I had been thinking of Oxford's East Ridge for a few years since I discovered Pine Creek Basin. After two visits to this incredible area, it worked out for an attempt of Oxford via the East Ridge. I hadn't seen that much information on that route, so.....

My friend Debbie, her daughter, and I packed in to the east side of the basin, right where the Colorado Trail crosses Pine Creek. By my GPS, it was approximately 4.5 miles from the trailhead to the intersection. NOTE: As is mentioned in the TH information, there is an honor system payment to walk across the private land to access public land. $1 per person and $2 per critter. The walk from the trailhead to the intersection is fairly easy, gaining about 400' in the first two miles, then about 930' in the last two miles. It took us around 2 hrs to reach the bridge. There are several good campsites on both sides of the creek; we camped right at the intersection of the Pine Creek trail and the Colorado Trail (northbound)

We started up the CT at approximately 4:30 am. It took us about 45-50 minutes and about 1.4 miles to hit the ridge and the place to leave the CT and head west on the ridge. We did leave a bit early and saw we were too far south so backtracked a bit. There is a small (1' ish) cairn where we finally turned off the trail. NOTE: the general rule of the day is tend right (north) on any decision of where to go.

The route to tree line is pretty mellow, albeit steep in some places. We never had to climb over any logs, and rarely had to debate much about the best way through. This is pretty typical of the terrain below tree line

Soon enough, the trees thin out.

And you start to get a good view of Harvard

As you gain elevation, you get a sense of the gentle rolling nature of the east ridge. I think the point in the distance is Waverly.

The overall terrain is pretty easy walking, mostly grass with a few small rocks.

Looking back along the ridge, with our campsite in the valley below at the end of the clearing

These are a few more lumps on the ridge. Here we were debating to stay on the ridge or tend right toward the saddle. We noticed a faint trail over near the rocks left of center. Again, seems the easiest way is to tend farther right than you would think (if you want the easier/efficient path)

We did an ascending traverse and eventually joined the trail. The trail came and went, and when we lost it and re-found it, it was always climbers right (north) of where we were.

This is in the saddle below Waverly. Supposedly there was a traverse across this face to save the up and over. We didn't see anything appealing and the gain up Waverly wasn't too much.

On top of (south) Waverly, with plenty of work left. We are a bit short of 4 miles at this point and roughly 1000' higher to go. Oxford is in the center, above the small spot of snow. Many false summits left.

Looking back on Waverly

One of the more interesting false summits. All class 1 (off trail) to this point, and a faint trail down and to the right, but probably class 2 or easy class 3 over this hump if you want it.

One last look back; our campsite looks a long way down the valley.

And the last little push to the summit. Oxford is generally the peak tucked in the middle. Note the still very grassy route and the faint trail on the right side. Consistent with most of the route.

Oxford summit was about 5 miles from camp, took us approximately 3:40 from camp to summit. We went over to Belford and hit that summit at about 4:30 total time. On Belford, we debated whether to go back over Oxford or come down via Elkhead Pass and Pine Creek. We chose the latter. took us about 8 hours round trip, so 3:30 down and a RT of 15.9 miles total. We clocked Belford at about 7 miles, so an extra 2 miles, but much easier walking and no significant elevation regain. We were back around 12:30 and decided to pack out. That 4.5 miles back down to the trailhead with a full pack was rough after the hike.

All in all, it was an enjoyable route. The ridge was very enjoyable, mellow, but with many false summits. I enjoy the walk back via Elkhead and Pine Creek but back along the ridge would have been fun too.