Mt. Belford

Route: Northwest Gully
Posted On: 11/19/2024, By: jrobie23
Info: Trail is well packed (by humans and elk/deer/moose) :) Showshoes (obviously) recommended at this point. After breaking out of the trees, you'll want a map/gps in order to stay on trail. I ventured up to my left just to get some elevation. I'll bring gaia next time so I can stay on course. I'm assuming, if you stay on trail, you'll be able to get to the summit. There's not much snow up there right now. FWIW, I don't recommend following my route when I turned left. Ended up dodging rocks coming off the upper part of the gulley. I did see a ram though, so that was cool. 

Route: Southwest Slopes & Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 10/28/2024, By: George Kaplan
Info: Trail was mostly free of ice and snow until after first log bridge crossing. After that, mixture of thin snow, ice, and mud until after 3rd creek crossing along southwest slopes route. After junction with Missouri Mountain trail, snowdrifts got deeper on the way up to Elkhead Pass, but nothing deeper than about 12 inches and snow could be bypassed in many places. Valley south of Elkhead Pass looked much more snow-covered. Trail up to Belford covered in a few inches of snow/ice. Northwest Ridge trail snow-covered most of the way down. Microspikes and trekking poles were helpful, but no need for snowshoes. 

Route: Southwest & Northwest slopes
Posted On: 10/2/2024, By: Flips
Info: Summer conditions on the ground for both Oxford and Belford. I summited Oxford from the Southwest route via Elkhead Pass and after summiting Belford descended the switchbacks on the standard Northwest slopes. Everything is clear. No spikes needed. 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 9/27/2024, By: mountainero
Info: Southwest slopes completely dry. Northwest ridge has some goopy mud/snow in places from 13.5k and up. no traction needed. Had to bail on oxford to escape some clouds, they opened up once i got into town. Might have more snow, might get muddier 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 9/18/2024, By: nathanolds146
Info: Trail is in good shape and easy to follow. I climbed during an afternoon snow storm which left a fair amount of snow on the peak. 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 9/3/2024, By: mslattery
Info: Belford/Oxford trail was beautiful and straightforward. Want to note that from the first stream crossing through the cabin, there was a smell of decay which matched the section reported in recent mountain lion sightings. We didn't see anything but were happy to be in a bigger group going through that section in the dark. Took Missouri Gulch down for a more gradual descent and had a great day on this trail. 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 8/28/2024, By: jasowel
Info: Route finding is super straight forward. Very windy and cold morning heading up. Weather cooperated so made the trek over to Oxford. Gaining that summit is pretty easy. But don't underestimate Belford coming back. That side is steep and slow. Much warmer with little wind on the ridge so make sure you layer. A lot of temperature changes. Were reports of a mountain lion stalking this trail. Didn't see anything. 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 8/22/2024, By: sky_high
Info: Trail is in good shape and dry. Water is flowing all the way to the creek crossing above treeline. No snow to speak of. We are definitely in regular afternoon thunderstorm time, so mind the weather and get below treeline before 1pm. Bugs aren't too bad at the cabin and above. 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 8/4/2024, By: GrizzlyAdams
Info: On trail at 5:15 am with a summit of Mount Belford by 7:45 am at exactly 4 miles. No issues following the main trail and the ground is bone dry. Around 8 people were at the top and maybe another 10 on trail on the way up. Scooted over to Oxford with no issues and then returned taking the Elkhead Pass route to Missouri. Scree area near the top can be avoided by staying high on the trail. Crested the summit at 11 am and returned down Missouri Gulch (crossing one goat on the way) and closed out the day at 2 pm. Trails were relatively quiet. Plenty of water in the main valley for refilling. 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 7/11/2024, By: John619
Info: Camped at about 11,600 feet the night before. Climbed up the Northwest ridge trail (steep and loose in parts) to the summit. My 68 year old legs weren't moving fast enough to do Oxford as clouds were starting to build. Came back down to Elkhead pass to the Missouri Gulch trail back to camp (For me the the decent route was much easier as it wasn't as steep or loose, although it was 2 miles longer. Packed up camp and headed back to the Missouri Gulch trailhead that afternoon. If I were to do the Northwest ridge trail again I might use micro spikes as they could help on the very loose dirt sections. 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 6/30/2024, By: Clairebaums
Info: The start was rainy from 3:00-5:00 am. There is no snow in the trail, and the trail is very straight forward. Going over the river before the ridge was where we got slightly off route, but it was still pitch black at that point. It's best to just go straight over the river. This is a very steep trail with over 50 switchbacks, and the distances online are not accurate. My Garmin Fenix measured it to be a little over 10 miles round trip to summit Belford, about 5 miles each way. We also did Oxford, and the total distance was measured over 13.5 miles. 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 6/25/2024, By: anthompson
Info: Did an afternoon hike and it was completely summer conditions. There is one patch of snow near the summit but it isn't on the path and you don't need to walk on it. Also some snowmelt made muddy conditions above the treeline. 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 6/20/2024, By: ColoNativeGal
Info: Similar to the report from 6/16/24, basically summer conditions. There are a few snow patches along the main trail, all but one are completely avoidable. The one crossing the small creek just before you startup the ridge is holding snow. No traction needed. Log bridge and rocks with water flowing over them were very slippery in the morning, but easy going and poles helped. Didn't make it over to Oxford due to weather, but some extreme early birds (started at 2 or 3am) did make it (2 that I talked to) reported a couple of snow fields as well, but not an issue. I started at 5:30am, finished at 12:30pm. 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 6/16/2024, By: Nick_B
Info: Started 5:30am on the dot, Summited at 9am, hung out for 30min up top, arrived back at car 12pm. Round-trip length on my Garmin clocked at 7.71 miles. This hike is HARD in terms of elevation, it never stops lol. 4500ft in 4 miles, I'll let you do the math. However, the views are astonishing. I was blown away by this whole area, it's so worth the suffering. There's one stream crossing, slippery when wet so be careful. Any/all cars can access the Missouri Gulch trailhead parking lot. Weather was fantastic! No snow to worry about, trail is full summer conditions from bottom to top 

Route: Northwest Gully
Posted On: 6/11/2024, By: nohandz
Info: I started at 4am with 45F, but it was noticeably colder above treeline. Conditions in the NW gully were perfect - frozen consolidated snow and coverage all but the last few hundred feet. I heard a little running water but not much. Snow was 6-18 deep and solid as I dug down with my adze.. I headed over to Oxford and then down the ridge standard trail. It was mostly clear of snow. Either you could walk around any snow or it wasnt consequential. Any snow crossings were very soft in the afternoon and 78F at the trailhead!