CT seg 1, 4, 8 - The Colorado Trail

imported
#1

I have some questions re col trail, seg 1 from Waterton to S Platte–is that likely to be able to be hiked, hopefully w/o snowshoes April 18??

I was hoping to do seg 8, copper mt to tennessee pass over camp hale May 24–is that too early??–it goes up to 12k.
Tom is telling me it is. Is there a trail adopter that I could email that would know specifics??

I was also thinking of trying to do seg 4 thru lost creek May 10–wellington lake rd to long gulch–what do you think, that goes to 11k

Linda Jagger

#2

All those ideas can certainly be done. It’s humanly possible. But do you want that kind of experience and risk? It most likely won’t be a typical backpacking trip. March and April are statistically Colorado’s snowiest months. You definitely don’t want to be out there during a spring blizzard. The lower foothills, including Lost Creek, will have lingering snow in May, and ice on the north exposures. Late May in the high country will mean 100% snow coverage of the trail–route finding and postholing can slow you down considerably. Not to mention mud and high water lower down. Snow bridges over swollen creeks in May can be hazardous.

I’ve hiked Lost Creek in late May and it was perfect, with just a little snow at tree line. A lot will depend on the season.

Garlic

#3

April 18 for Segment 1 should be fine.

Memorial Day weekend is generally the earliest for Segment 4. Call Dave Callais with CMC - he has lead numerous trips through there on Memorial Day weekend.

Segment 8 in May or June either one is too early. It can be done if you have hiked it before, but the route finding between Searle Pass and Kokomo Pass would be interesting.

You still hiking with Nancy?

food

#4

Hi Linda,

I hiked with you and Tom previously on a CMC trip. I finished hiking the CT in 2009.

Section 1 could be hiked as early as April 18 without snowshoes depending upon the recent weather. We could still get big snowstorms that late in the season. If it hasn’t snowed recently at that time, it should be reasonable.

May 24th is too early to hike segment 8 reasonably. There was still deep snow there in mid-June last year. I did an epic backpack of segment 8 May 9-10 last year. There was deep snow. I was postholing even with snowshoes on. I could only approximate the route because it wasn’t marked well enough for winter travel and I couldn’t see the trail most of the way under the snow.

Segment 4 May 10th I think would be feasible with snowshoes. I did a May snowshoe climb of segment 4 several years ago using part of that segment. I found the trail reasonable and easy to follow, but would not go without snowshoes at that time of the years.

Gary Swing
Trail Name: Thought Criminal

My Report from CT Section 8, Conditions 5/9-10/2009:

Red and I snowshoe backpacked from Copper Mountain to U.S. 24 this past weekend (May 9-10), more or less following the general route of the Colorado Trail. Snow conditions were poor. Much of the trail was still buried under deep, unstable snow. The snow held our weight in the vicinity of Janet’s Cabin, Searle Pass and Kokomo Pass, but we postholed, even with snowshoes, coming down from Kokomo Pass, and again hiking uphill above Camp Hale. The route was not marked adequately for snow travel, so we generally could not see where the trail was. We left the trail route between the two passes and hiked the ridge over Corbett Peak (12,500 something) and down to Kokomo Pass. We bailed out early on U.S. 24, not hiking to Tennessee Pass. I think we covered about 20 trail miles. I would say it’s definitely too early for reasonable backpacking conditions.

Thought Criminal