wshep820:
Any way that you go you have to hike some if you want to camp in the canyon. You can rent horses from Ferros Blue Mesa Trading Post, which is located on the west shore of Blue Mesa Lake.
Southern Access: The best access from the south is the Lion Gulch trail. Or you can use the road that you see on the US Forest Service map but you have to be careful that you stay off of private property (you have to hug the shoreline) and it ends a few miles south of where the Lion Gulch trail crosses West Elk Creek. There's an old trail that starts at the end of the road and follows an abandoned irrigation ditch that eventually connects with the Lion Gulch Trail. North of that point follow the old logging road, which is mostly over-grown and hard to find. There are many picturesque camp spots in the bottom of the canyon. You hike about half way up the canyon wall each day and hunt from vantage points there. The best thing about this strategy is that you can hunt both sides of the canyon and carry your elk down to camp where you have horses waiting. But keep in mind that there are many places where the canyon walls are vertical and climbable only with technical gear. Some of the side gullies end in box canyons at trickling waterfalls. So you have to learn the canyon and pick the best routes to scramble up.
Northern Access: You can hike the trail that starts at the Rainbow Lake Trailhead (USFS trail 449 & 451), cross the creek, and camp in Buck Hollow. You can also hike down into the canyon from Buck Hollow. You can't follow the creek down from the trail crossing because there's a cascade between the trail crossing and Buck Hollow that blocks progress. Or you can drive to the end of the Red Creek road and connect cross-country to the same trail and save yourself about a mile of hiking. This allows you to hunt the west shoulders of the canyon down to about Bonfisk Peak. There's one short stretch of the trail (USFS trail 451) that could be touch and go for the horses. So I've never taken horses along that part of the trail. I've seen more experienced horsemen do it though.
It's also viable to hunt the canyon shoulders from any of several good camp spots right on top of the east rim. You can drive a 4x4 pickup to some of them or take a short hike (less than a mile) or take an ATV to the others. Each day you will scramble half way down the canyon walls and hunt from vantage points there. This is the easiest way to hunt the West Elk Creek gorge. The dissadvantage of this strategy is that you have to carry your field butchered elk uphill in a backpack. You better be young and strong and in good shape if you're going to do that.
There's a big outfitters camp at Rock Springs and they pretty much dominate the west rim south of Bonfisk Peak.
KC
