Brown's Canyon

[Java]

Not exactly 4x4, but a great video for a crappy day. Some cool timelapses too. Jon Fielder shows up at about 5:55 with some llamas. Amazing place, on my hiking list for the summer!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hK8koxDaMJY&feature=player_embedded

[Cr33p3r]

That looks like a really nice area, I didn't even know it existed until now!

[CS79bronco]

An amazing place to hike. I had never heard of it either.

[glacierpaul]

My grandma had a trailer in the Browns Campground, adjacent to the area. I spent 10 years of childhood summers there. Ruby Mountain to rockhound, Whale Rock to hear the whale sounds from the wind, fishing the Arkansas, tent camping off in the wilderness, cave exploring, miles of hiking, wheelin the collegiate peaks in a K5 Blazer with my uncles......good times, good memories! I have been wanting to revisit that area with my family :).
Thanks Paul!!

[Brad]

Very cool, I had not heard of it until now either.

[Tom]

I've rafted the river there a couple of times and explored ruby mtn.

[MelloYello]

Thanks for the post. Looks like a great place. I want to go!

[Java]

been looking into trails here and found Browns Creek Falls- it's not in Browns Canyon, it's on the other side of 285 a bit south of Mt. Princeton, looks like you could take county rds there from the hot springs.

http://coloradoguy.com/browns-creek-trail/waterfall.htm

he's got some photos from hiking along the train tracks:
http://chaffeecounty.net/walk/day4/browns-canyon-colorado.htm

[CS79bronco]

Just saw a quick release from our "elected officials" in Washington. Looks like Senator Udall wants to make Brown's Canyon a wilderness area. Senator Lamborn wants to get some input from the public first before closing it off. I was also led to believe they both voted for the "gun-grabbers" defeat of the filibuster to stop some of the gun regulations. We better keep our eyes on those two, they both were sending e-mails out saying they strongly supported the second amendment.

[glacierpaul]

funny, I consider the whole planet a wilderness area! the only protection we need is from a tyrannical government!

[Java]

they're making 20,000 acres of it into wilderness, which is fine by me, it just means no Brown's Canyon Condo owners to complain about usage down the road. As i understand it there isn't much of a change along with that designation in this particular area, it mostly prevents future development.

[Rick]

the only protection we need is from a tyrannical government!x2!!

[Tom]

funny, I consider the whole planet a wilderness area! the only protection we need is from a tyrannical government!And corporate greed.

[Java]

read some posts, and as I understand it it's mostly rafting companies and businesses that benefit from rafting customers that are pushing for the wilderness designation. Apparently some of the land was coming up for sale by the gov to developers and the rafting companies thought it would ruin the river if there were houses along it, one of the guys int he video says that but I didn't get it the first time I saw it. Development would also close some of the access roads the rafters use to get to the river. I read that there are more rafts put into that stretch of the river per year than anywhere else in the world; I can't say if that is true or not, but for sure it's a huge money maker for the area. If it is wilderness it can never be sold or developed, and the rafting dollars flow forever. :thumb:

[Chris]

My grandma had a trailer in the Browns Campground, adjacent to the area. I spent 10 years of childhood summers there. Ruby Mountain to rockhound, Whale Rock to hear the whale sounds from the wind, fishing the Arkansas, tent camping off in the wilderness, cave exploring, miles of hiking, wheelin the collegiate peaks in a K5 Blazer with my uncles......good times, good memories! I have been wanting to revisit that area with my family :).
Thanks Paul!!

Barb just asked if we had been there and since we haven't we'll visit soon. She heard about re: rock hounding. Any suggestions/recommendations Paul? (or anyone else?)

[glacierpaul]

Chris, it has been decades since I was there, but there is Ruby Mtn. Basically it is on the East side of the Arkansas River adjacent to the Browns Campground sub-division. Since my grandma had a trailer there we just walked across the bridge that was in the sub-division, I don't know of another way to get there honestly. It has been hounded pretty good, but I imagine there is still plenty to find. Ruby, Garnet and Topaz are the 3 major crystals that are in the matrix up there. We used to be involved in a few rock clubs back in the day. Tons of places in CO for hounding, shoot, we look around the tailings of most mining sites and find crystals, quartz, topaz, zeolite, pyrite, etc.