Colorado Trail – 2022

Why the Colorado Trail (CT)?

I finished the Sky Islands Traverse in late April – a tough but remote journey up and over the Sky Islands of SE Arizona. Afterwards, I was going through my usual post-hike let down (don’t really like to call it depression) but looking ahead to the summer and thinking about next year’s hiking plans. Kind of had it boiled down to the PNT, Oregon Coast Trail or maybe even starting the AT and finishing my Triple Crown, but the Colorado Trail was lurking.

But looking at my summer vacation plans with Mrs. Haze and a planned reunion in Ketchum with old friends later in September, it soon dawned on me that I had a window of about 40 days to possibly squeeze in another hike this year. It didn’t take me long to put the Colorado Trail (CT) at the top of the list. This nearly 500-mile gem is mostly familiar territory from countless Colorado camping, fishing and hiking trips over the years plus my Continental Divide Trail hike which overlapped on the CT for about 300 miles.

One of the primary attractions is that this high-country trek offers some of the finest views, scenery and wilderness experiences in the West, with the San Juans, Weminuche Wilderness, and Rio Grande drainages being my personal favorites. The other attraction for me is that after all my hikes, more like routes, in AZ, UT and NM the past few years, I am looking forward to better tread and water availability, maybe even quality!

CT – What and Where?

The nearly 500-mile Colorado Trail (CT) stretches from Denver to Durango across and, for the most part, on top of the Southern Rockies. The trail passes through six national forests, eight mountain ranges, six wilderness areas and traverses five major river systems. Much of the trail is above 9,000 ft elevation with a high point of over 13,000 ft in the San Juan Mountains. The total elevation gain of the CT is 90,000 feet, in fact, peak baggers could knock off a few fourteeners with some relatively short detours.

Colorado Trail

Most CT hikers are SOBO’s preferring to start at a bit lower elevation south of Denver and ramp up to higher elevations over the first few days. I was one of those SOBO hikers as opposed to my northbound CDT hike. On the CDT, I battled with snow in the San Juans and the Weminuche Wilderness. Furthermore, I was concerned about lightning and thunderstorms at elevation. I got plenty of that but I also got to see some fall colors by the time I got to Durango.

Collegiate East or West? My 2015 CDT overlapped Collegiate West, and I loved it. For the CT, I hiked the Collegiate East for a new section of trail and some new views.

A great source for Colorado Trail information is from the Colorado Trail Foundation, coloradotrail.org.

I resupplied and took a few zero days along the way – Frisco, Twin Lakes, Salida, Lake City and Silverton. I had fond memories of these trail towns on my stops there on the CDT.

CT Daily Posts

My daily blogs and other posts related to the CT are found below: