just as we were exiting the trees and regaining the road.

This route to the Jones Pass area begins at the Butler Gulch trailhead near the Henderson Mine and the Big Bend in Highway 40. 0.26 miles up the road is the split to Jones Pass. This is well marked with a large brown sign. Jones Pass is to the right and Butler Gulch is to the left. 0.66 miles up Jones Pass Road is a small forest service trail marker between two boulders. This is your sign to head off trail and into the woods.

Our first view upon exiting the trees and climbing up the switchbacks

We decided to head towards the pass in the distance. This location is on the north side of the Jones Pass Bowl.

A little farther along. We walked in the tracks of snowmobiles to make the going a little easier. This area is steeper than it looks. Our destination is the clump of trees on the left.

On this trip it was easy to follow the trail that others had made, but after a fresh snow, it would be relatively easy to get lost in the drainage. If you are uncomfortable route finding, stick to the road. It is longer but it will get you to your destination.

Two of us have reached the trees and got to watch the others arrive.

Shortly after the turn off into the woods, we ran into a fork in the trail. We took the right fork, which headed up hill. This happened once again in the trees. Staying right and heading upwards is your best guide to staying on route.

A close up of the mountains beyond

If you examine a National Geographic topographic map of the area, this route through the trees is following a creek drainage that cuts off a large switchback on Jones Pass Road. The route exits the drainage and regains the road just at the midline of two tight switchbacks. This is marked clearly on the map and is the spot where the words "Jones Pass" are written.

Wind sculpted snow and dwarf trees reveal much about the usual conditions of the area.

If you ever get tired of being in the trees and breaking trail, there are numerous places where people have regained the road, which is always up and to the right of the route. At one point this confused us because the tracks headed back to the road while the shelf we were walking on headed upwards still. This zone was quaint and narrow and we could glimpse mountains through the trees. We decided to take this route even though it meant breaking trail. This turned out to be a great choice.

Ginger is dwarfed by the scale of the scenery.

This part of the route followed a narrow shelf that switchbacked very steeply (at times up to a 30% grade) to our final exit point at 11,320 ft. Periodically, we saw blue blazes on the trees, so our choice happened to be the correct one. We exited the trees at 1.6 miles and regained the road. 0.15 miles beyond this point are "oh shit" views that had us once again acclaiming how much we love Colorado.

There is no way my camera can capture the scale of the area.

After climbing straight up the midline of the switchbacks I mentioned earlier, we had to choose between following the road towards Jones Pass or heading off into the right hand side of the bowl. We could see that the Pass itself was another 1.5 miles or so to the left. It was covered by a thick cornice. There was no way to reach it without significant risk.

Another shot looking back down the bowl.

The bowl to the right is bordered by a rocky 12,000 ft ridge that dips down into a small pass. Our initial thought was to head for this pass. We ended up stopping 0nly 0.3 miles beyond the road however. After a sharp 480 ft of elevation gain, we realized we would not make the far pass in the time we had left. Instead, we settled next to a clump of wind blown trees (at 12,800 ft) and ate lunch.

The shadows, sun spots, and glistening snow were irresistible.

The wind sculpted snow, the shadows playing off of the cornices, and the dramatic cirrus clouds created a picture perfect winter tableau for our peanut butter sandwiches. Who cares about a few snowmobiles with such a panorama? All was picture perfect until several snowmobiles decided to race up the side of the wall behind us, all the way to the top.

The clouds on this trip were as interesting as the scenery they complimented.

We all started chattering like hens, wondering where the avalanche we were sure would follow would hit. Would it stay in the middle of the bowl or come roaring up and over the berm we were resting on like a wave crashing over a rock. Earlier in the day we had heard them using explosives on Loveland Pass, and in my research today I found that skiers had set off slides near Berthoud Pass to our North and Loveland Pass to our south. It seems exceptionally foolhardy to highmark a snowmobile on such a steep ridge (800 ft) when the danger is so high.

As we headed back down, the rock formation we could see in the distance from the bowl is much closer now and just starting to get bathed in the evening light. This formation sits right above the Henderson Mine.

Alas, we lived to tell the tale and gleefully strode back down the mountain away from the setting sun. Jones Pass is now a favorite that I will return to again and again. I want to thank Suzanne who invited me on this trip and showed me this stunning area.