Walking Mountains' weekly snowshoe hikes are hand picked by our hiking guides and environmental educators to get you out on the most beautiful trails at the most scenic times. Walking Mountains' team of nature nerds and backcountry snowshoe guides are certified interpretive guides are out there to show you the best experiences on our vast public lands and wild environments. Check back next week for another timely and beautiful, Hike of the Week!
Roughly 2 miles to the mine camp ruins
Subjective rating:
Easy!
What to Expect:
This trail is a little further of a drive from the Vail area but totally worth it! Take I70 east from Vail to the Copper Mountain exit and proceed south on 91 towards Fremont Pass for 6 miles. The trailhead parking is on the east side of the road, if you hit the Clinton Reservoir, you’ve gone too far!
From the parking area, the trail follows an old mining road on a gradual ascent to an Amphitheatre underneath Fletcher Mountain. The remnant cabins and infrastructure you see are leftovers from the Boston Mining Companies exploratory digs in the area. Gold and silver, among other precious metals, were pulled from these hillsides and further processed along the streams and creeks. Kokomo, once a mining camp along highway 91, was the center of civic action and boasted upwards of 10,000 residents in the late 1870’s. In 1881 a fire ravaged the town site, burning most of everything to the ground, and although a few cabins were rebuilt, Kokomo never made it back to the hustle and bustle of the late 1800’s. Climax Molybdenum bought the land under Kokomo in the 1960’s and by the early 1970’s the town site was a tailings dump for the nearby behemoth of a mine.
The cabins and ore chutes along the Mayflower Gulch trail are an excellent reminder of the activities of a time past. Nowadays, you are more likely to see backcountry skiers atop Gold Hill Ridge and Wheeler Mountain in the winter, and wildflower enthusiasts and photographers in the summer.
Stewardship Message:
Historic structures like those in the Mayflower Gulch drainage are very special artifacts that remind us of the colorful living history of our Colorado mountains. They’ve undoubtedly been used as the backdrop for countless engagement pictures as they dramatically scream “Colorado!” However, these buildings will not be with us forever so it is important to remind hikers, snowshoers, and all recreators to please respect these historic artifacts and treat them as living pieces of history. As we continue to debate the relevance of historic buildings and their place in our civic histories, its hard for this hiker to imagine Mayflower Gulch without these wooden stalwarts that have bested the tests of time.
Snowshoe with Walking Mountains:
Walking Mountains Science Center leads guided hikes year round for people of all ages and abilities. To see a schedule, visit www.walkingmountains.org or stop by one of our Eagle Valley Locations:
In Avon at the Buck Creek Campus behind the hospital
On Vail Mountain at the Nature Discovery Center
At the Vail Nature Center near the Betty Ford Alpine Gardens