Running 479mi from Denver to Durango, the Colorado Trail is a classic. It shares about 200mi with the CDT.
planning - ColoradoTrail.org
For those of us who do not have a long month, what’s the best section?
Outdoor Magazine recommends:
… concentrate your efforts during a ten-day romp along a remote 95-mile ribbon that runs just east of San Luis Peak to Molas Pass, in the southwestern part of the state.
Start at Spring Creek Pass, 33 miles northwest of Creede amid the 13,000-foot-plus San Juan Mountains. Plan on grinding up to 15 miles a day along airy ridges, down steep gorges, and up winding switchbacks.
You’ll spend four days cruising above tree line, at nearly 12,000 feet, and the closest you’ll come to a town (Lake City) is about 17 miles, which means tackling thousands of vertical feet each day with a heavy pack.
Take a break and frolic in Snow Mesa, a flat, grassy expanse so huge it takes a few hours to cross.
Sounds great. We’ve added San Luis Pass to Molas Pass to our list of the best hikes of the world.
ColoradoTrail.org calls it Section 6 - San Luis Pass to Molas Pass (advanced difficulty).
Next, what’s the best guidebook?
Colorado Trail: The Official Guidebook (Colorado Mountain Club Guidebooks)
Get packing!
4 responses so far ↓
cyberhobo // Apr 8, 2007 at 7:24 am
Having hiked most of both that section and the Colorado Trail, I would tend to agree with that choice. I think there are also plenty of better hikes in Colorado if you get creative…
hiker Rick // Apr 8, 2007 at 9:34 am
Any other established hikes in Colorado you would recommend? We could add them to our list of “best hikes”.
cyberhobo // Apr 8, 2007 at 5:50 pm
I can’t reduce any to a name - thus the need for creativity. After doing shorter hikes in some places I have high hopes of putting together some excellent hikes like: a traversal of the Gore range, a big loop or traversal in the Maroon Bells, and a grand tour of Rocky Mountain National Park that includes Lumpy Ridge.
Rick McCharles // Apr 8, 2007 at 6:28 pm
Great. When you do a new route, you get to name it.
Once on Two-Heel Drive, it will be the defacto monicker.
I’m still hoping to go coast-to-coast Vancouver Island, not yet in the literature anywhere.
http://besthike.com/blog/2006/11/27/coast-to-coast-vancouver-island/
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