Colorado Trail Info Request

“Does anyone have any first hand experience with the Colorado Trail and/or the Continental Divide Trail in Colorado?

It's that time of year to start formulating the plans for next summer's big trip. As good as the Montana trip sounds, I want to have some contingency plans. Montana sounds like fun but I'm worried it'd be more of a party than a bp'ing trip.

The websites say the Co Trail is 472 miles. I'm looking for a good 4 weeks trip in the mountains, with 1st rate scenery.”

“If anyone has any first hand experience with the Colorado Trail and/or the Continental Divide Trail in Colorado... Don't give it to le Subtil. I want him to go to Montana!

j/k

I'll be in Colorado next week. I'll check w/ some people there to see if I can get first hand experience info.”

“I haven't hiked for any serious distance on either of these trails, but have used and crossed both in many locations south of I-70 and own maps which cover the whole route.

The Colorado advantage is a longer snow-free hiking season and the machismo of higher peaks. The 14ers draw big weekend crowds.

(There's another web-site that has lot of Colorado people on it)”

“Ah, you got me dreamin', man.

It's one of my dreams to hike the CDT from CO southern border, Cumbres Pass, north through South San Juan, Weminuche, and La Garita Wildernesses for as long as I could stand it. This is the most quiet and breathtaking part of CO I've seen......”

“toejam - "quiet and breathtaking" has my attention. That sounds better than "weekend crowds".

The CDT would be the divide trail, correct? Does ot not overlap the CO trail in south Co? I hiked about 1/10 mi of it at Wolf Creek Pass.

I've heard you can go 150 miles out of Durango on the Co Trail all above treeline?

I car camped in Mesa Verde for a few days before driving north thru Durango & Silverton up to the Black Canyon of the Gunnison. There was a trail from the cg up to the top of the Mesa I climbed early every morning. The views NNE of the San Juans was incredible and addicting. I knew I wanted to hike them. We drove thru way too fast.

So, you got me going now. Tell me more. What would the hiking season be? How long would the hike you describe be? How about a good 2 week trip? or 3? Got any time off coming this next summer?

I gotta send out for some books.”

“Looks like the Colorado trail follows the Divide pretty closely between Silverton and Brekinridge? But, you think it's better to follow the divide to the NM border?”

“When we were on our honeymoon Birch and I ran into three guys who were hiking the CDT from end to end. They were loving every second of it! They couldn't say enough about it. The folks in CO are good about sending maps, etc. I'd give them a call and see what you can get.”

“Here's a link to get info from the State Parks dept:

CO Funfinder”

“Actually that site sucks but if you explore it a bit there are phone numbers that will probably help you out.”

“South San Juan Wilderness may be the quietest place in CO, other than the cattle in the big valleys.
I was there on the first day of summer a few years ago and the CDT was covered with quite a bit of snow. Its above treeline there. Really spectacular. I would want to do it late August-early September. July-August can be monsoons. June is the prettiest time, just real cold.

I guess it would take at least two weeks (taking time to enjoy) to go from Cumbres Pass up to Stony Pass in Weminuche, near Silverton. I might want to take 4 weeks just for that. From here the CDT and CO Trail combine and stay mostly above treeline through La Garita. The trails split at the southern end of the Sawatch Mtns and the CO Trail stays on the east base of the mountains going north past Salida, Buena Vista and Leadville. The CDT follows the ridge top to Cottonwood Pass and drops off to the west until somewhere north of Leadville where I think it joins the CO Trail again until the CO Trail takes off east through Lost Creek Wilderness to its northeast end.

The big difference between these trails is the CO Trail is designed for easy hiking; well marked and not too steep (thin air notwithstanding). The CDT is not even a real trail in places, but I think it's marked through CO. Crowds in CO are directly proportional to your proximity to Denver, with the glut of peak baggers every weekend.

If you hike the CDT the hiking season is probably no longer than in Montana because of staying close to 12,000' most of the time. Most of the Colorado people I know of are on the OAN backpacking site, and they will know more than this Texas boy.”

“Also I read an account of a guy hiking the CDT in Colorado going south-north. It was on the GORP site a few years ago. The guy had the same name as the National Geogrphic editor, which I can't remember right now.”

“Thanks a million Toejam. Time to get some books.
What is OAN's site?”

“That's it, and John Fahey I believe.”

