Walton Creek Loop 3A Photoset • chumley • 2021-02-18 • HikeArizona.COM

Walton Creek Loop 3A, CO

	2021-02-18
	15 by chumley

Walton Creek Loop 3A

Northwest, CO

Walton Creek Loop 3A

Northwest, CO

Snowshoeing	6.13 Miles	1,221 AEG

Snowshoeing	6.13 Miles	4 Hrs 13 Mns	1.50 mph
	1,221 ft AEG

no routes

Linked

linked

North Walton Peak Trail 3C

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I started out doing the 3A loop clockwise but missed the intersection where the loop departs from the 3C peak trail because it wasn't broken. This turned out perfect because I really wanted to bag the peak anyway.

This seems like a fairly popular winter route because on skins you can reap the rewards of your ascent with a beautiful backcountry descent off the peak when you're finished working!

Up follows a maintenance road with a very moderate grade. Down drops steeply off the peak and down a drainage back to where it meets up with the 3A loop. I took care to stay close to the treeline as I'm not great at assessing avalanche danger and the new snowfall overnight had me paying attention for clues of instability and there was definitely a wind loaded component at play today.

I saw a couple of people and two dogs heading ccw on the loop after I got down off the peak and decided to follow them. They were breaking trail and it was deep. I caught up with them quickly and took a break to let them break some more trail

. Again, I was on their heels in no time and they "offered" to let me go ahead of them. Thanks!

So I broke trail through super deep pow for a half a mile or so (mostly downhill

) until getting back to the 3A loop intersection I had missed on the way up.

A good day and a fun peak in deep snow

_____________________

I'm not sure what my spirit animal is, but I'm confident it has rabies.

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