I found myself in Keystone (CO, not SD) this weekend with some time to kill and decided to do some exploring. The result was my “discovery” of Peru Creek and Cinnamon Gulch. These appear to be very well known trails, but I had never done any serious exploring in this area, so they were great new scenery for me.
Peru Creek (FR 260) is basically a mild (mostly 2wd) road that offers access to Argentine Pass. I followed Peru Creek to a locked gate. Based on internet write-ups, it appears this is a seasonal thing, with more trail to be explored on the other side of the gate. There are several abandoned mines and structures in this area, so this was a great trip for me (given my minor preoccupation with Ghost Towns). Here is the photographic evidence – sorry for the crappy quality, I only had my phone…
There are 2 main trails/spurs off of Peru Creek, Cinnamon Gulch and Chihuahua Gulch. Based on the trail descriptions, I chose Cinnamon Gulch. Fairly easy wheelin’, but it did require 4lo and a bit of crawling. The scenery and abandoned buildings were well worth the trip. This area also has the look of being a good fly fishing area, but having seen the mine tailings and color of the water I doubt there are fish to be caught here.
This would be an easy Day Trip destination and I definitely want to get back up here with another rig or two and check out Chihuahua Gulch.
I found my way around the area with some very good info and details from TrailDamage.com (which I learned about from Grin).
Links: Peru Creek, Chihuahua Gulch, Cinnamon Gulch [traildamage.com]
OMG!!! someone else on this board actually went wheelin!!! Holy Crap!!!
fu*#$er. I took a short trip up mount herman in the snow on Sunday with the boys (just west of Monument)… right up until my left front brake caliper decided to start seizing up. I actually had 6-7 trips out this summer, which aint bad for a non-summers-off-teacher-wheeling-snob!