I may be joining some friends for a 500-600 mile section this summer from Rawlins WY to central CO (near Colorado Springs). Probably from late June to early August.
Any tips, or things I should consider? Will weather be problematic, bugs, etc.? I think my friends will have a lot of maps, but which map sets are most useful for this section?
Any must stop trail sections/peaks/areas/towns, etc.?
Thanks for any help
A-Train
Sorry can’t offer you any advice but i wanted to throw my own question out there.
Does anybody have a time frame for hiking from the Canadian border to Yellowstone?
A-Train, If you want suggestions on helpful websites i have found some. One guy detailed out the entire trail from east glacier to New Mexico worth taking a look.
Bkw
I’ve been doing research for a small section in northern Colorado’s Park Range, which is where I used to spend summers when I was a teenager.
Snowpack this year is definitely above average. In an “average” year (note that recent years have been quite a bit below average) the snow in the high country melts out enough for trails to be clear by early to mid-July. Late June will still be pretty snowy higher up. However, if you’re starting in Rawlins you will be slogging in the desert for a while, so you won’t hit the really high country until (hopefully) more of the snow has melted. If the snow is late in melting, there may still be plenty of snow around in mid-July. You will be just in time for prime wildflower season. Of course, as you know, in the mountains that is also prime mosquito season (which will run later if the snow is late in melting). With above-average snowpack, expect mosquito hatches also to be above average. I’m not going until August 1, but because of the above-normal snowpack, I plan to be armed with headnet, permethrin-sprayed clothing and DEET. If you are tarping, bring a good bug net!
The most spectacular section of the portions of the CDT that I’m familiar with is the section from Gold Creek to south of Mt. Ethel in the Park Range. You are at or above timberline and climb over two 12,000 foot mountains. On a clear day, you can see 100 miles in every direction! Unless you’re committed to following the exact route of the CDT, from the Seedhouse trailhead take the Gilpin Lake trail up the valley north of the CDT (which follows the Gold Creek trail). Gilpin Lake is really beautiful, although overused (no camping within 1/4 mile these days). This slight detour gets you into the best scenery a little sooner. From the lake you climb over a ridge to Gold Creek (great views backwards to the lake, Big Agnes and Mt. Zirkel) and rejoin the CDT. I could also advise a scenic shortcut from Diamond Park to the Gilpin Lake Trail, except that it appears that the northern portion of the Mica Basin trail was never cleared and was abandoned after a big windstorm in the 1990’s. This is unfortunate because the trail (built by sheepmen in the early 1950’s and still shown on the USGS map) wound around the west end of Big Agnes Mountain and the Sawtooths and was shorter and far more scenic than the boring CDT route between Diamond Park and Seedhouse.
Unfortunately the CDT has been routed away from the spectacular section in the Neversummer Range that goes from Parika Pass to South Fork Michigan River, crosses the headwaters of Silver Creek (with horrendous elevation loss and regain) and past Lake of the Crags, and then crosses the Divide into Rocky Mountain National Park at Thunder Pass and follows the North Fork Colorado River down. A portion of this trail goes over talus slopes and consists of smaller rocks broken up to fill in the biggest holes among the big rocks, so it’s not easy walking. The views of the Neversummers are awesome! You can do a loop around that section of the Continental Divide where it turns around and runs north (with North Platte tributaries on the west side and Colorado River on the east), although I have no idea of current trail conditions. If you don’t want to do that, at least consider a short side trip from Parika Pass to the headwaters of South Fork Michigan River (assuming good weather)–just enough to see what the CDT is missing. From what I’ve read, the CDT just drops from Parika Pass down into Grand Lake, missing lots of spectacular scenery.
For both of these sections–and anywhere in the Rockies when you’re up high–the biggest risks are the almost daily afternoon thunderstorms–you might want to plan to hike the higher sections early in the day.
Have a great trip! Are you going to post a journal? Since I’m going a small portion of the way a few weeks later than you, I’d be very interested in reading it!
grannyhiker