By Andrew Marshall and Jeff Garmire
The Colorado Trail is a 485-mile point-to-point backpacking route in Colorado. It stretches from Denver to Durango across the Southern Rockies and can be hiked in 25-35 days.
Colorado Trail Resupply Guide Here
Region: Mountain West (Colorado)
Length: 485 miles (20-35 days)
Physical Difficulty: Difficult
- High average elevation of 10,000 feet and a few passes over 12,000 feet
- Long, steep ascents and descents, particularly around the San Juans
- Exposure to sun and storms can be wearying
Logistical Difficulty: Moderate
- Resupplies are well-spaced and plentiful, but not necessarily near the trail
- Western and eastern termini are easy to access
- Hikers must schedule daily mileage to account for exposure and altitude
Season: Summer (into early fall)
Average Elevation: 10,300
Total Elevation Gain: 89,000 feet
Hiking the Colorado Trail
The Colorado Trail is a 485-mile multiuse footpath that stretches from Denver to Durango and takes you through some of the most scenic stretches of the southern Rockies. Large sections of the trail are above treeline, offering epic views and challenging conditions. Towns are regularly spaced along the trail, though they vary in terms of how easy they are to get to (resupply might involve multiple-stage hitches, single-stage hitches, flagging down a narrow-gauge tourist train, taking a shuttle, bus travel, or some combination of all of the above).
We love the Colorado Trail because the mileage is in a sweet spot–it takes about a month to complete if traveling at a fairly leisurely 20 miles a day. That’s long enough to get into the swing of a thru-hike but not long enough that you have to quit your job. The trail also offers opportunities for interesting diversions like peak bagging one of Colorado’s famous 14ers (Mount Elbert, the second-highest mountain in the Lower 48 is just a few miles off-trail). All this combined with world-class views on a daily basis, the historic mining towns that make up your resupply points, and the lack of required permits make the Colorado Trail a must-do on any long-distance hiker’s list.
The Colorado Trail is broken into 28 segments. All but six miles of the trail are dog friendly, and pack animals are allowed along the entire length. Mountain bikers are allowed on most of the trail, with the exception of six wilderness areas. Altitude, weather (particularly lightning safety), and exposure are the biggest concerns when planning a thru-hike of the Colorado Trail, followed closely by resupply and managing the travel logistics of a point-to-point hike.
How to Get to the Colorado Trail
Eastern Terminus: Waterton Canyon Trailhead, Colorado
Closest City: Denver, Colorado (45 minutes)
Western Terminus: Junction Creek Trailhead, Colorado
Closest City: Durango, Colorado (10 minutes)
Colorado Trail Eastern Terminus
The Colorado Trail’s Eastern Terminus is at Waterton Canyon trailhead, off Highway 121, about 26 miles from downtown Denver. The parking area is well-signed and has plenty of parking, and you (or your Uber driver) should have no problem finding the area on your navigation program of choice. We recommend an early start if beginning your journey from this trailhead. The first six miles of the Colorado Trail follow a gravel road up Waterton Canyon, and this walk can be grueling and unrewarding in the full heat of the day. That being said, keep your eyes peeled for a local population of bighorn sheep that call this area home.
This six miles of gravel road is the only portion of the trail on which dogs are not allowed, due to watershed preservation measures and the aforementioned population of bighorns. There’s an alternate route available for those traveling with dogs.
You should have no problem getting an Uber or ride-share from a hotel or airport in Denver, but if you’d rather rely on the kindness of strangers, you can submit a request to the Colorado Trail foundation to receive an emailed list of trail angels and shuttles.
Colorado Trail Western Terminus
Durango is a much smaller city than Denver, but you are still likely to have no problem snagging a ride-share, hitch, or shuttle to or from the trailhead at the western terminus. It’s only about a ten-minute drive from the trailhead to downtown Durango. Once there, you can grab a bus back to Denver or, even better, stick around for a while and partake of some of the region’s legendary mountain biking and day-hiking.
