Northern Colorado Continental Divide Hike
Estes Park to I-70
Again, we got up before 6:00 a.m. as we had a big day ahead of us with
lots of climbing and cross-country hiking. We planned to hike over Granite
Pass to Mills Moraine and then head cross-country across Mt. Meeker (13,911').
From Meeker Ridge, we would drop into Wild Basin, where we would take a
trail about 5 miles to camp at Finch Lake. We left camp at 7:30 and reached
the North Longs Peak Trail in 10 minutes. The hike up to Granite Pass was
long and hard, climbing about 2,000' in less than 2 hours (9:20). We descended
down to the Mills Moraine Trail (10:00) and started towards Chasm Lake.
We figured to start climbing up to Mt. Meeker's northeast ridge after crossing
the Roaring Fork below the lake. A little ways up the trail we turned back
and decided it might be easier to cross the creek further down below Peacock
Pool. There were also some clouds starting to move in on Longs Peak just
west of us, so we wanted to take a little less exposed route across Mt.
Meeker if possible. We followed Mills Moraine east for awhile before descending
to the Roaring Fork. The short, but steep descent starts to bother Jeff's
knees and fortunately, we reach the bottom before they got too bad.
From the creek, we headed south and gradually climbed 800' across Meeker's
broad northeast ridge to nearly 11,600', where we intersected the main
easterly ridge. As soon as we reached this main ridge, clouds moved in
from above and below. It started to rain and the boulders that we were
hiking on became very slick. Since we did not want to slip and get hurt,
we decided to change our route. Instead of continuing over the boulders
to Meeker Ridge, we descended into Cabin Creek, which flowed east between
the two ridges. (Our original plan was to cross over to Meeker Ridge, down
to Lookout Mountain, and then go cross-country to Wild Basin Ranger Station.)
We figured we could always find the trail lower in the Cabin Creek drainage
that heads over Horsetooth Peak and then descends just below Lookout Mountain
to Copeland Lake. The descent was not too bad as we found some game trails
and eventually an unmaintained trail along the creek. We stopped at the
creek for lunch at 10,600' (12:30-1:15). It continued to rain as we followed
the trail down along the creek. Just below 10,000', we came to a fork in
the trail (sign indicated: St. Malo left and Meeker right). We took the
trail to the right, which eventually turned into a road that comes out
at Meeker Park on State Route 7 (2:45). By this time the rain had let up.
We stopped in at a roadside store to buy ice cream, juice, and apples.
Then we continued south on the highway to the Copeland Lake/Wild Basin
turnoff. We reached Copeland Lake at 3:40 and walked up the dirt road to
the Wild Basin Ranger Station (4:20). From here, we followed the Allens
Park Wild Basin Trail to the Finch Lake - Pear Reservoir Trail (5:45).
When we finally reached Finch Lake at 6:45, we were extremely tired. We
cooked our supper and immediately went to bed. It rained all night. Apparently,
monsoon season had hit Colorado.
When we got up at 7:00 a.m. the rain had stopped, but it was still cloudy.
Ed cooked oatmeal and served Jeff and Bill in bed. At this point, a good
portion of our gear was soaking wet. We were supposed to bushwhack up 2
miles to a pass between St. Vrain Mountain and Meadow Mountain where the
St. Vrain Mountain Trail lies. We hiked back a little ways to the turnoff
for the proposed bushwhack. Since the lush vegetation was all wet
and there was no trail through the dense forest to St. Vrain Mountain,
we decided to slip a day in our schedule. We went down to Allens Park and
called home about our schedule change. Diane would now meet us at the Fourth
of July Campground on 8/17 instead of on 8/16. While in town (10:45-11:30)
we had lunch - hamburgers, French fries, and pie. It was hard for us to
start hiking again after such a large lunch. We headed up a paved road
for over a mile to reach the St. Vrain Mountain Trail. The 5-mile 3,000'
climb to Meadow Mountain and St. Vrain Mountain seemed hard. We arrived
at the saddle between St. Vrain Mountain and an 11,478' mountain at 3:00,
nearly 6 hours after we should have reached it in the morning if we had
not changed our route. The trail down to the Middle St. Vrain Creek was
very rocky. We chose our camping site on the creek as soon as we hit it
(5:00). Bill and Ed took baths. After we ate, we all went to bed early.
In going to Allens Park we added about 10 miles to the day.
We got up at 6:00 a.m. and left camp at 7:30 a.m. We headed east along
the jeep road on the north side of the creek for about a mile and then
crossed the creek on a logjam. From there, we continued along an unmarked
jeep road to Coney Creek, where we could not find the trail to Mitchell
Lake. Eventually, we found the trail on the east side of the pond (10,000'-)
and not on the west side as shown on the topo map. This was a good trail
(Buchanan Pass Trail) that led to the Mount Audubon Trail at 11,300' (10:30).
From here we descended to Brainard Lake where we had lunch (11:15-12:00).
