West Elk Wilderness area

[DirtyDusty]

I was looking at the maps for this area in unit 54 in CO. I have a couple of maps but the road access is contradictory. One map shows road 721 being unimproved while the other shows it being an improved gravel road. Anyone familiar with this area? How is the access road 721 if it gets rain or snow?

 

[Bulldawg]

I don't know exactly what road that is and I don't have a map now to refresh my memory but I would bet it's a pretty good road most of them are around there. Depending on the season I wouldn't worry about rain maybe some snow but those roads you can usually get out if it snows no problem

 

[HOT ROD]

County Rd 721 can be really bad. If it gets snow or rain. There is a very steeep hill on it. They call it jeep hill. I wouldn't go in there with out tire chains. U need any more info give me a shout....

 

[ndbuck09]

My buddy and I hunted there in 2010 and 2011 and I was in there in July 2012. That road is pretty gnarly for a stock suv and truck...we had rental trucks and SUVs each time. Ripped the bumper skirt off a Yukon from rocks one time and messed up the underside of a bumper once. Takes a long time to crawl along and that hill is really gnarly if you're not used to legit off-roading. I really was concerned about it being rainy and muddy when we were trying to get out. I can't remember exactly but I feel like it took us 3.5-4 hrs to drive from the campground to the end of the road...

 

[DirtyDusty]

How crowded does 723 get around rainbow lake?

 

[HOT ROD]

I don't think U will be alone were ever its 721,723 or 724. I would think 724 would be the worst. Never went in there though. Wen we hunt there. We use atvs to get to the trailhead on 721.

 

[ST52v]

This at the top of 723. When you get to the end of the road hike up to the left. 1st pic is looking west towards 721, 2nd looking up the valley towards the baldy's. 723 was easier than 721 when we were there. There are no cliffs to slide off of like jeep hill on 721.

 

[DirtyDusty]

How crowded is the top of 723 during 2nd rifle? A dozen or so, or people standing in line for concert tickets?

 

[OZapo]

I hunted 2nd season in 54 2 years ago. We camped off of 724, Rainbow Lake Road. There was some snow on the road going in and it snowed the next night. If your looking to get back into the wilderness on foot I would suggest using 723 or 724 and drive all the way to the end. There is more parking/turn around area on 724 but 723 isn't bad as long as there aren't many vehicles up there. I think 724 is an easier drive in the dark or with snow on the ground, not as many curves and not a straight drop from the shoulder to the bottom. If you don't want to hike back into the wilderness you can try hunting the drainage between 723 and 724. We saw a fair amount of sign in there. If you don't have a 4 wheel drive then I would suggest staying on the main road (724) if its wet, you can take the spurs and a handful of other roads but at your own risk. Theres a road that goes through Burnt Mill Gulch, or in the area, and unless your very sure of your vehicle and mudding abilities don't drive down it unless its snow packed or bone dry, I believe that is the road that will take you back to HWY 50 but on the east side of Steuben Creek. You can access the wilderness area by going in through Mill Creek on the east side of 54 but its quite a climb up in there. We tried scouting that route in June '13 and there was still 3 or 4 feet of snow on the trail. The day before the season started we hiked down the trail head at the end of 724, we didn't go to far just a little south west of South Baldy where we could look over and down into basin and decided we didn't want to hunt on foot back there with 4 feet of snow to come back up through. My wife's boss was hunting during 1st rifle with horses and they only took 1 elk that year. The guy was close to the creek bottom to the east of 724 and he sat down to take a break and eat a snack, while he was eating his snickers bar an elk walks into sight not 40 yards from him. Even with horses it took them 6 hours to pack him out and they were less than a mile and a half from the end of the spur. Its steep thick country, all of it, but there are plenty of elk in there, just have to find um. Oh yeah this goes for anywhere but if its a full moon you need to get our very early and either stay out till dark or go back out till dark. We saw tons of sign but we're pretty sure most of it was from night activity.

Well enough of my rambling. I hope I've helped a little.

 

[OZapo]

Oh and there are plenty of hunters out there during 2nd season. There will be a few that camp out along the road, most of them will be there for at least 5 days or more, but expect 3 or 4 times as many to drive in early in the mornings. After opening weekend you'll see big drop in hunters.

 

[DirtyDusty]

Well I guess I dropped the ball on this one. I thought I had covered all of my bases, but I was looking back over everything and realized that there was a cap on 2nd season rifle for unit 54 and they are gone. Any ideas about unit 53 coming in from the north from Panoia, taking 709 to the trail head and walking in 5 or 6 miles to kaughmam ridge area? How rough is this area, I have looked at maps but it have a hard time discerning true terrain from just maps.

 

[chindits]

That's funny, I live here and I never heard of those roads being called by numbers. Around here we call them by the drainage or where they go to....you know: Curecanti Creek, Soap Creek, Red Creek, East Elk Creek, Rainbow Lake, Sun Park, Lands End, etc...

 

[DirtyDusty]

I guess 709 would be called coal creek or Throughline.

 

[oake]

chindits - sent you a pm

 

[ACC]

About 30 years ago I backpacked in up Little Robinson creek and bow hunted Mosely ridge a couple times.

The trail was easy except for the final pull to get up on the ridge, the hunting was easy if you stayed on top, if you drop drown into Cliff creek it's a steep climb back out.

Saw elk every time I hunted up there.

 

[Bar]

I'm going to guess it will be more crowded this year after this thread.

 

[Biggs300]

ACC, my hunting buddy and I hunted 2nd rifle season in the same area in 2011 and again in 2013. The last year, we hunted near the Cowboy Camp area just off of Peterson Creek. It was crowded….so much so that we were on a first-name basis with the 6 other hunters that camped within a half mile of our drop camp. Didn't see even one elk. One of the hunters in another party did get an elk, but no where near the area and he had to pack it out with a horse. The hunt was not a success but, one of the hunters we met was an Olympic wrestler in the 1976 games. He was a real gentleman. While it made the trip more pleasant, I don't think we will be going back anytime soon.

 

[ACC]

Yeah I've met some interesting characters out there.

Run into Dellis Ferrier one year on castle pass trail his daughter was doing the calling for a couple clients I guess his family still runs a camp back there.

Moved on to greener pasture a long time ago.

 

[Biggs300]

Acc, I've hunted with Dellis and his lovely wife for a couple of year. He and his staff know the area well and were always willing to share their wealth of knowledge of the area. His horse and mule stock are the extremely well kept and I don't think I have ever seen any outfitter more concerned about their animals. He is also an incredible cook and his cabin hunts are top notch. I hope he is still guiding but like me, he is getting up in age.