Big Dominguez Creek Trail

Ravialdo

Ravialdo

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Jan 9, 2013
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Saw the awesome trip report that landed our own Adventur.co into the pages of Backpacker this last issue and now my curiosity is piqued for the Dominguez Canyon Wilderness.

I've come across many trip reports here and elsewhere that describe hiking the Big Dominguez Creek trial, but almost all of them describe either a out-n-back from the Gunnison River side or as Randy did, from Cactus Park.

Has anyone gone down the whole length of the creek? The BLM map I've seen suggests its possible. I'm thinking it might be a nice hike (although requiring a shuttle). Starting at either Cactus Park TH or Bridgeport and then proceeding down-canyon to the Dominguez TH. I could imagine a couple days could be devoted to the point-to-point hike, allowing for time for leisurely exploring.
 
We were originally planning on starting from the upper trailhead and going down to Bridgeport, but decided to keep my first backpacking trip a little shorter and started from Cactus Park this time. I know many people hike the whole thing from the top, I just haven't done it yet.
 
I have done it from the upper parking area down to Bridgeport. It was a leisurely 3 day backpack, around 12 miles to Bridgeport. The upper canyon is very different than the lower sections. More vegetation, pines and the creek is wider and more overgrown (good fishing I hear). Then a few miles above the Cactus Park trailhead the canyon turns quite dramatic, with a beautiful inner canyon that is spectacular, yet small in scale. We spent a great deal of time exploring off trail (a must) as you will not see much of the creek from the trail. I have a couple of trip reports here that you can check out if you like:

http://backcountrypost.com/forum/index.php?threads/summer-trip.966/#post-9913

http://backcountrypost.com/forum/index.php?threads/dominguez-canyon-co.906/

I have found some amazing camp spots here, just stay off the trail and take your time exploring above the creek.
 
Thanks for the input. Big Dominguez it is.

One question though. We want to do a point-to-point hike, starting at the upper campground trail head and heading down to the Bridgeport parking lot. This will entail a shuttle. Since we will only have 1 rental car being out-of-towners, need to hire a shuttle service. I've called American Spirit Shuttle in Grand Junction, but they are reluctant to do a shuttle for 1) liability reasons (they usually move cars) and 2) they are not sure that the upper trail head will even be accessible in early April.

Obviously I share their concerns esp. if the road which the BLM states is treacherous when wet to the campground is snowed in. Does anyone have any local outfitters they recommend that might be able to hook us up with a shuttle drop off?
 
Our trip starts April 7th on Sunday. Flying in on Sunday morning to Grand Junction. Was hoping to start hiking the trail Sunday afternoon after the obligatory REI run for fuel and last minute things.
 
Ravialdo said:
Our trip starts April 7th on Sunday. Flying in on Sunday morning to Grand Junction. Was hoping to start hiking the trail Sunday afternoon after the obligatory REI run for fuel and last minute things.
Click to expand...

That's the weekend of the BCP Fest, so I won't be around to give you a ride up there. If I were around I would have tried to get you up there.
 
No worries. Thanks for the offer! I figure when I'll still give the shuttle folks a chance; if there is no snow up on the plateau, they will probably do it. Worst case scenario: we park at Bridgeport and do an out and back hike as far up canyon as we want. Won't be a single point-to-point, but there are worse things in the world than that.
 
Ravialdo said:
No worries. Thanks for the offer! I figure when I'll still give the shuttle folks a chance; if there is no snow up on the plateau, they will probably do it. Worst case scenario: we park at Bridgeport and do an out and back hike as far up canyon as we want. Won't be a single point-to-point, but there are worse things in the world than that.
Click to expand...

If you can't get to the upper trailhead, they could still get you to the Cactus Park trailhead......then you wouldn't have to do an out and back.
 
Ravialdo
I might be able to give you a hand, PM me. The upper road should be no problem BTW.
 
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