We started on the Pawnee Pass Trail towards Long Lake. At the outlet of
the lake, we headed south towards Niwot Ridge on a trail that was not shown
on the map. At about 11,000' we encountered a hailstorm and had to sit
it out for 15 minutes.
When we reached a saddle on Niwot Ridge (11,500') at 2:00, we discovered
that there was a barbed wire fence around the City of Boulder water shed.
A sign showed that the boundary surrounded Green Lakes, Lake Albino, Frozen
Lake, Arapaho Glacier, Triple Lakes, Goose Lake Island Lake, and Silver
Lake. The western boundary was on the Continental Divide, the northern
boundary followed Niwot Ridge, the eastern boundary was east of Silver
Lake, and the southern boundary passed through South Arapaho and Caribou
Peaks. The sign indicated no trespassing and that the land was owned and
patrolled by the City of Boulder. It said that violators would be prosecuted
and we could see people below. We were a bit surprised at this, as Eric
Ryback in his book "Ultimate Journey" had described his hike through this
area. Consequently, we decided to follow the fence along the eastern boundary
to the road that led to Rainbow Lakes. There was a trail along part of
the fence but we had to bushwhack most of the way. It was aggravating as
Jeff tore his pack cover and Ed tore his pants on the fence. The route
along the fence changed from S to E five times and the hike seemed endless
(5-6 miles). We finally reached the Rainbow Lakes road at 4:45 p.m. When
we got to a point just east of Rainbow Lakes, we found the trailhead to
Arapaho Glacier. The campground at the lakes was packed full of noisy campers.
We were so tired and hungry that we decided to eat supper at the trailhead
(5:30-7:25). The trail head sign read 'Arapaho Glacier Overlook - 6 miles;
Arapaho Pass Trail - 8 miles'. After supper, we loaded up with water and
headed up the trail about 1/2 mile to be away from the noise. We found
a nice soft spot to sleep about 50' off the trail on a knoll (7:45).
We got up at 6:00 a.m. and started our hike up the Arapaho Glacier Trail
at 7:50 a.m. We reached Caribou Peak (12,310') at 10:00. The view of the
lakes below was beautiful. Our next great view was at the Arapaho Glacier
overlook at 12,700' (11:10). From here, we hiked down to the Fourth of
July Mine on the Arapaho Pass Trail (11:50), where there was some old mining
equipment left behind years ago. At the Fourth of July Campground we meet
Diane for lunch and restocking (12:45-3:30). We spent almost 3 hours eating
(the sub sandwiches were great), washing, and re-packing. It was a little
difficult to get going up the hill to Diamond Lake after a large lunch
and with full packs. Eventually we regained our rhythm and ended up hiking
almost non-stop to Jasper Lake (6 miles). The level of the water in the
lake was very low so we decided to continue on to Devils Thumb Lake (6:20).
There were not any good places to camp at the lake. We found a spot for
our tent about 300' from the lake near two other tents. We went to bed
very early, as it was very cold and windy.
As usual, we got up at 6:00 a.m. to get an early start for our hike to
either Rogers Pass Lake or Lake Caroline. It was a gorgeous day with nothing
overhead but blue skies. We were hoping for good weather since the
route we had planned for the day was mostly above treeline along the exposed
Divide. The day started with a 1-mile climb up 500' to Devil's Thumb Pass,
where we reached the Corona Trail (now also known as the Continental Divide
Trail). We took it over to Rollins Pass (9:50) and hiked down the old railroad
grade to Rifle Sight Notch, just east of the Winter Park Ski Area.
The gradual grade (160 ft/mile) is great for making good time and we hiked
nearly 4 miles in 75 minutes. There is an old trestle across Rifle
Sight Notch where the trains would cross, loop around a knob to the west
and then travel through a tunnel below the notch and trestle. Supposedly,
the longer trains would loop around themselves crossing the trestle and
tunnel at the same time. We camped on the knob west of the notch
the previous summer and five years earlier on another BSA 50-miler hike.
From
Rifle Sight Notch, we proceeded south on a jeep road where we met 5 people
with 4 dogs heading for Rogers Lake. This made us decide to continue along
the Divide to James Peak (13,294'). South of Roger's Pass, we left the
Ute Trail and hiked cross-country over James Peak (2:20). We were
a little bit apprehensive about the next segment to Mt. Bancroft as the
map shows a narrow ridge above Ice Lake with a steep drop off on either
side (see detailed maps. Jeff and Bill wanted to go down the gentle easterly ridge of James
Peak and circle around Loch Lomond to Lake Caroline. This would have entailed
a 3-4 mile hike dropping down to 11,200' and then back up to 11,900'. Ed
talked them into following the Divide to Mount Bancroft and then dropping
down to Lake Caroline, a much more rugged, but shorter hike. Being familiar
with this area, Ed had always wanted to hike to the saddle overlooking
Ice Lake.
Heading
down from James Peak, we could see the route up the other side to Mt. Bancroft
looked steep, but definitely doable with a portion of it even on tundra.
