Colorado Trail - July 11, 2025

Segment 11, the Collegiate Peaks Wilderness detour and most of Segment 13.

This day took me from the Mt. Massive trailhead to Mt. Princeton Hot Springs. I was pretty excited most of the day with the thought of eating at the Hot Springs restaurant and soaking at the pools.

Amy and I road from the Mt. Massive Trailhead to Clear Creek reservoir. The start of the trail on this section shares the Mt. Elbert Trailhead. There were fewer hikers than expected on this section even though it was a Friday.

We traversed the twin lakes and went through the only underpass on the trail

Before getting to the reservoir, we encountered multiple hikers who warned us of the fire in the Collegiate Peaks Wilderness. Given I would be riding the detour, there was no apparent smoke, no wind, and the accounts had the fire 35 miles to the south of us, we felt safe proceeding.

After getting to the reservoir, I started the Wilderness detour which took me along the Arkansas river and through the town of Buena Vista. My friend Corey called while I was going through town, and I decided to walk and talk for a bit to let him know where I was. After leaving Buena, I quickly remembered it was a Friday as the numerous vehicles, campers and trailers passed me on may way up Cottonwood pass and to the start of Segment 13. This was one of the few days where I stopped to have lunch on the trail as I needed a break from the sun and the traffic.

At the start of Segment 13, I met two different puppies. One Rottweiler and one Husky. This was a great pick up as I love dogs.

62 miles and 7000 feet of gain.