Colorado Mountain Club - The Colorado trail: the official guidebook of the Colorado Trail Foundation

Early morning light in the Weminuche Wilderness.

PHOTO COURTESY OF DAVID FANNING

The Colorado Trail: The Official Guidebook of The Colorado Trail Foundation Ninth edition

2016 by The Colorado Trail Foundation 710 10th Street, Room 210, Golden, CO 80401 (303) 384-3729 ColoradoTrail.org Please alert the CTF to any errors or outdated information at the address above.

All rights reserved. This book may not be duplicated, copied, transmitted, or reproduced in any manner or by any means, including electronic, mechanical, photographic, or optical, including methods not invented or in common use at the time of this publication, without the express written consent of the publisher.

PUBLISHED BY: The Colorado Mountain Club Press 710 10th Street, Suite #200, Golden, CO 80401 (303) 996-2743; (800) 633-4417; email

Founded in 1912, The Colorado Mountain Club is the largest outdoor recreation, education, and conservation organization in the Rocky Mountains. Look for our books at your local bookstore or outdoor retailer or online at www.cmc.org

COVER PHOTO: Descending into the Elk Creek drainage, Colorado Trail Segment 24. Photo by Ben Kraushaar Title page photo by Lori Brummer

DISTRIBUTED TO THE TRADE BY Mountaineers Books 1001 SW Klickitat Way, Suite 201, Seattle, WA 98134 800-533-4453 | www.mountaineersbooks.org

We gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the people of Colorado through the Scientific and Cultural Facilities District of greater metropolitan Denver for our publishing activities.

Warning: Although there has been an effort to make this book as accurate as possible, some discrepancies may exist between this guide and the trail. Before beginning an excursion on The Colorado Trail, users should be capable of independent backcountry travel and be experienced in relevant mountaineering and orienteering techniques. Failure to have the necessary knowledge, equipment, and conditioning may subject users of The Colorado Trail to physical danger, injury, or death. Some routes described in this book have changed and others will change; hazards described may have expanded and new hazards may have formed since the books publication. For updates on trail changes and reroutes, go to ColoradoTrail.org.

Print ISBN 978-1-937052-33-1

Ebook ISBN 978-1-937052-34-8

Printed in USA

This book is a collaborative effort by The Colorado Trail Foundation (CTF) and its volunteers, the builders and stewards of all 567 miles of The Colorado Trail. To find out more about the CTF, or to join in preserving and maintaining The Colorado Trail, visit ColoradoTrail.org.

Many people helped the CTF develop the ninth edition of The Colorado Trail guidebook and we thank every one. Jerry Brown surveyed the trail, completing it six times, gathering accurate trail data with professional survey-grade GPS equipment. Sam Parks hiked the newly added Collegiate West alternative and recorded detailed information at each mile point. Tim Burroughs donated his professional expertise and authored the five new chapters for this western alternative. Aime OMalley compiled trail features data for the guidebook as well as The Colorado Trail Databook for improved consistency. Morgan and Robyn Wilkinson refined the guidebooks trail descriptions. Paul Magnanti used his triple-crowner experience to write about lightweight backpacking. Dean Krakel utilized his expertise as former Denver Post photo editor to revise the photography sections. Coordinating the entire effort was CTF Executive Director Bill Manning.

A volunteer works to clear the trail. Hundreds of fallen trees are removed every year by CTF volunteers who maintain The Colorado Trail.

PHOTO BY MARK RITCHEY

Many other volunteers assisted, including George Miller, Steve Staley, Gudy Gaskill, Dan Cohen, Tom Easley, Ron Davis, David Dolton, Jodie Petersen, Dave Peters, Georgia Hoffman, and Cindy Johnson, as well as CTF Office Manager Victoria Klinger and Field Operations Manager Brent Adams. This edition relies, in part, on earlier editions developed by Terry Root, Merle McDonald, Marilyn Eisele, Suzanne Reed, and others. Also contributing were the many Colorado Trail users who contribute photographs and those who report to the CTF office about necessary refinements to the book. The CTF needs, and is grateful for, all of our good Friends of The Colorado Trail, the CTF volunteers and donors whose involvement preserves The Colorado Trail.

Support from the U.S. Forest Service, Department of Agriculture, Rocky Mountain Region, is acknowledged and appreciated.

COLORADO. The name rolls off the tongue and brings to mind images of red rock walls, cascading waterfalls, lofty peaks, alpine meadows bedecked with wildflowers, and a unique outdoor lifestyle. This lifestyle has created a state of vigorous, healthy, and robust men and women who flock to the mountains to practice and enjoy their climbing, hiking, mountain biking, and horseback skills in the summer and a multitude of snow sports in the winter. It is truly a magnificent state.

I have traveled all over the world, climbed and hiked in many different climates and environments, but each time the plane brings me safely down to terra firma my mind always comes back to the same question: Why did I ever leave Colorado? Colorado is home; a big friendly state with such a variety of scenery. Who could ever forget the azure blue sky, the color deepening as the day draws to an end, the spectacular cumulus clouds that billow up before the afternoon showers, and the show of golds, oranges, and crimsons in the sky on a late summer evening? Who could forget a tunnel of golden aspens, with a treasure of gold coins covering the fragrant earth on a crisp autumn day? Or the brilliance of ice crystals shimmering a million colors in the early morning sun? This is heaven underfoot.

The Colorado Trail, a backcountry path traversing some of the most scenic areas of the Rockies and Continental Divide, is a unique experience for both body and soul. This revised guidebook to the trail describes the wonders and beauty that you will see along the way. It points out the flora and fauna native to the region. It will stir your imagination with its geological observations, creating a desire to know more of the areas ancient history and the powers of nature that formed this landscape. The Colorado Trail also provides a living history lesson as it crosses the paths of the areas earlier inhabitants, from American Indians to nineteenth-century miners and railroad barons.