Can someone who has parked at the “trailhead” at Cumbress Pass in Colorado clear up some confusion. Is the highway turnout with the Cumbress Pass historical plackard the correct trailhead, or is the correct trailhead further up highway 17 away from Chama? One guidebook puts the trail/highway intersection at 8 miles north of town, and another puts it at 12 miles. Thanks!
Matt
Never mind. After an afternoon field trip, I figured it out. For those who may be heading to the south San Juans now that the snow has melted, Colorado’s Continental Divide Trail by Jones and Fielder incorrectly identifies the Cumbress Pass trailhead. The trailhead is 12 miles northeast of Chama, N.M., not the 8 miles identified in the Guide. There is a parking area and a historical marker entitled “Cumbress Pass” at 8 miles, but no trail. To find the latter, keep driving up the mountain for 4 miles towards the actual pass and look for a small parking area to your right.
Matt
It would help to have a CDT marker somewhere in the vicinity of Cumbres Pass. If I’m not mistaken, the “small parking area to your right” is directly alongside the unsigned CDT southbound. Heading north, the route must cross the highway directly, then pass beneath the C&TS railroad trestle, joining the dirt road there (more secluded parking available), which meets a USFS road within a half mile. Although I haven’t hiked this stretch, I was able to drive the FS road / CDT (marked with arrows on carsonite posts, but no CDT markers). Many many cows, RV & ATV roadside camps, and “heavy logging traffic” signs later, the wide, passenger car-grade road reached a locked gate, beyond which CDT hikers must more peacefully persevere for distances uncertain before reaching actual trail tread.
At least that was my interpretation of things on a hasty road trip last week. (If correct, the route deserves much better here at the gateway to the South San Juans.)
In other news, Chama in recent months has apparently lost its only grocery store. A new one is currently in the works.
blisterfree
One of the harder passes to find one’s way north. I remember crossing the tracks, heading down the FS road and then breaking off thru a meadow to the left. Switchbacks are high on the hill overlooking the tracks. Just beware that there was a tremendous storm causing a tangled mess of blowdowns up there as of last June before you crest out on the divide. Lovely though, quite lovely.
Nemo
Aha. That must explain all the carsonite posts along the road (and possibly the heavy logging traffic signs).
Temporary detour?
Attention Chama Chamber of Commerce, your town’s economic future isn’t coal-fired, it’s foot powered. (OK - wishful thinking.) But how about some CDT-specific signage up there at the pass, eh?
blisterfree