An all girls backpacking trip had been in the works for some time, and we all got two weekdays off of work in hopes of hiking up to Conundrum Hot Springs - just outside Aspen for a night. Upon researching trail conditions; however, we learned there was still a lot of snow on the last two miles of the trail. So we all put our heads together and came up with a Plan B, which turned out to be hiking a section of the Dark Canyon Trail from Erickson Springs Campground to Silver Creek.
None of us knew much about this trail, nor had any of us hiked in the Raggeds Wilderness before. The section of Dark Canyon we chose to hike was about 6.5 miles each direction, and included the daunting Devil's Stairway. We begun our hike around 9:30 am under a grey sky that continued to threaten us with a storm all day long.
The trail's namesake soon made itself known as the dark canyon walls surrounding Anthrocite Creek shot up into the sky. We quickly found ourselves bushwhacking through overgrown foliage that had sprawled across the trail this Spring. As we popped out of the dense foliage, we came across an abundance of wildflowers including: columbine, lupine, wild roses, indian paintbrush and more.
We reached the Devil's Stairway just after noon and, slowly but surely, began making our ascent up a seemingly never-ending series of steep switchbacks. We had heard rumors in guidebooks and online blogs that the Devil's Stairway wasn't nearly as bad as it's name suggested, but I'm here to tell you that you shouldn't believe everything you read online! That 3/4 mile was tough, indeed! We were all pretty tired when we made it to the top.
At the top of the Devil's Stairway there's a junction in the trail wherein a weathered, less than helpful sign attempts to point out directions and trails. There didn't seem to be much of a defined trail in any direction here, and the sign seemed to be pointing in the wrong direction altogether. We consulted with the map and a compass briefly before heading off in, what we decided was, the direction of Silver Creek. Our confidence and spirits were boosted when it appeared we had made the right decision and were on a defined trail yet again!
We made our way through a dense aspen forest and across a field before the trail took us down to Silver Creek. We set up camp on the bank of Silver Creek and celebrated with wine, of course!
The next day, we broke camp and headed out around 10:30 am. We made good time despite our encounter with an angry, territorial Grouse. Overall it was a great trip, and I look forward to finding solitude and adventure in the Raggeds Wilderness again in the future!
