It’s been a pleasure to cover the start and finish of the HUNDO, a 100-mile bike race starting in Bailey, for the past two years. I wanted to hike a portion of the route so we headed toward the Eos Mill out of Bailey on Park County Road 68 to Forest Service Roads 550 and 553 to parking at the Skipper (Forest Service Trail 790) and Buck Gulch (FST 772) trailheads. The trailhead at is N 39° 22.939’ W 105° 22.089’.
We parked at the trailhead. Parking is usually wide open here as the return to the trailhead from either the Skipper or Buck Gulch trails is up hill. Skipper is a fairly short connecter trail. It connects Buck Gulch trail with Strawberry Jack Trail (FST 710).
Heading east from the trailhead, we descended through the Buffalo Creek burn area to a crossing of Buck Creek and a sharp turn that begins the climb to the Strawberry Jack trail. While stopped to enjoy the creek we met two mountain bikers, one who said he rode the HUNDO, who were also enjoying the trail. Hiding in the shadows was purple bellflower.
Also along this section we saw many harebell, showy milkweed, violet aster, green mertensia and horsemint beebalm mixed in with paintbrush, geranium, lupine, miner’s candle, and scorpion weed. Currant bushes were in full berry.
We continued climbing and met several mountain bikers and equestrian trail users. We were the only hikers. Everyone we met was courteous and all shared the single track trail.
