The Colorado Trail Archives - Page 2 of 2

Segment 7 of The Colorado Trail

With Segment 7 of the Colorado Trail complete this weekend, I have now finished Segments 1-10 (170.5 miles) over the past two summers. Only 315 miles more to go…I suppose I’ve made a small dent.

David and I visited Breckenridge Friday night which coincidentally coincided with Oktoberfest (in September) and were fortunate enough to meet Cat for dinner at Blue Stag. After a great meal, Cat was nice enough to shuttle a car with us to our pick-up point at Copper’s East Lot. Continue reading “Segment 7 of The Colorado Trail” →

Labor Day Weekend on The Colorado Trail – Segment 6

We waited until the end of school Friday to tackle segment 6 of the Colorado Trail over Labor Day weekend. Our first stop was Gold Hill to drop off the pick up car. Then we shuttled to Kenosha Pass. It was 6:45 pm before we were able to start our hike. We planned on getting 3 miles under our belts so that we only had to average 10 miles a day the rest of the weekend.

Hiking at Dusk

Our hike began in large aspen groves. We were about a week or two too early for the magnificent colors, but the leaves were beginning to turn yellow. After emerging from the aspen grove, we enjoyed a nice view of South Park at dusk before we clipped on our headlamps.

We passed two small creeks, and likely the ideal campground in the dark. A car camping group with bright lights and music were situated near the suggested camping spots, 3.1 miles into the segment, so we continued on into the valley and set up camp just as sprinkles fell. Continue reading “Labor Day Weekend on The Colorado Trail – Segment 6” →

Engaged on Segment 8 of the Colorado Trail! Also Backpacked Segments 9 and 10…

David and I set out to hike segments 8-10 of the Colorado Trail (the “CT”) from Copper to Leadville over five days which averaged just under eleven miles a day after including our side hike to the fish hatchery. On the sixth day, we tackled Mount Massive, the second highest peak in Colorado. It was an eventful trip! Continue reading “Engaged on Segment 8 of the Colorado Trail! Also Backpacked Segments 9 and 10…” →

The Colorado Trail – Segment 5

Since setting my goal to hike the Colorado Trail in mid-August, I’ve been able to hike the first four segments, though not in order. Today, with the help of Jim, I logged Segment 5’s 15.1 miles, so I have now completed the first 72.2 miles of the trail!

Segment 5 offers absolutely magnificent views. I thought Segment 4 was a fantastic segment to complete during the fall in order to see the changing aspen leaves, but Segment 5 may take the cake! The colorful aspens were definitely the highlight.

Continue reading “The Colorado Trail – Segment 5” →

The Colorado Trail – Segment 4

I’m feeling exhilarated and exhausted simultaneously. Segment 4 of the Colorado Trail was simply magnificent! I highly suggest hiking this segment during the fall when the aspens and willows change from green to golden. I know through hikers may not have this luxury, but day hikers shouldn’t miss this part of the trail in the fall.

How to Get There

The trailhead can be found 8 miles from Bailey down County Road 68 in the Pike National Forest. The road changes names to FS-560, but consistently staying to the right at any splits results in arriving at the Rolling Creek Trailhead parking area. A forest service road extends from this parking area 0.3 miles up to another parking area directly across from the trail to the right. Continue reading “The Colorado Trail – Segment 4” →

The Colorado Trail – Segment 1

Parking the Cars

JB and I wanted to hike the first segment of the Colorado Trail (“CT”) which begins in Waterton Canyon and ends 16.8 miles later at the South Platte River Trailhead located near the ghost town South Platte. As such, we took a road trip, each driving 130+ miles!

Our morning began at 6:30 am, where we met at the Woolly Mammoth parking lot. From there we caravanned to the end of Segment 1 to drop off a car so that we’d have transportation upon completing our one way 17 mile adventure. Then we backtracked to Waterton Canyon to begin our hike at 8:45 am.

HAPPY HIKING!

The Colorado Trail – Segment 2

Many thanks to my friends, Harlow, Erin, Brian, Justin, and Kristin for getting me one step closer to my goal of hiking the entire Colorado Trail or should I say 30K+ steps closer according to my fitbit.

Getting to Segment 2 of the Colorado Trail

I took a tip from my friend Jim and planned for three of us to hike the trail in one direction and three of us in the other, so we had cars at both ends of Segment 2, the next section I planned to tackle. As such, at Harlow’s suggestion, we met at the Twin Forks PNR on 285 to trade vehicles so that we would end up with our own cars at the end. Given Erin, Brian and Harlow drew the downhill direction, they would finish before us and this way we didn’t have to try coordinating at day’s end.

HAPPY HIKING!

The Colorado Trail – Segment 3

Inspiration

Recently many of my friends have been talking about hiking the Colorado Trail. One friend from Texas planned to hike the entire 485.8 miles in 3 weeks this summer. He just finished on Monday and picked up his car and excess belongings that he left at my house. Another friend is hiking a portion with her son starting tomorrow. And finally, another friend is hiking all the segments over five years. He has completed multiple trips, some day hikes and some backpacking trips, along the trail this summer.

These conversations coupled with recently finishing the book Wild by Cheryl Strayed which many people had suggested to me to read in the past two years (probably because I took a year away to travel and hike) inspired me to hike my first segment of the Colorado Trail or the CT today. Continue reading “The Colorado Trail – Segment 3” →