When to Hike the Colorado Trail / Which Direction
Late summer is generally the best time to hike the Colorado Trail due to altitude and snowpack conditions. The Colorado Trail Foundation recommends a hiking window of July 1 to September 30. Start too early (May or June) and much of the trail will still be covered by late-melting snow. Finish your journey too late (October) and you’ll almost certainly run into dangerous fall storms.
The general wisdom is to hike the Colorado Trail from east to west, starting at Waterton Canyon outside Denver and finishing at the western terminus in Durango.
The idea behind this strategy is twofold and has everything to do with altitude. If you start in the east and head westward, it will be about 100 miles before you hit your first challenging high-altitude pass. This gives your body some time to adjust and has the added benefit of allowing snowpack at higher elevations to melt off a little more.
This plan has advantages from an aesthetic standpoint as well. Some of the most remote and beautiful spots on the trail are on the western segments, with the San Juan range being chief among them. Many backpackers prefer to finish long hikes with dramatic, awe-inspiring scenery, though to be fair almost all of the Colorado Trail falls into this category.
Of course, you can also go the other direction. People starting later in the summer who want to finish at lower altitudes (or who, for logistical reasons, need to finish in Denver) might find the climb out of Durango worth the effort. BPR’s own Jeff Garmire took this approach on his 2020 FKT of the Colorado Trail because he wanted to get the most challenging sections of the trail completed early in his hike.
Colorado Trail Terrain
The Colorado Trail’s terrain is fairly consistent–well packed, mostly well-graded single track with occasional forest roads and jeep tracks. There’s only one major road walk, though like all road walks it can feel longer than it is. Some of the meadows you traverse might be squishy, especially earlier in the summer. In our hikes of the Colorado Trail, we rarely, if ever, had to navigate around blowdowns. Stream crossings that require more than ankle-deep fording are rare.
There are some steep climbs and descents for sure, especially as you head up and over the high-elevation passes. These locations, plus north-facing slopes, are where you are likely to find snowpack still hanging around from the previous winter’s storms. These patches are relatively easy to navigate because they are well into the summer’s freeze/melt cycle (in other words, you won’t be postholing) but can still slip and slide on them a bit if you aren’t careful. Use caution.
Colorado Trail Resupply
Resupply opportunities are plentiful along the Colorado Trail, though many of the towns are several miles off-trail, and a few require multiple hitches to access.
The trail directly passes through only two resupply locations (Copper Mountain Resort and Molas Lake Campground) and comes within walking distance of a few more (Twin Lakes Village and Buffalo Creek).
The FarOut guide to the Colorado Trail has information about trail towns, as does the Colorado Trail Databook. Published by the Colorado Trail Foundation, the Colorado Trail Databook is one of the most thoughtfully designed and useful on-trail paper resources we’ve ever used on a thru-hike. We highly recommend it, even if you are predominately using FarOut for day-to-day navigation. Be prepared to receive fundraising requests from the Colorado Trail Foundation in the mail for the rest of your life, however.
Breckinridge is one of the easiest trail towns to access via use of a free bus that stops about .2 miles from the trail on Highway 9 (Segment 6). On a westward hike, this puts you about 100 miles into your trip–an ideal first major resupply point. Breck is a famous ski town and has a plethora of lodging options to choose from.
One of the most fun ways to resupply is to flag down the Durango and Silverton narrow-gauge train as it travels along the Animas River between the two towns. The trail cross this railroad in Segment 24. There’s a train stop .3 miles south, and for a few bucks you can take the most scenic hitch we know of into Silverton for a burger and a stay at the Silverton Inn and Hostel. With just a little over 80 miles left in your hike, it’s a fun final stop.
Logistics: Camping, Water, and Food Storage
Camping: Established sites are plentiful along the trail, and are easy to find via the Colorado Trail Databook or FarOut. Although it has large sections of trail above treeline, it’s easy enough to avoid camping in exposed locations with careful planning and attention to pace of travel. That being said, a well-chosen spot above treeline can be a truly outstanding way to do some stargazing.
