Hiking Buffalo Mountain
What a fabulous day we had! I am part of a hiking group of mostly women, mostly over 50. This is our second season of hiking together. Last summer we planned each hike a week in advance, and just went where we felt like going. This winter we agreed that we would have two goals for this summer; to hike Buffalo Mountain and Mt Victoria.
In April we planned each hike as part of our training routine and our hikes gradually got longer, steeper and more difficult. Buffalo is almost a 3000′ gain in elevation in a little less than 3 miles. You are above timberline for the last part and must be aware of weather and thunderstorms. We attempted it last week and turned back when dark clouds rolled in an sat on top of the mountain. This Wednesday we started at 7am and had glorious blue skies.
For those of you that regularly hike “fourteeners” (mountains over 14,000 feet in elevation), it probably seems like no big deal, but for us it was a huge deal. To top it off and make it really worthwhile, we had a family of mountain goats that seemed to like our company. We also saw a Ptarmigan, pika and chipmunk, so it was a good day for Wildlife.
In a couple of weeks we will hike Mt Victoria - our second goal. It is also not a fourteener, but it is plenty steep and gnarly. By the time we get that one under our belt, our hiking season will be almost over and we will be getting ready for ski season.
August 28th, 2006 at 8:00 am
This hike was well worth the steep gain in elevation. The views of the County and the wildlife at the top were extraordinary. I will definitely be doing this one again!
September 13th, 2007 at 8:44 pm
[…] of the subdivision varies from about 9200′ to just under 9800′ as we are at the foot of Buffalo Mountain and the homes climb the […]
January 30th, 2008 at 9:38 pm
[…] of Silverthorne. Wildernest is a large subdivision that sits at the base of Buffalo Mountain. (A great hike, by the way!) There are a lot of condominium complexes on the hillside and it has more reasonably priced real […]
August 11th, 2008 at 8:07 pm
[…] Another blog post you might enjoy is one (with photos of the mountain goats) about our hike on Buffalo Mountain. […]