Backpacker Magazine – May 2010

Colorado Trail: Find Solitude

How to beat the crowds and find solitude in the Rockies

by: Kristy Holland, map by Andrew Matranga

Tags:
• Colorado
|
• Colorado trail
|
• Long trail
|
• Camping
|
• Backpacking
|
• Hiking
|
• Adventures
|
• Life list
|

---

13. Stealth start On a high-use weekend, the Miners Creek trailhead will have only three cars.

14. Georgia Pass This gap between Jefferson and Breckenridge is a hotspot for the ORV crowd. But hike two miles north into the lodgepoles, and you’ll descend into a canopy that’s both off-limits to wheels and off-
the-radar for dayhikers (more than two cars at the trailhead on a summer Saturday is uncommon). Or head west to climb 1.2 miles to 13,370-foot Mt. Guyot, where you’ll see the CT stretching east to the Kenosha Range and west to the rugged Tenmile Range.

15. Windy Peak Only about 20 hikers a year sign the register on this 11,970-foot, boulder-strewn summit in the Lost Creek Wilderness. Its thickly forested ridge is an unmaintained fog of trunks and intermittent blowdowns—  perfectly hiding the grassy, picnic-ready summit. From the Rolling Creek trailhead (7.8 miles south of Bailey), take the CT west 3.2 miles, then turn south off-trail to follow the ridge 1.7 miles to treeline, 300 feet from the top. From here, navigate granite boulderfields to the broad, open summit dome.


Subscribe to Backpacker magazine
Sign up for our free weekly e-newsletter