McClure Pass TH?

[kaiman]

The way I usually do this loop is drop a car at the bottom of the Raspberry Creek trail (about 1/4 mile up the Marble Quarry road), and then hike/drive to the Yule Creek/Anthracite Pass trailhead (which starts at the last switchback before the mine road ends). Hike about 1/4 mile up the Yule Creek trail and follow the signs to the right at the Anthracite Pass junction.

From here it's about another mile or so to the top of Anthracite Pass (you can camp in the trees here if you like and there are some nice spots that are well used by horseback riders). Continuing straight over the top will take you down towards the Kebler Pass/Crested Butte side towards Ruby/Dark Canyon, etc. Or from the top of Anthracite Pass look for a faint trail that veers to the right towards the cliffy ridge. This will take you through the trees and then switch back up to the top of the Raspberry Creek ridge. From here the views of the Raggeds, Chair Mountain, Liberty Bell Peak, Treasure Vault Mountain, Yule Creek, and the Elks towards Crystal/Snowmass Mountain are awesome. You can climb out on the Raggeds Trail if you like or continue the loop by continuing on the ridge until it begins to descend towards Raspberry Creek.

Once down in the valley below the ridge (also a place you could camp) the trail traverses to the right and goes around the bend back towards the Quarry Road drainage. After a bit you will come to a trail junction and you can either go right and finish the middle portion of the Raspberry Creek loop by ending up by climbing back to Anthracite Pass and out to your car at the Yule Creek trailhead or go left and end up back on the Quarry Road and your car at the Raspberry Creek trailhead. You can also do this loop the other way if you like.

A third option is to do the whole loop (without the Yule Creek section), from the Raspberry Creek trailhead so you won't have to shuttle a vehicle up the road (but it depends on whether you want to visit the Marble mine on the way out). This whole loop (no matter which way you do it) is around 9-10 miles I believe.

And yes I would recommend hanging your packs or using canisters as they don't call this Raspberry Creek for nothing (and the bears know it too)!

A good place to start for maps and more trail info that I've added here is Warren Olrich's hiking guides Aspen & Central Colorado Trails and Aspen/Snowmass Trails both available locally or from Amazon.com

Have fun!

kaiman

[judy]

Thank you all so much! My mom lives at the base of McClure Pass, so I figure it's a no-brainer starting point, and then
I can call her from Marble when we amble out. I just got the topo map - dark canyon looks interesting. Will post
back next summer after the trip. Definitely a beautiful part of the state!
Judy

[judy]

Hi all,
Got back from doing the Raggeds-Deep Canyon-N Anthracite Loop that I'd asked about earlier.
So here's a brief rundown:
Top of McClure Pass, Raggeds trail is nice, one of the biggest Aspen groves with huge trees, well-maintained trail
by the Paonia District, trail OK, rolling, runs into a road for a bit here and there, animal fences, etc. - nice view
of waterfall from I think Buck creek.
Camped at Spring creek (got a late start), where the trail becomes ATV accessible. Bleck is all I can say about
backpacking on a road. Tomahawk reservoir nice, Williams Creek lake had lots of fingerlings.
Down to the campground at Erikson Springs. Easy living not having to filter water. Long dry way down, though,
with scant views other than the massive Raggeds.
Next morning up Dark Canyon - not quite as dark and deep as I'd expected, but lovely. Just beautiful and lots of
good fishing holes.
Just past Ruby Anthracite Creek we turned north up N. Anthracite trail. This was also really nice, following the creek.
There was a creek crossing with a log across that was interesting, looked like it would be a handful to cross earlier
in the year.
On up past lots of fern meadows finally into grassy meadows and then the heaven of the basin.
Huge waterfall there! It was really, really beautiful.
Up Anthracite Pass. The top doesn't really yield a lot of views. But the way up does.
Big rock falls from Marble Peak in the afternoon and the middle of the night.
Did not see any big animals at all, which was somewhat disappointing. Plenty of evidence, but, no sightings.
Camped at the top of the pass, made it down to Marble the next noontime.
Very pleasant trip, aside from the ATV road bit. So many kudos to those of you who helped me see that this
was completely doable. And thanks to the Paonia Rangers who are very helpful, and maintain their trails. I can't
say as much for the trails just N of the district, and Glenwood wasn't much help, Carbondale at least had a ranger
who'd been up the pass and knew what I was asking.
Thanks much, people!
Judy