Buffalo Creek Loops Hike Guide
Buffalo Creek Loops is a great spot to trail run, hike or mountain bike almost year round in Buffalo Creek, Colorado. While this is not a super popular trail to hike, it can see high traffic on most weekends, especially during the spring and summer with mountain bikes. This loop is formed out of a few trails: Gashouse Gulch 726, Baldy Trail 727, Tramway 723 and of course the Colorado Trail, Segment 3.
Buffalo Creek Loops Quick Facts
Virtual Trail Guide: Buffalo Creek Loops
Buffalo Creek Loops Rating: ★★★ (3/5 Stars)
Distance: 23.1 Miles RT
Elevation Start: 7,827ft
Highest Elevation: 8,062
Total Elevation Gain: 2,800ft
Estimated Time to Complete: 4-10 Hours (Running vs Hiking)
Difficulty: Difficult to Strenuous What does this mean?
Class: Class 1 – What does this mean?
Season: Year Round – Best Time to hike is spring or fall
Directions to Buffalo Creek Loops
Trailhead: Little Scraggy TH
Getting Here: Enter Colorado Trail Segment 3 Trailhead into your favorite GPS app since there are so many ways to get there depending on your location. Once you are close, head down the forest road (open year round) for about 50 yards to a large parking lot on the right.
Parking: This area can get crowded since it shares a paring lot with so many hikes in the area, including the Colorado Trail. However, the lot is so massive and there is also ample (free) parking along the road.
Fee: As of 2022 – there is an $8 fee for this hike. This can be easily avoided if you are willing to walk a bit extra.
Summary
Dogs: This is a dog friendly hike, but dogs must be kept on a leash. In addition, please be aware of bikers and through hikers on various trails.
Camping: While you can’t camp at the TH, there are ample spots to camp in the area – including along the trail itself. This is a fantastic spot to camp almost year round due to the lower levels of snow in the area.
Water: The best and really only reliable year round water source is Buffalo Creek itself. This is a great spot as you pass it twice on your figure eight and has several spots where you could easily fill up some bladders.
Make it a Loop: This hike or trail run forms a figure out and almost a loop, only repeating about 2 miles of trail. If you wanted to make a much larger loop or different variation, that would easily be possible as well. View a map of the entire area here.
Trail X Factors: Mountain Bikers
The Buffalo Creek Loops is an extremely popular spot for mountain bikers. While hikers and trail runners do have the right of way on the trail, it’s very easy to get snuck up on by a bike who is not following those rules of the trail. The trail should be shared by all, but usually you will find yourself stepping off the narrow trail to let a biker through. Bottlenecks of groups of bikes is especially frustrating on some of the steeper parts of the loop.
Hike Tip(s): With so many miles and elevation gain and very little cover from the sun, bringing lots of water and a lightweight filter is a gamechanger. While there are a few sources of water that dry up seasonally, there are a few more that should last most of the year. The best spot to refill is Buffalo Creek around mile 8/16 of the hike/run.
Best Views: My favorite views on this trail run were on the Shingle Mill Trail near the end of the hike. However, there are a handful of extremely scenic spots across the loop.
Buffalo Creek Loops Hike Route
Gear Needed
- Men’s Trail Runners
- Women’s Trail Runners
- La Sportiva Trango Hiking Boots (Men’s)
- La Sportiva Trango Hiking Boots (Women’s)
- Backpack or Trail Running Vest
- Food & Water
- Protection from the Sun
- Map of Area – take a pic at the TH map – very important with so many trail junctions
- Optional: Water Filter
- Optional: Garmin inReach
- Optional: Hiking Poles
- Optional: Garmin Fenix Watch
- Optional: Camera and Lens
- Optional: GoPro, Joby Tripod
- *Links included in this description might be affiliate links. If you purchase a product or service with the links that I provide I may receive a small commission. There is no additional charge to you.
My Trip to Buffalo Creek Loops: April 2022
Circle of trust time: the winter and spring of 2022 was very hard for our house and me personally. Our husky, Juno, died and while we welcomed a new pup into our lives in Aria, she proved to be a handful at first. Between responsibilities around the house, training for an ultra marathon and poor snow conditions, I felt trapped. I decided to take the bull by the horns and combine training with getting outside and creating some content which is why I choose the Buffalo Creek loops.
I arrived at the TH on a Saturday morning with a course loaded to my watch and ready to run. I quickly packed my bag but was immediately hit with my first road block of the day – headphones not working. Lucky, I figured this out quickly and hit the trail, starting on the Colorado Trail. The running was pleasant and the weather was beautiful outside. Less than 15 minutes into the run, I encountered what would be a consistent problem all day: mountain bikers. Since the trail was so narrow, it was impossible for us to both pass each other without someone (me) stepping off the trail. This kept happening so quickly that I had to take out my headphones and was constantly looking over my shoulder for the next bike. It sucked.
The trail continued with small rollers and I finally reached my first trail intersections of the day. I used the route loaded on my watch to help navigate which was really cool – this was the first time I had used this feature and it was a game changer. Keeping a good pace, I started running downhill and made a few more trail and road crossings. I eventually reached Buffalo Creek itself and made mental note to stop here later to fill up on water (more on that soon). From here, the trail picked up in elevation and so did the mountain biker traffic. Bottlenecks of bikes stuck on steep sections and I kept yo-yoing with them on the trail. Finally, I reached the top of this steep section and my energy was getting very low.
As I cruised down the trail back to Buffalo Creek, there was much more seclusion and temps were starting to rise. I reached the Creek and realized that I had left my water filter in the car. Huge loss. Now with less than 250ml of Scratch left, I had to run 6 miles with 800ft of elevation gain in the hot sun. Needless to say, the final bit of the Buffalo Creek Loops was a struggle and when I got back to the car, I had added an extra mile to the loop from my research along with another 500ft of elevation gain. I was wiped.
Overall, I enjoyed the Buffalo Creek Loops trail, but the mountain biker traffic really sucked a bit of joy out of the run. Nothing against them, but it’s just very frustrating to lose all momentum constantly and be paranoid about getting run over throughout the course of your 4+ hour run. If I were to revisit this spot, I would try another variation of the loop since there are so many trails in this area.
