Buckhorn Pass, Tubal Cain Mine to Buckhorn Lake — Monday, Jul. 21, 2025

Beautiful one night on Buckhorn pass. Started from the Tubal Cain trailhead about 10:30 am Monday morning with probably 10 other cars in the parking lot. Trail is very nicely graded so the 2000 ft gain up to the lake is evenly spread out across the 6 miles. WTA rates this trail as "hard" but I would definitely say it is more moderate. Trail was obstacle free except for one blow down but it wasn't too tricky to get over. Got to the pass around 3:30 and hung out there the rest of the day. The views were beautiful. Had a wind free night with a clear, starry sky. Left Tuesday around 8 am and stopped at the lake and the B-17 crash site, both were nice but very very buggy (pass was basically bug free). Trail to plane site is definitely steep in comparison to the rest of the trail. We saw a couple groups on the way up and way down. Tracked 15.5 miles with 3,400 ft of elevation gain for the trip.