After the previous day’s adventures on Mt. Evans, we made the 90-minute drive westward to Breckenridge, CO, where we planned to stay for a couple of nights before our next scheduled stop in Durango. After Chris caught up on work during the first half of the day, we decided to spend the balance of the afternoon exploring up Spruce Creek, the trailhead for which was located a few minutes up the road from our hotel. Ideally, had we more time, we would have loved to hike up into the creek’s headwaters in Mohawk Basin, well above timberline and overlooked by a 14er, Quandary Peak, above the next drainage south. We selected as a more reasonable option the small but pretty Mayflower Lake, which lies at the base of the moraines below Mohawk Basin and is reached by a 2+ mile trail that mostly follows the creek upstream. We easily found the trailhead about a mile from the highway leading south out of Breckenridge, and we set out up the trail on the north side of the creek. The initial section led southwest under moderate forest cover, gently gaining elevation – we soon passed through a clearing and over a wooden bridge to follow the creek’s right bank for the next mile or so. Eventually, we came to a junction adjacent to a large meadow dotted with several small ponds – here, there was a large sign advising thar the Spruce Creek trail was closed beyond this point for trail maintenance. Hmmm. The map showed another trail leading westward around the meadow to Spruce Creek Rd (the road we’d followed up from the highway), and it appeared we could follow that road up to the lake and bypass the closure. So west we went, traversing over level ground and soon crossing two branches of the creek beyond the meadow. We also soon saw the road above us about 100 yards away, and it looked like a cross-country hop to the road here would save us a half mile of trail, so we quickly picked our way through the fringe of the marsh to the road and continued up the hill. Leaving the meadow, the roadbed began climbing steeply to the west, eventually ending at the 11,300′ level where we found more signs saying the trail ahead was closed. As we paused for a minute to consider our options, we met a couple coming down the trail from higher up – they had earlier walked up through the closed section below us and reported no trouble with the trail above, so we decided to ignore the signs and proceed. Naturally, we immediately discovered the reason for the closures, as the trail was completely torn up – the damage looked more man-made than from erosion, and maybe it was all in the process of being regraded and perhaps rerouted. Still, we made quick work of this quarter-mile-long section and found ourselves at the Mayflower Lake turnoff – another couple of hundred yards got us to the lake, nestled in a small cirque just below timberline. There was another couple with their dog here ahead of us, and the man looked comfortably fast asleep on the sandy shore of the lake – not wanting to harsh their mellow, we stayed just a few minutes before heading back. We retraced our steps through the construction zone and back down the road, soon finding the upper end of the Spruce Creek trail – there was no closure sign here, so we figured the one we’d seen earlier at the meadow referred to the closed area up higher. We turned down the trail and passed through really pretty forest for about a quarter mile before finding more sections under construction, at this point feeling kind of bad about our routing choices. Pressing on, we soon returned to the large meadow, passed the initial trail junction, and navigated the Spruce Creek trail back to the truck without further issue. Although Breckenridge is one of the classic Colorado ski towns in the winter, we found that the area has a ton of appeal during the summer as well, and we were bummed we didn’t have more time to spend here – we did wander through the town’s cute/trendy shopping district the next morning before leaving for Durango, and that was most enjoyable.