“We've hiked all of the CDT (in 1999) and about 100 miles of it in the San Juans in Colorado in 1997. I agree, the trail is beautiful. If you are there in July you have the advantage of green meadows and incredible wildflowers, but also the possibility of daily thunderstorms while you are above treeline. We were there in a wet summer and had rain almost every day. Our fall of 1999 trip was dryer, but much colder. Our short trek journal is on the ALDHA-West site (under journals). I have a long journal for the entire CDT, but it isn't online. North of the San Juans there are more people and bikes but the trail is still beautiful. Get Jim Wolf's guidebook for southern Colorado. The Trails Illustrated maps are good, but had several errors when we hiked with them - that may have been fixed. Same for the Tom Jones guidebook. The Colorado Trail and the CDT are the same for large parts of the state, but diverge at Pole Creek in the Weminuche (the CT heads to Durango and the CDT heads toward Wolf Creek Pass). They are also different near Twin Lakes (CDT is higher) and again from Copper Mountain north. Jim Wolf's route is a good one and I recommend his guidebooks. The CT is a good trail, better marked and maintained than the CDT, but more heavily used as well.

As to the question - Montana or Colorado - as beautiful as Colorado is, I would go for Montana, but that's because I like solitude, and you won't find that much in Colorado (except possibly the south San Juans, where the trail is very obscure, but beautiful.) I wish we had a whole month - we are spending our two weeks in the Beartooths in Montana, we hope.”

“Ginny, have you seen the Montana Trail Talk Hike Thread?

You might want to consider it.”

“Thanks all for what looks like good info.
Craig”

“When a subject gets above about 40-50 messages, I stop reading it, it just takes too long and usually wanders too far afield. So I really don't know what is happening there.”

“Ginny:

Next summer, late July (20th - 27th ?), trail talk hike in Montana. Cooke City to East Rosebud Lake. Probably 5 or 6 days.”

“We weren't planning to go until around Labor Day -- after the crowds and bugs are gone. We plan to take two weeks - transportation takes too long for anything less.”

“I've recieved both guidebooks, and am trying to arrange a 2 week trip from Cumbres Pass to Wolf Creek Pass the first 2 weeks in July. Any advice? Is this too early? Is there any way to get help to spot a car? The S trailhead looks remote.

Maybe I can go straight from there to the Montanapolooza! (dream on)”

“PS the guide book makes it sound like you have to be a Tom Brown to find and follow the trail. Is it that bad?”

“I've never been on the CT, but here's the journal of a guy who thru-hiked it last year.

BTW, I have been in Breckenridge, and the CT passes by it. Nice place, you should plan an off day there.”

“I thought you were talking about the Colorado Trail!

You will love it! The south trailhead is not at all hard to find. Just park at the top of the pass and start walking the ridge north. No need to drive off the main road and don't worry about leaving the car. Transportation between the two passes is an interesting problem. You could probably hitchhike easy enough (I'd go around the east side). You might post on another forum and see if you can arrange something. I was in Colorado a couple weeks ago and there is almost no snow on the east slope and little snow to the west. It will probably freeze every night, but it should be REALLY nice!

Arrrgh! I wish I was going back!”

“Thanks for answering toejam, but it appears my partner is backing out.
This isn't one I want to do solo, really, so it don't look good.
I got the topos last night. Dam, so many contour lines give me a woody.”

“This is one of the most remote parts of the state but I would think that the CDT gets enough traffic to make it a safe solo trip. When I was there we saw lots of cowboys & girls on horses and there were hundreds of head of cattle in the valleys. Other places in CO like any 14er, Weminuche, Collegiate Peaks, Indian Peaks, Sangre de Cristo, Lizard Head, Mt. Evans, Eagles Nest and Maroon Bells/Snowmass Wildernesses are popular enough for you to not be alone on a solo trip, but big enough to still have solitude. In Colorado I've always felt like somebody would be along shortly if I fell and broke my leg. Still I've had the summit of 6 14ers to myself and usually camp out of sight and earshot of any one else. Travelling the big trails and finding a quiet spot to camp is doable and relatively low-risk.”

“Cool. I just may solo it...

My hiking partner/brother has a screw loose - literally. He has an artificial leg, and a screw inside his knee worked itself loose and is interfering with the fit on his leg socket.
He offered to still support me while he car camps...”

“The south San Juans get little use. Bring a compass - the trail really is very obscure in some places. Still, it is really beautiful. I suggest you start at Wolf Creek and head south as the trail is a bit easier to find and you won't be starting with the long uphill. (Just go left when you enter the trees at the Pass - the trail splits three ways, no markings on any of them, and signs of trail work on at least two;-) That stretch of trail above the ski resort was lovely. We got very lost a couple of days later where the stock driveway and the trail meet - we followed the stockway - be aware that the maps lie. It didn't matter as we got down to Cumbres Pass fairly easily, it just wasn't the way we planned to go. If you're planning two weeks, you'll have more than enough time to do a lot of wandering. There is little snow, even this early. The drought hit that area too. Several CDT hikers have been through already -- they raced through New Mexico on the roads when the forests were all closed. If you're really worried about doing the section alone, go north from Wolf Creek Pass - it gets more use and the trail is a lot more obvious (except in a few spots). If you run out of time, there are a lot of side routes down to Creede, and there's only one road out, so getting a ride back to your car would be easy.”