Water: For the most part, water is easy to find along the Colorado Trail. There are a few dry-ish segments, however, that require a little more planning. Segments 2/3, 18/19, and 26/27 all contain areas that need some careful attention. Again, FarOut and the CT Databook are your friends here (FarOut is likely to have more recent and up-to-date water-source information).
We recommend treating water along the Colorado Trail, particularly as it becomes more popular and heavily trafficked.
Food Storage: There’s a significant black bear population in Colorado, along with a ravenous collection of the usual rodents and miscellaneous small creatures with a heavy investment in chewing through your pack to find your food. For this reason, the Colorado Trail Foundation recommends hanging food or using a Kevlar food storage solution like an Ursack. Bear canisters are not required to hike the Colorado Trail.
Colorado Trail Know Before You Go
Altitude: Minor altitude sickness is a common ailment along the Colorado Trail. Much of the trail is above 10,000 feet, and most people simply don’t live (much less exercise) at that altitude. Headaches, shortness of breath, lack of appetite, nausea, and trouble sleeping are all common symptoms. Usually, these symptoms abate within a week or two on the trail, although their length and severity depend as much upon random biological chance as it does upon training and preparation.
You can plan to offset the symptoms of altitude sickness in a few ways (other than training). Carrying Dramamine or other anti-nausea medicine is a good idea, as is planning your food strategy accordingly (plan on having your favorite meals early in the trip so you are incentivized to eat). Pay attention to daily elevation changes, and don’t attempt big-mileage days that include going over 12,000-foot passes if you can help it.
Weather: The Colorado Rockies are famous for daily afternoon thunderstorms. In peak hiking season, it will be rare to go more than a few days without a brief but intense rainstorm. Although these storms often pass quickly, lightning danger on the Colorado Trail is a real concern, and probably the chief safety factor that should occupy your mind while hiking it.
The best way to mitigate lightning danger is to avoid traveling at high elevations above treeline during the time of day most likely to generate powerful storms (roughly 2 p.m. to 5 p.m.). You can accomplish this by planning out your daily mileage a few days in advance, and paying attention to what areas are likely above treeline (around 11,000 to 12,000 feet). Make sure you are up to date on the latest lightning safety recommendations in case you do get caught in a storm.
Multiuse Trail: Almost the entirety of the Colorado Trail is open to pack animals use, and most of it is open to mountain bike use (with the exception of in the six wilderness areas it passes through). In fact, the CT is one of the most popular long-distance mountain bike trails in the country, so you can certainly expect to see mountain bikers nearly every day during peak summer or as you near towns. Although technically you as a backpacker have the right of way over mountain bikers, it’s often easier for you to get out of the way of mountain bikers as they travel downhill. A good practice is to ask the first biker you see if she has any bikers following, and then confirm with the final biker that she is indeed the final biker.
Pack animals have the right-of-way over both bikers and hikers. Pack animals can be easily spooked, so make sure to give them plenty of space and avoid making quick movements as they pass you.
Collegiate East or West: In 2012 the Colorado Trail expanded to include an alternate path on the western side of the Collegiate Peaks. CT hikers will have to choose which route they will take, the original (and shorter) Collegiate East route or the newer (and longer) Collegiate West route. The College West route adds about 82 miles to the entire length of the trail and is entirely contiguous with the Continental Divide Trail.
Both routes together form the CT Collegiate loop, a 160-mile path that can be hiked all on its own.
Peakbagging: Colorado is famous for its 14ers–peaks rising higher than 14,000 feet. Many of these peaks are accessible via short(ish) side-trips from the Colorado Trail. Highlights include Mount Elbert (the second highest mountain in the contiguous United States) and neighboring Mount Massive. Massive is only a few feet shorter than Elbert but has a much more exciting finish along a knife-edge that includes some scrambling. If you’ve got an extra day or two built into your schedule, we recommend tackling Mount Massive at the very least. You can find the side-trail in Section 10, about 166 miles into your hike (going east to west).
Start early so you are up and down again before the afternoon thunderstorms roll in.
Colorado Trail Resources
FarOut app for the Colorado Trail
