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Morrison Divide Trail, Muddy Slide, Routt County, Colorado
By PK | November 16, 2008
We always go back. It must be the Yampa Curse. The Utes said once you visit Yampa Valley, you will always return. They were right, I can attest to that fact. We live in Yampa Valley, a beautiful, wide, expanse of valley that contains the Park Range Mountains, Rabbit Ears Pass, Gore Pass, and many other wonderful places I’ve wrote about. The Curse lures you outdoors and into the dreamland we call home.
So, what are you waiting for? Let’s go have some fun…
We left Steamboat and traveled south on Hwy 131 towards Toponas. Right past the Toponas store, (there’s only one), we turned left onto Green Ridge Road, which is also Forestry Road 285. You travel through private ranch land which is open grazing. That means the cattle have the right of way, so watch out for them.
We continued on, up the mountain, and into the snow. We had locked in the four-wheel drive long before this picture and were tempted to put on chains. The snow was about a foot deep, but that didn’t stop us. We wanted to play, and I wanted to see Muddy Slide.
Now, Muddy Slide to me sounds like a chocolate alcoholic drink. But when we reached Muddy Slide, it wasn’t a drink, but was a freak occurrence of nature.
We parked the truck hoping someone else wouldn’t do a ’snowy slide’ into it while we hiked up to Muddy Slide.
The Morrison Divide Trail runs along Muddy Slide at this point. You can read about the Morrison Divide Trail in my previous article.
An aerial view of Morrison Divide Trail, Muddy Slide, and our route from the south.
Muddy Slide is an interesting geological formation and for the past 75 years, half of this mountain, on which I’m standing, has been sliding into the basin below. There is no known reason for this oddity. I stayed away from the edge, as the warning tells you on the sign.
Looking down into Muddy Slide. Someone had preceded us and stepped very close to the edge. That gave me goose bumps!
Another view of Muddy Slide, but wait, what’s that on the left?
This is why you should stay away from the edge. Look on the left edge of this photo. I actually didn’t see this when we were there, but noticed it afterwards when viewing the photos. Without being able to see what’s under your feet, it is best to stay clear of the edge.
The views from the top. Awesome!
Coming back down the trail from Muddy Slide. The trail leading up and back wasn’t more than a mile, but trudging in a foot of snow made it seem longer. Instead of a Muddy Slide drink, which I didn’t get if there is such a thing, I ate icicles along the way.
The sun had just set as we started our descent. This was a wonderful excursion for a Saturday afternoon and now I’m off to look for that Muddy Slide drink.
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Topics: Colorado |
