Blaine Basin

Blaine Basin shares a trailhead with the very popular Blue Lakes Trail. It provides a quieter alternative that still has great opportunities for wildflowers and fabulous views. The trail ends in an incredible basin ringed by majestic mountains including Mt Sneffels. Your starting elevation is 9,500 ft. From the trailhead, take the left at the fork. This part of the trail is Dallas Trail 200 and is open to ATVs, but we didn't encounter any on a nice July weekend. The switchbacks start right away taking you ever higher up in a thick forest. The trail crosses Wilson Creek several times. At each crossing look for a solid multi-log bridge. Confused hikers have made extra trails to less sturdy crossings, so check out all the options before starting across. At the first Wilson Creek crossing the multi-log bridge is off to the right, look for a trail heading to it. In a short while the ATV traffic has to turn off to the left and then later Dallas Trail also heads off to the left. Now you are on Blaine Trail 203 which is open to horse and foot traffic only. There are a few times along the trail where you can spot grand waterfalls or rugged mountains but the best view is towards the end of the trail when you pop out of the forest and into a cirque of rugged snow-capped peaks. The basin is a carpet of colorful wildflowers in July.