Browns Canyon: Turret-River Bench Trails

Distance: 6 miles round trip
Elevation: 7,318 ft -7,689 ft
Elevation Gain: 877 ft cumulative
Dogs: Off leash, BLM land
Bathroom at Trailhead: No
Date Hiked: 24 October 2014

The Turret Trail in the Browns Canyon Wilderness Study Area is a study in diversity. 

The Browns Canyon Wilderness Study Area near Buena Vista is a 22,000 acre chunk of transitional land that is part open grassland, part scraggy forest, and part granite hoodoo. This route travels through all three of these zones in a dizzying display of diversity. The Collegiate Peaks (Mt. Princeton, Harvard, and Yale) block the western horizon. They rise a dramatic 5000 ft above the surrounding valley in a wall that Nature surely put in place to keep out the teaming hordes from the western slope.

View of Mt. Princeton from the trailhead

Heading up the initial slope

On the initial saddle

The trailhead is marked with large signs indicating the study area and even has a couple of interpretive plaques. The route starts up a rocky gully between two hills until it reaches a small saddle at only 0.2 miles. Be sure to turn left here. An old road/eroded ditch heads to the right, which is slightly confusing.

Turning left and heading away the mountains

A not-so-unusal trail segment. Rock and trees. 

The trail winds up and down small hillsides. This is the view from a top one of them. 

The trail continues to climb for another 0.5 miles to a high point (300 ft gain) before beginning a series of descents and ascents over rock outcroppings, down gullies, and along and across several washes. There is no signage or cairns, and in several locations we had to rely on tracks in the loose sand to guide our way.

On another hill looking out over the Collegiate Peaks

Coming out into the wash. Turn right here and follow it around the bend. 

The one trail sign. It points up the slope and out of the wash. 

At 1.2 miles is a very large wash. The route actually travels IN this wash (to the right) and around a bend to the southwest until one of the few signs (at 1.35 miles) takes the hiker out of the wash and up onto a open grassland plateau. From this point it is wide-open skies all the way to the junction with the River Bench Trail (at 2 miles). The Turret Trail heads left, while the River Bench Trail travels around to the right of an eroded hillside filled with more hoodoos. It was at this point that we came across several Mule Deer that leapt and flew, leapt and flew, across our path in an effortless ballet that would have made Mikhail Baryshnikov's nickers twist with envy.

Artwork on the fence post leading out onto the grassland plateau

The plateau was crisscrossed with small washes. 

Heading across the plateau

The River Bench Trail dead ends (at 2.9 miles) at backcountry campsite complete with a central fire pit and luxurious logs. The Arkansas River, charming and sedate in the fall, a tad more perky in the spring, flowed just out of reach down a steep embankment. With such a view, we had to drag ourselves away to return to the car. Next time I will bring a gourmet lunch and contemplate the river through a glass of wine.

Passing around the hillside

More hoodoos along the way. Mountain Lion territory. 

Mule Deer with Mt. Yale in the background

Browns Canyon is up for National Monument consideration. We only scratched the surface of this unique area on this trip but the unusual combination of granite outcroppings, Ponderosa and Limber Pine forest, and Sagebrush grasslands was really a treat. Colorado is blessed with so many interesting ecosystems. The one found in Brown's Canyon is both fun to play in and deserving of protection. I hope the powers in Washington, who don't always understand the West and our culture, decide to preserve it. Regardless, take a trip to Beuna Vista and check it out for yourself.

The campsite

The lovely view of the Arkansas River

Mule Deer

I cam across this small herd of Mule Deer (Odocoileus hemionuson) the Hogback Trail north of Boulder. They slowly got closer and closer to me until they were less than 10 feet away. That shows how used to people they have become.

Read my previous post on Mule Deer to learn about their ecology.

Mule Deer

Mule Deer (Odocoileus hemionus) are very common in Colorado, although White-Tailed Deer are becoming somewhat prevalent in the Eastern Plains. This group is part of a resident herd on NCAR’s mesa. We see them at all times of the year and they are known to snuggle up to the warm building at night. Many have large radio collars on them with antennas sticking out, which looks futuristic. I wonder how many of us humans have such invisible collars tracking our every move for some other species.


According to the Colorado Division of Wildlife, you can distinguish Mule Deer from White-tailed Deer by their gate. Mule Deer bound with a stiff-legged gait with their tail held down. White tails move with a graceful lope, the flag-like tail held erect.


Deer are vegetarian browsers who feed on the woody portions of both shrubs and trees. Interestingly, they eat little grass and so do not compete with domestic livestock. Antler growth begins in the spring so that they are ready for mating spars in autumn. By winter they are shed. Males of the species are called bucks, the females are called does, and the youngsters are called fawns.