Collegiate Peaks West 3&4 Colorado Trail Guide

March 29, 2021 The Virtual Sherpa Comments 0 Comment

Collegiate Peaks West 3&4 offers hikers some of the most beautiful hiking of the entire Colorado 485 mile+ Colorado Trail. The two segments are frequently hiked together because of the rough road access in between the two only accessible by 4×4. These two segments are about 32 miles long with 6,200ft of elevation with much of the hiking above treeline and north of 11,500ft. Collegiate Peaks West 3 was without a doubt the most beautiful of the first half of the Colorado Trail.

Collegiate Peaks West 3 & 4 Quick Facts

Virtual Trail Guide: Colorado Trail Collegiate Peaks West 3 & 4

Colorado Trail Collegiate Peaks West 3 & 4 Rating: ★★★★★ (5/5 Stars)

Distance: 32 Miles One Way

Elevation Start: 12,126 Collegiate Peaks West 3, 11,070 Collegiate Peaks West 4

Highest Point: 12,860ft CW3, 12,326ft CW4

Total Elevation Gain: 6,270ft

Estimated Time to Complete: 16-20 Hours (Generally this will take 2 days)

Difficulty: Difficult Difficulty System Explained

Class: Class 2 What does this mean?

Season: Late June- Early November (Expect snow outside of this period)

Weather: Check the Weather Forecast

Directions to Collegiate Peaks West 3 & 4

Trailhead: Cottonwood Pass & Boss Lake

Getting Here: Start Trailhead (Cottonwood Pass): From Buena Vista, take Main Street west which turns into State Highway 306. Follow this for 18.5 miles to reach the summit of the pass. The road is paved the entire way.

End Trailhead (Boss Lake): From the intersection of US50 and 285 just outside of Salida, head west towards Monarch Pass. Drive 12.5 miles just past the Monarch Mountain Lodge and turn right. This is the lower parking area if you have a 4×4 car you can continue 1.5 miles up the road to the upper TH.

Fees: There is no fee to hike Collegiate Peaks West 3&4 of the Colorado Trail.

Parking: Cottonwood Pass is usually very busy but can fit between 20-25 cars. Boss Lake has two main parking areas. The lower lot can fit 5-10 cars and the upper lot about the same. None of these parking areas have bathrooms. Both areas we parked overnight with no issues at all.

Summary

Camping: Collegiate Peaks West 3 severely lacked camping spots. The book mentions 3 areas that are all at least ¼ mile off the trail. Collegiate Peaks West 4 had more camping options but they were not “good” until you got closer to the end of the segment. This may sound rough for 32 miles of hiking and its not terrible, but just don’t expect a perfectly level non-rocky camping area for most of these two segments.

Dogs: Colorado Trail Collegiate Peaks West 3&4 are dog friendly but a LONG hike for all pups.

Access to Water: Colorado Trail Collegiate Peaks West 3&4 offers plenty of water sources. CW3 starts off fairly dry for the first 5 miles or so but then ends with several sources including a larger stream at the very end of the segment. CW4 has way more water with a reliable source every 2 miles or so.

Make it a Loop: Colorado Trail Collegiate Peaks West 3&4 is a one way hike.

Trail X Factors: Lack of Camping Spots & Above Treeline Hiking

No matter how you slice it, Collegiate Peaks West 3 has some of the fewest camping options on the first 12 segments of the Colorado Trail. Much of this segment is above treeline with limited options to camp but all of them require a short hike off the trail which adds mileage and elevation gain to an already long hike. Collegiate Peaks West 4 is better but still does not offer fantastic options until you are several miles into the segment. If you plan on hiking these two together be sure to plan accordingly.

The beauty on Colorado Trail Collegiate Peaks West 3&4 is undeniable. Hikers start the trek with amazing views from Cottonwood Pass and get to soak in miles and miles of unreal views above the treeline. While the views may be untouchable, be sure to have good weather when you plan to hike these two segments or you might be in for a very bad time.

Hike Tip(s): If you do not have two 4×4 cars, I would not recommend driving up to the Boss Lake TH. Could it be done? Sure, but for how long it takes to hike 1.5 miles vs drive it very slow, you might as well end up walking it. The lower trailhead does not offer any camping but as soon as you make your way up the road there are ample spots to camp.

Best Views: Everywhere? I mean Collegiate Peaks West 3 is literally amazing from start to finish. I can’t think of 5 minutes of this hike that were bad in terms of views. Collegiate Peaks 4 starts off very good but gets fairly boring until you hike up to the stunning Hancock Lakes. The ending is extremely boring and bland though.

Collegiate Peaks West 3 & 4 Colorado Trail Hike Route

Gear Needed

Osprey Atmos 65 Backpack

Optional: Stove
Optional: Hiking Poles

Jackie’s Gear:

Sleeping Bag

Juno’s Gear

Harness

Colorado Trail Books:

Full Version
Pocket Guide
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Our Trip to Colorado Trail Collegiate Peaks West 3&4: September 2020

Feeling rejuvenated and ready to tackle more segments of the Colorado Trail, Jackie, Juno and I arrived at Cottonwood Pass to hike Collegiate Peaks West 3&4 together. CW3 started off a bit smoky but the air quality improved dramatically over the course of the day. The views on this segment absolutely blew our socks off from start to finish. We were both feeling good and decided to add more mileage to our original plan of 16 miles. Big mistake. We ended up hiking around 22 miles on that first day and were forced to camp in a less than ideal spot.

Day 2 started off with a huge wake-up call in the form of two male moose. We were walking down the old train tracks and saw these two massive bulls walking directly towards us. We did our best to get off the trail and into some trees. Luckily our 50lb husky let out the first growl of her life and scared them both off. Whew! We continued up towards the beautiful Hancock Lakes and ended the segment with some monotonous switchbacks. Overall, we both thoroughly enjoyed these two segments and would easily repeat them as a weekend backpack trip.