Burning Bear Trail near Guanella Pass

This trail starts off easy and level parallel state road 62

Here's the creek that we follow and cross off and on

There are beautiful views at the start of the hike.

Here is the view from a meadow about halfway to the cabin.

The trail narrows and starts climbing.

At one point you hike right through a cow pasture. Some of the land is private you will see as you drive to the trailhead.

This cabin is at the 2.2 mile mark and is a good place to turn around. If you continue , carefully watch for this stream crossing to find the rest of the trail. (We got lost for a while and retraced our steps) The trail is wonderfully marked by blue diamond markers the whole way. We kept looking for that blue diamond and found the trail.

After this crossing, the trail gets quite steep for one more mile to the top of the ridge.

This is the anticlimatic top that is marked by this old stump and triangle metal markers. There is no view and the trees do not open up to see anything. :(

Heading back down we stopped to finish our sandwich to this view. I found some old brick ruins from an old house. Bring a collapsible stool if you have one. See Doug sitting on his.

Heading back down , the aspens were in their golden glory.

When you get to the boardwalk, you are almost back.

We drove north after our hike over Guanella Pass and saw great colors. This road eventually took us to hwy 70 and Georgetown.