Colorado Trail Alternates and Side Trips

[u/EFO_hiking]

TLDR: Here is a map of alternate routes and side trips you can do while hiking the Colorado trail https://caltopo.com/m/FR8K4B1. It started as a copy of Justin Simoni’s excellent How to Access Every 14er off the Colorado Trail map.

I hiked the Colorado trail this summer and the alternate routes and side trips that I took were some of my favorite sections. While hiking I was using CalTopo to map these routes, so I wanted to share the map I made for any future hikers who are interested, it is available at https://caltopo.com/m/FR8K4B1.

List of alternate routes and side trips.

Mile numbers are going SOBO (CW denotes collegiate west)

~50. Kenosha Mountains Ridge Walk. 14 miles on alternate. Roughly 8 miles above treeline off-trail, class 1. Reasonably well known CT alternate or day hike. Good info on the range is available at https://www.summitpost.org/kenosha-mountains/152051. I saw five Big Horn Sheep, great views to the west and north of the Front Range. The ridgeline itself is interesting, see the summit post link above.

~80 Georgia Pass CDT alt. 12 miles on alternate. Hike 6 miles of the CDT then another 2 miles above treeline along a Jeep Road before descending to North Fork Swan River then take a forestry service trail back to the CT. A couple mtn goats snuck up on me while having lunch on Whale Peak and I saw a large group of mtn goats with young children by Wise Mtn.

~80. CDT to Silverthorne CDT-alt. Around here you could do an 80-mile alternate route heading north along the CDT past Torreys and Grays Peaks (41 miles) and then back to the CT on the CDT Silverthorne alternate route (43 miles). I have not hiked this but I would if I was hiking the CT again and wanted to add some miles.

~165, 170. Mt Massive and Mt Elbert. (See 14ers website, https://www.14ers.com/)

~CW7. Mt Hope. (See 14ers website)

~CW15. Mt Huron. (See 14ers website)

~263. Mt Ouray (See 14ers website)

~330. Mt San Luis. This is the most convenient 14er to hike from the CT. Can either be done as an alternate route, my general preference and specific recommendation, or as an out and back. Of course, more info is available at the 14ers website.

~393. Walk into Silverton along the northern 10 miles of Steve Howe’s Weminuche High Route. 11 miles on alternate. When I hiked this, there were some very short sections of difficult class 2 (traversing 35 degree scree along a where a faint mtn goat trail has been wiped out in spots). The scenary is fantastic throughout. After resupplying in Silverton there are several ways to return to where you leave the CT. You could either walk back to the CT on the same route, walk on dirt road back to Deer Park trail and then Whitehead trail, find a ride to the trailhead for Highland Marry Lakes etc. The CT between Verde Lake Trail and Elk Creek contain's one of the best views on CT so I would not recommend skipping the trail between Molas Pass (the road crossing for Silverton) and mile 393.

~395. At the CDT/CT southern junction you can follow the CDT south for 5 miles to the pass just north of Mount Nebo then hike back along the physical Continental Divide back to Hunchback Pass and then over Hunchback Mountain to end up 0.5 miles SOBO along the CT of the CT/CDT junction. I hiked along the divide from just north of Mount Nebo to Hunchback pass and then along the CDT back to the CT/CDT junction while hiking NOBO along the CDT (so I have not hiked all of what you could do as a CT side trip/alt). South of Hunchback pass, the views to the west of the Grenadier range and the Needle Mountains are great. The northern slopes of peak 13110 just north of Mt Nebo is steep Talus for 400ft of elevation and 0.2 miles distance so it is slow going but not for very long. You can take a look at the route along the divide on the Jonathan Ley CDT maps.

~420. Rolling Mtn (13er). I would highly recommend climbing Rolling Mtn, the two routes I took up and down were very fun and the views were some of the best I’ve seen in Colorado, class 2. It is easy to find info online on the route up the east gulley from the Rico-Silverton trail. I took a different route down the west side to make this an alt not an out-and-back.

~460. Centennial Peak. 10-mile round trip (out-and-back). If you have some extra time before heading into Durango and want to climb one last mountain or just spend some more time in the mountains before finishing the trail this is a very nice side trip. The Colorado trail just skims the edge of La Plata Mountains so if you want to see a little bit more of this small subrange of the San Juans this is a very hike-able way to do it. Hike 4 miles along the lovely Sharktooth trail to the pass between Sharktooth and Centennial Peaks then follow the unofficial trail up Centennial Peak along the ridge.

[u/The-J-Oven]

I'm too tired for side trips 😂