Western Wanderlust Chronicles

For the weekend I was lucky enough to get to help Greg build confidence in the backcountry by backpacking segment 4 of the Colorado Trail. After hearing about Gregs desire to do the CT trail this summer and doing this segment with him I would like to complete the trail in its entirety too. Without the ability to spend weeks on end in the backcountry due to working full time Crystal and I can do it a segment at a time.

A little bit about the CT “The Colorado Trail has become known as one of the premier long-distance trails in the country, lauded by hikers, backpackers, mountain bikers and horse riders from around the world. The CT comprises 567 miles of trail between Denver and Durango and passes through some of the most spectacular scenery in the Colorado Rockies.” https://coloradotrail.org/

Segment 4 Starts at The Rolling Creek Trail Head near Wellington Lake campground. Among tall Pines and Aspens the trail starts out with a gradual incline from the parking lot then enters Lost Creek Wilderness after about 2 miles of hiking. We missed the trail marker at the end of the parking lot and went a few miles on the Rolling Creek Trail before realizing our error and turning around. The sign for the Colorado Trail is hidden behind a small grouping of trees at the end of the parking lot. Oops! 😉

About 5 miles in the trail begins its steepest section of ascent before coming out at the Meadow just over 7 miles in where there is great habitat for the opportunity to see Moose, Elk, Deer, and Bear. We did manage to see deer both hiking in and out the next day.

After arriving at the North Fork trailhead where there is plenty of space to camp we set up, made dinner and hung our bear sacks before relaxing and settling in for the night. This night was a great gear check for my Teton Sports single person backpacking tent and Gregs new backpacking tent as we could hear the roar and thunder of a storm heading our way. We hunkered down for the night about 8pm as the storm blew in dropping large marble sized hail on us and raining sideways, we were thankful for the tree cover we set up camp in and the quality of our rainfly to keep us and our things dry and warm.

Day two with rain still dripping on us from the trees above, we packed up camp and headed back on the trail, crossing the creek we had used to resupply our water the night before and we were back on the trail to complete our quick trip. Thankful for the cloud cover as we set back out on the trail as the first few miles from this point is very exposed as we follow the valley up toward the Long Gulch trailhead where Crystal would pick us up. Once getting to the end of the valley and back into the trees it began to rain and Hail again, so for the first time we stopped and put on our rain jackets and pack covers. As we descended down the steep trail toward the Long Gulch trail we picked up a fellow solo backpacker to talk to as we hiked through the rain and hail making the section of trail fly by as we shared stories on the trail. Greg and I turned down the Long Gulch trail to find our ride thankful to see Crystal and the Jeep waiting for us, and get out of the rain until next time!