Mt. Belford, Mt. Oxford (8/6/99)

Route Name: Northwest Ridge
Start Elevation: 9,650ft
Belford Summit Elevation: 14,197 ft.
Oxford Summit Elevation: 14,153 ft.
Total Elevation Gain: 5800 ft.
Round-trip Mileage: 11.0 mi

TRIP REPORT:

This hike begins with the beautiful drive into Vicksburg along the dirt road. From there we parked and headed across the river to start the ascent. The initial climb through the forest to get up into Missouri Gulch was really a grunt. The trail has several switchbacks and gains the altitude quickly. This part felt like the hardest section of the day. As the hike mellowed out we headed past a worn down old log cabin. The morning was overcast with clouds and was foggy to the north of us.
Past the log cabin the hike headed to the junction with the Missouri trail where we made the turn left to Belford. We made a good hike up the ridge towards Belford. We were amazed along the way to run into a man who was basically jogging up and down the trail. I believe he said this was typical exercise for him to run up and down Belford in just a few short hours. We also found ourselves some marmots along the way up.
The weather was holding just good enough for us went we summited Belford that we all decided to head for Oxford. It looked quite a distance away but the numbers aren't as bad. It was about a 600 ft descent to the saddle and about 3/4 mile over. On Oxford the weather was starting to turn. We kept our gore-tex on and had a few sprinkles but the floodgates never opened on us. As we meandered back to Belford things began to clear up again. The hike out went uneventfully and the slog back down out of Missouri Gulch to the car was a real leg-burner.

TRACK:

I did not have the original track of my own, so I have a track from a more recent hike of Belford and Oxford:

PHOTOS:

My photos from this hike are embedded here:

Three Forks Loop (8/1-4/99)

Trail: Three Forks Conejos River Loop
Trailhead: Platoro Reservoir
Trailhead Elevation: 10,200 ft.
High Point: 12,129 ft. on the south end of the loop between Lake Ann and Blue Lake.
Trip Elevation Total: 3185 ft.
Trip Mileage Total: 16.8 miles

TRIP REPORT:

This backpacking trip went from August 1 to 4, 1999. We were hiking down in the San Juans. One word describes this trip: WET. It seemed to rain constantly from start to finish.