As we descended further, we saw that it might be difficult to pick a route
down to the notch. We hiked along some ledges, scrambled down some small
rock faces, and somehow managed to pick our way down to the notch (3:20).
Definitely a few scary moments, but we made it safely down the 700' descent.
We then scrambled up Mount Bancroft to 13,000' and descended 800' to Lake
Caroline to make camp on a sloping, rocky site at 12,200', about 300' above
the lake (4:15). Unfortunately, we would have to regain that elevation
first thing in the morning. The 800' drop to our camp site was very hard
on our legs and we were too tired to hike any further with our packs on
our backs. We then walked down to the lake to get our supply of water,
wash, and fish. After eating, we went to bed very early since it was cold
and windy.
We got up at 6:00 a.m. and headed towards a series of 13,000'+ peaks along
the Continental Divide at 7:30. We were really looking forward to this
day since we would be hiking near four peaks, Mount Bancroft (13,250'),
Parry Peak (13,391'), Mount Eva (13130'), and Mount Flora (13,132'). From
our Lake Caroline camping site, we climbed up to Mt Bancroft's southeast
ridge and across its southern slope on the way to the 13,000' saddle it
shares with Parry Peak. We did not summit Parry Peak either, but instead
contoured around its south side, dropping to the 12,700' saddle between
Parry Peak and Mt. Eva. We then contoured across the broad northwest slope
of Mt. Eva to the western shoulder of Witter Peak. From there, we
followed the Divide, skirting just below Mt. Flora's summit and dropping
down to the 12,000' saddle near Colorado Mines Peak (11:30). This was some
of the nicest cross-country hiking we had done on the trip, with great
views on both sides of the Divide. We circled the peak at 12,200' on our
way down to the Berthoud Pass ski area for lunch (12:00-1:00). Fortunately
restaurant in the ski lodge was open, so we took a break from squeeze cheese
and crackers and bought some subs, yogurt, pop, and ice cream for lunch.
After having our picture taken at the pass, we started hiking down U.S.
Highway 40. The highway has several switchbacks and after about 1/2 mile
we decided to cut through the forest and drop down to Hoop Creek, saving
almost 2 miles of highway walking. We reached the Big Bend Campground (2:30)
and then followed a gravel road past the reservoir (only saw 1, not 2 as
shown on the current forest service map). What a mess this area was with
numerous roads, tailings, and construction all over the place. We figured
this was due to a combination of mining (Amax and Henderson) and government
restoration. When we reached the third reservoir (Urad Lake) we discovered
that we were not allowed on the road beyond the lake since drilling was
in progress. We ate supper at the lake hoping the drilling crew would soon
leave. Since they were not gone when we finished eating, we followed Woods
Creek to find a camping site about 1/4 mile from the lake (4:30). At this
nice spot we washed, made hot drinks and went to bed early. (Fortunately,
the CDT avoids this highway segment and mine workings by staying up on
the Divide west of Berthoud Pass over to Vasquez Peak and Jones Pass.)
It was very windy and cold during the night. We slept until 6:30 and had
to cook our pancakes in the tent since it was so cold. We did not leave
camp until 8:30. We followed a jeep trail up Woods Creek for awhile and
then an intermittent trail to a mellow pass (11,900') above the Herman
Gulch drainage. When we got to the pass, we looked back to see fresh
snow covering the mountains that we had hiked along the day before. Neither
the topo map nor the forest service maps showed a trail in Herman Gulch,
but a Colorado fishing guidebook described a good trail from I-70 up to
Herman Lake, which we hoped to find. We took a short steep hike down to
the creek and easily found the trail along the creek. Our knees were hurting
a lot as we dropped to the creek. When we got to Interstate 70, we crossed
the highway to a rest area for lunch (11:15). At this point, our planned
route was to head up Stevens Gulch to Grays Peak (14,270') and descend
a steep 2000 feet without a trail into either Ruby or Chihuahua Gulch for
Montezuma. After discussing the condition of our knees and the hike ahead
of us, we decided that it was not worth spending two more days on the trail
as planned. Ed approached a motorhome parked at the rest area and easily
hitched us a ride to Georgetown. We called Diane to come and pick us up.
She seemed very happy that we were coming home.
Conclusion
In 20 days on the trail, we covered 290 miles. We were a little ambitious
to think we could reach Tennessee Pass in 3 weeks with so much off trail
travel. It is about 4 1/2 days of hiking from I-70 to Tennessee Pass, so
we could have accomplished our goal if had not dropped a day at Allens
Park. About 1/2 of the remaining route we had planned to Tennessee Pass
was cross-country with several more very steep descents, probably the main
reason we stopped early. If it was all trails, we might have pressed
on. It might have been worth it to either schedule an extra day for rest
or allow more time to wait out bad weather. A few days after returning
home, we were dreaming about next years Continental Divide trip through
central Colorado.
jbraun@mtech.edu