CT - Segment 10: Timberline Lake to Mount Massive

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Features Commonly Backpacked · River/Creek · Views · Wildflowers · Wildlife

This is a short segment of the Colorado Trail with relatively mellow hiking, across terrain that is mostly forested with some beautiful mountain streams. Toward the end of the segment there is also an opportunity to summit Mount Massive, the second tallest peak in the state at an elevation of 14,428 feet.

• Colorado Trail (CT)

CT Segment 10 has seen several revisions over the years with the northern trailhead now more conveniently located at Timberline Lake. The Colorado Trail, 8th edition, a popular guidebook for the trail, has segment 10 as 13.6 miles in length but more recent GPS data have it at 13.1 miles. This 3.6% variance is spread evenly across the length of the trail. To address the variance the following description offers mileage markers as a range using the data from Colorado Trail 8th edition and the current GPS data on this site. The good news is that this trail is well marked and runners will have little difficulty locating the intersections and trail features described below.

Timberline Lake trailhead (mile 0.0) is easy to access from Turquoise Lake Road at the west end of the lake and offers good parking although it is sometimes crowded. The Colorado Trail and Continental Divide Trail are overlapped at this point. Follow the well-marked trail south, cross the bridge over Glacier Creek (mile 0.4), and Busk Creek (mile 1.2). There is good camping in this area.

The trail crosses Hagerman Pass Road at mile 1.8 (this is the old segment 10 start point, easy to access but no parking). Go left on road for about 200 feet to find the continuation of the trail. A moderate climb reaches the ridge, crossing a forest service road (105a) and then under powerlines (mile 3.0) before entering the Mt. Massive Wilderness which is well marked by a sign at mile 3.2.

The trail tracks level along the contours of Bald Eagle Mountain to the west through several sloped meadows, crossing small streams and reaches the Twin Mounds saddle (mile 4.8 - 4.9) where there is good camping. After a gentle decent, the trail intersects the trail to the Fish Hatchery, Kearney Park Trail (mile 5.5 - 5.7), and then Rock Creek Trail before crossing the bridge over Rock Creek (mile 6.2 - 6.4). There is excellent camping in this area.
The trail then climbs steadily to the intersection with Highline Trail at mile 7.75 - 8.0 and then crosses North Willow Creek (mile 8.7 - 9.0). There are several good, established camp sites near the creeks in this section.

After an easy gradual descent, the junction with the Main Mt. Massive Trail is well marked (mile 10.0 - 10.4) just before crossing Willow Creek. The junction with Mt. Massive Trail is 3.2 miles from the Mt. Massive trailhead. More runners will be in this section, accessing the 14er. It's an easy cruise to trailhead at 13.2 - 13.6. Car access is easy.