Mt. Belford

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! 

Route: Northwest Gully
Posted On: 6/9/2024, By: SpacebirdMtnCall
Info: Snow was a little patchy on the hike up around 13,800'. Had to down hike about 200' to get to the snow from the summit. Great conditions when I dropped at 9:00am. Had to billy goat across some rocks as the line I chose wasn't continuous to the bottom. Sunday Fun Day! 

Route: Northwest Gully
Posted On: 6/3/2024, By: BillMiddlebrook
Info: The trail is dry until to 11,100'. Then there are snow patches up and the old cabin at 11,300'. Then on/off snow all the way to 12,000' where the Belford trail crosses the gully and begins climbing the standard, NW Ridge. We went left there and climbed/skied the NW gully but we could see the NW ridge was mostly dry and there were hikers on the ridge.

For the next 2 weeks, just be prepared for snow between 11,100' and 12,000'. Microspikes and an early start would will work - snowshoes are not necessary. If the snow becomes soft, you may be able to circumvent most of it. 

Route: Northwest Gully
Posted On: 6/3/2024, By: BillMiddlebrook
Info: We climbed and skied the NW Gully. The trail is dry until some on/off snow between 11,100' and the old cabin at 11,300'. Then there's on/off snow above the cabin and all the way to where the Belford trail crosses the gully and begins climbing the standard, NW Ridge. We went left there but could see most of the standard ridge was dry.

The NW Gully has a good snow coverage and was firm, continuous snow to the summit ridge. We hit the reached the summit at 9:45 and skied at 10:30. Temps were in the 30s but winds kept the upper portions of the gully firm but the rest was corn. We skied back to the Belford trail and booted down to our hiking boots, 200' above the cabin. 

Route: via Pecks Peak
Posted On: 5/19/2024, By: 14ercooper
Info: Road easily passable to the trailhead. A bit of snow below treeline, with the old avalanche path just below treeline functioning as the crux of the climb. Fairly easy snow climb up the easy gully of Pecks Peak, and then just a ridge traverse over to Belford. Returned to the Belford/Pecks saddle and then dropped down to the valley along a dry-ish slope. Hiked back out. Snow was pretty much bullet proof in the morning, and started to soften up a touch (making everything very slippery) near mid-morning as I was getting close to the trailhead. 

Route: Northwest Gully
Posted On: 4/21/2024, By: Skimo95
Info: Bring rock skis for the summit and corn skis for the gulley. Road is dry and Oxford is out for now 

Route: Northwest Ridge
Posted On: 12/29/2023, By: SionaRW35
Info: Trailhead to tree line is packed snow. I found snowshoes helpful for about .5 miles or so around tree line but I saw some day hikers doing ok without them around 11,300.

After the split, I took the standard summer route which has minimal snow. Its your standard mix of rocks and ankle/shin high snow all the way from the split to the summit. Microspikes are helpful. I stashed snowshoes at the Belford/Missouri split.