Hiking Freedom: Jim's Backpacking and Camping Blog: Day Hike on the Eastern Half of Segment 4 of the Colorado Trail

North of the trail about hour into hike

After talking to my chiropractor, I decided I didn't want to chance my back with a 24-26 pound backpack. I decided to day hike half way from the east of Segment 4 then turn around at the half way point. My plan was drive to the other end of segment 4, then hike back to the half way point, hiking the segment in two day hikes.

I left work early on Friday after coming in at 5:15am. I drove up to the Rolling Creek Trailhead and set up my camp about 1000 feet from the trailhead. I hadn't slept much the night before so I laid down in my tent. After not being able to take a nap, I returned to the car to return some of the stuff I brought that I didn't need and to get my iPad. I watched most of a movie then went to sleep about 9pm. It rained on and off.

North of trail

The next morning, I woke up about 5:30am and took my tent, sleeping bag, mattress pad, and anything I didn't need for the hike back to the car. I laid out the damp rain fly across the back of my Subaru Forester (back seat laid down) so it could dry while I was hiking. I packed up only food, water and the 10 Essentials and was hiking by 6:30am. Segment 4 heading east is uphill the VAST majority of the time until you get to about mile point 7. I was glad I was hiking in the morning.

The trees are very thick so the sunlight didn't hit me much for the entire trip to the North Fork Trailhead. It made it difficult to get any pictures because the trees blocked the views.

At one point, I hit a very marshy area and the trail seemed to have overgrown a lot. I was glad my shoes were GoreTex. After about 1/4 mile, I was out of it in a big meadow. I couldn't tell where the trail went but got out my GPS out. I seemed to be north of the trail but the trailed headed west. I went to the west end of the meadow and did find a trail. After hiking for 5 hours, I was in the big valley that the Colorado Trail talked about and came to the Lost Creek Wilderness sign so I knew I was almost to the North Fork Trail. There was a very strong stream running down the middle of the valley so I refilled my water bottles. I had gone 8.9 miles in 5.5 hours. No blisters. A completely different hiking experience with these shoes instead of the boots.

Valley at end of hike

On the way back, I noticed the trail went a different way than I remembered when I came. Nothing seemed familiar. No marshy area and lots of switchbacks on the new trail. Sure enough, I had taken a wrong turn the first time and had followed the old Colorado Trail. I'm starting to realize that the Colorado Trail has been changed a lot over the years.

Valley at North Fork Trailhead

There were a lot of portions of Segment 4 where the trail was very rocky. My return trip, being downhill most of the way, only took me 4.25 hours. But the bottoms of my feet were very sore. I decided to finish the rest of segment 4 next weekend. But 17.8 miles isn't too bad. No blisters!!!

Check out my trip on Spot Adventures