[Journal entry for January 5, 2019; Gold Hill Trail, Breckenridge Colorado] I parked at the hiker’s lot off of Route 9 in Breckenridge Colorado, at the Gateway Drive (Road 950) intersection. The Gold Hill Trail heads west from here, crossing a wide open area that includes wetlands with reddish willow bushes and clear-cuts with a few lonesome Lodgepole Pines remaining. The views of the Tenmile Range are exceptionally good. The trail is well packed down, and though I am packing snowshoes, I have no problem walking with just snow boots. One of the problems with open, snow-covered fields is that skiers and hikers have cut a plethora of informal trails trough them, making the main trail hard to discern. I was able to follow the main trail across the meadow, through a stand of trees and up an open steeply sloping hillside. I came to a narrow woods road which followed the contour of the hill, but the snow on it was unbroken. In retrospect, I think that the main trail followed this road.

I continued uphill until I came to a wider woods road that also followed the contour of the hill. It too was unbroken, though some large animal – a mule deer, perhaps – had walked on it. The snow on it was unbroken, too, so I donned by snowshoes and set out in the southerly direction my hiking map indicated. My progress was slow, owing to the deep snow cover. I sighted a tree with a wooden arrow nailed to it, beside a clear corridor that might have been a trail heading further up the hill. I decided to follow it, for the woods looked very beautiful, irrespective of whether they were the right trail. I snowshoed a wide circle around a little hilltop, crossing meadows and stands of trees. I came to what might have been a trail, or maybe just a firebreak, but it seemed to lead in the wrong direction. Eventually, I made my way back to the higher woods road, at a point well south of where I had left it, and took it back to the trail.

I then descended the hill, heading back to my car. I passed an odd vehicle, some sort of hillbilly tank truck, stashed in the woods near the trailhead. What had begin as a beautiful sunny day was now turning cloudy and blustery, so I was glad to call it quits.

About four hours.