Rush -- The Monte Cristo Trail

The Monte Cristo Trail is one of three short hiking trails in the Rush area.  It is a short little trail, but probably my favorite of the trails.  There is an extended part of this trail at the end that can connect to the other trails in the area to create a loop hike that I'll talk about at the end.

The trail is scenic and easy to follow.

To take this trail, start off at the second trailhead in the Rush area (near the shelter with the picnic tables and toilet and near the River).  The trail starts off into the woods back behind the parking area. There is a small ruin here at the start – it is the remnants White Eagle Mine.

Head off into the woods, and after a short stretch you’ll hit an intersection.  To the left is the Old Mine Trail, to the right is the Monte Cristo Trail. Stay right.

This part of the trail is on an old road -- and is a great part of the trail.

The trail runs off into the woods and eventually swings off to the left. Down below you have some great views of the Buffalo River and Clabber Creek.  At about .4, the trail intersects with an old road, turn left on this road.

The view of Clabber Creek below.

This old road serves as a beautiful little hiking trail. It heads up the hill at a somewhat gentle grade, to your left are some bluff lines along Rush Mountain, and to the right is a steep drop-off to Clabber Creek with more mountains in the distance.  I really do love this little stretch of trail.

Old mining equipment from the '60s.

At .5 miles you get to the Monte Cristo mine – you’ll know it when you see it!  It’s the largest of the mine openings in the area.  There is also some old mining equipment that sits outside – leftover from the somewhat brief mine reopening in the 1960s. You can follow the road another .2 miles until the end of the maintained trail. At this point, you can turn around and head back – for a round-trip route of 1.4 miles.  I recommend this route (and all of “conclusion” data below reflects this option). 

However, if you want to make this a loop hike, there is an option to do so.  It’s not a maintained trail, it’s hard to follow, and a bit dangerous, but if you’re into bushwacking and finding your own way, there are some great views from the top of this trail.

So, if you decide to go on the loop hike, go to the sign where it says “end of maintained trail” and instead of turning around, head off onto the tracked route to the left. This is pretty easy to spot because everyone enters at the same place.

Now, the trail is sort of marked – there are blue trail markers around if you’re looking out for them. There are a lot of downed trees along the ‘trail”, so it is easy to lose. The trail goes up, then to the right, and then up again. At  1 mile from the trailhead, the trail goes straight up to the left through a little break in the bluff line (there is a tree in the middle of this break with a blue tag on it).  It is the only real break in the bluff line, so it’s important that you keep an eye out for it.

Once through this break in the Bluff, we never really found a trail again. The best advice I can give you is to find the easiest way to the top and then follow the trail ridge across the top of the Mountain. There really are some great views from up here when the leaves are off the trees.

If you decide to go over the mountain ridge, be cautious and enjoy the views.

Follow the mountain ridge for quite awhile here (it has a slight uphill grade).  At some point the trail heads back down the mountain. I confess, we never found the trail down – but it’s hard to get lost here, because you’re at the top of the mountain, and you know you have to go down on your left. However, my hint here is to stay on the ridge much longer than you think you need to. Just like the side of the mountain you just came up, there is a steep bluff line on this side as well, so there aren’t many options to get down. And, that side of the ridge is a series of mines (the ones you’ll pass by on the Mine Trail) – so there is a lot of fencing, deep drop offs and likely some unstable ground.  But assuming you find your way down, you’ll hit a the mine trail – to the right takes you to the Morningstar Parking area, to the left, down the old Mine Trail. If you make this entire loop, it’s about 3.6 total miles (depending on how close to the original trail you stay.

If you take the loop route, be careful, take a good topographical map, and do your best to stay on the trail.  I hope someday they can complete this trail, because right now, it’s really rough bushwacking.

Monte Cristo Trail:

Distance: 1.4 (roundtrip on the actual trail – 3.6 miles if you try the loop)

Difficulty: Easy for the hiking portion, Difficult for the “loop” hike version over the mountain.

Rating: 4 stars

Footwear: Trail Runners – although Hiking Boots are advised for the Loop hike

Kids: Yes (for the out and back route, definitely not for the loop).

Guidebook:  none required if you stay on the trail, but if you plan to attempt the Loop Hike take the Buffalo River Hiking Trails Book for guidance.

Comments

[Joshua Dunlap]

Hey man I recently checked out the Monte Christo mine and found it filled with green water. I found a pipe that seems to be running that water off into the Buffalo River. I'm wondering if there's some mineral composition in the mine that causes the water to be this color or whether or is a byproduct of the early mining operation.

[Brent]

I don't know Joshua. The mines were originally mined for zinc - -so the green water may be from higher concentrations of zinc in the mines (zinc occurs naturally in most water sources, so isn't considered toxic). But I'm not really sure...