Mayflower Gulch

Round-Trip Length:  4 miles

Start-End Elevation:  10,994 – 11,694′

Elevation Change:  +700’

Skill Level:  Moderate

Trailhead Location:   From I-70 take Exit 195, Copper Mountain / Leadville, and travel south on HWY 91 toward Leadville.  Travel south 5.3 miles.  The Mayflower Gulch trailhead and parking area will be on the left side.

With the winter season approaching, I thought it appropriate to post a snowshoeing trek adventure.  We actually took this trek a little over a year ago with our good friends, the Pagliarini’s.  We decided, spur of the moment on a Sunday, to take advantage of the nice weather and get out for a short, but scenic snowshoe trip up to the Old Boston Mine site in Summit County.  This hike is relatively easy and leads to some of the most spectacular scenery in the Tenmile range.

The Boston mine camp once occupied this splendid setting and hummed with gold mining activity around 1912. The mine was established to mine a thick vein of mountain-bound gold outside Leadville. However, the ore’s purity was lousy, and this would-be gold town busted before it boomed.

We got a late start from Littleton and headed up to the trailhead.  By the time we got our snowshoes on and started heading up the trail, it was about 1:30pm.  The trail begins on an old ore wagon road.  As you continue to head up the trail, the trees start to thin out.  You begin to get some magnificent views whenever you come to breaks in the trees.

Between 1 – 1.5 miles the full view of Mayflower Gulch comes into view with views of 13,995-foot Mt. Fletcher along with Northeast, Crystal and Pacific peaks.

We loved the views through the old cabin ruin windows.

View of Jacque Peak (13,205’)

After a short lunch break at the cabin ruins, we decided to head up into the valley a little higher to another lone cabin up on the hillside and also to a closer view of the Boston mine itself.  Our friends took a shot of us before we continued on up.

Making our way further up into the valley.

Approaching the lone cabin higher up the valley

A shot of the cabin.

A view looking higher up to another cabin ruin.

Looking back down the valley we had come up.

After a short break at the upper cabin, it was time to head back down as the sun was starting to sink lower on the horizon.

As we headed back down the trail, the peaks started glowing with the late afternoon/evening alpenglow.

I love this shot with the alpenglow hitting the peak off in the distance.  The picture was taken around 4:40pm – not much sunlight left for the day.

We were back to the car around 5:00pm.  Time to call it a day and head into Frisco to warm up and get some dinner before heading home back to Littleton.