Colorado Trail Segment 10 Hike Trail Guide

November 1, 2020 The Virtual Sherpa Comments 1 comment

Colorado Trail Segment 10 is a relatively forgettable segment of the 485 Colorado Trail that starts near Denver and ends in Durango. This segment has several tough climbs and minimal memorable views. For ambitious hikers, a side trip up Colorado’s 2nd highest peak and 14er, Mt Massive, is possible. This segment is great for camping, but not much else in our opinion.

Colorado Trail Segment 10 Quick Facts

Virtual Trail Guide: Colorado Trail Segment 10

Colorado Trail Segment 10 Rating: ★★ (2/5 Stars)

Distance: 13.1 Miles One Way

Elevation Start: 10,043ft

Highest Point: 11,310ft

Total Elevation Gain: 2,690ft

Estimated Time to Complete: 6-7 Hours One Way

Difficulty: Moderate Difficulty System Explained

Class: Class 1 What does this mean?

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

Weather: Check the Weather Forecast

Directions to Colorado Trail Segment 10

Trailhead: Tennessee Pass & Timberline Lake

Getting Here: Start Trailhead (Timberline Lake): From highway 24 in Leadville, turn west on 6th Street and follow it to the end of the block. Take a right here onto McWethy Dr which turns into County Road 4. Continue on this road for 2.5 miles and then take a slight right to continue on for another 4.3. At this point stay right at the fork to continue on Turquoise Lake Road for 2 miles. Take a left here and the road will end at the TH. The easiest way to get here is to enter Timberline Creek Trailhead.

End Trailhead (Mt Massive): From US24 just outside of Leadville, take CO300 for .8 miles and then turn left on Halfmoon Road. Continue for 1.3 miles and then take a right to stay on Halfmoon Road. Continue for 5.5 miles to reach the trailhead on your right. The road turns to dirt very quickly and can get rough in sections but is driveable for most passenger cars.

Fees: There is no fee to hike segment 10 of the Colorado Trail.

Parking: Timberline Creek trailhead is much smaller, can fit about 10-15 cars and has no restrooms. We have personal experience leaving cars overnight at Tennessee Pass and Timberline Creek seems to have no issues with that either. Mt Massive trailhead will get very busy on weekends with parking spilling out onto Halfmoon Creek road usually. WORST case scenario, you could park at nearby Mt Elbert lot but this spot can also get very busy. Mt Massive TH has no restrooms.

Summary

Camping: I would say one of the only redeeming qualities about segment 10 of the Colorado Trail is the access to camping. There is camping EVERYWHERE along these 13 miles. Water access with camping is a bit harder to find. We camped near mile 3.4 which has a small campsite just a hundred yards or so from a stream.

Dogs: Colorado Trail segment 10 is dog friendly hike. Since this segment enters a wilderness area, please keep your dog on a leash whenever possible. As you get closer to the end of the segment and Mt Massive, you will generally encounter a lot of day hikers and dogs for these 3ish miles.

Access to Water: Colorado Trail segment 10 has fairly common water sources but several are snow melt driven which may dry them up earlier in the year. However, year round sources throughout the segment are also fairly readily available. The segment ends with a reliable source of Halfmoon Creek.

Make it a Loop: Colorado Trail Segment 10 is an out and back hike.

Trail X Factors: Option to Climb Mt Massive

Whether you are a segment hiker looking to add miles or a through hiker looking for a unique side trip, this segment offers everyone the option to hike Colorado’s second highest peak, Mt Massive. At mile 10 of the segment, hikers can take a 7mile RT detour of 14er Mt Massive. If you are not familiar with 14,000 peaks, beware that this trip will take you several hours (4-5 IMO) and add 3,300+ft of elevation gain. Mt Massive is not a technical hike so unless snow remains, no additional gear is required.

Hike Tip(s): If you want to make this segment a little more unique, check out one of the many huts that you can rent towards the beginning of the hike. Uncle Bud’s is located just right off the trail and a handful of others about 3 miles off the segment. Sure, this adds extra hiking but for the through hiker looking to get a good night’s rest or cook a hot meal on a stove, this might be a welcome pit stop.

Best Views: This segment was pretty boring in my opinion. You get some good views of Mt Massive and some nice stream crossings along the way. Honestly though, I am grasping at straws here. Yes, I am jaded and you will probably enjoy this segment but for me, it was blah.

Colorado Trail Segment 10 Trail Route

Gear Needed

Jackie’s Gear:

Juno’s Gear

Colorado Trail Books:

Full Version
Pocket Guide
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Our Trip to Colorado Trail Segment 10: September 2020

Segment 10 of the Colorado Trail was part of a much bigger weekend of hiking for Jackie, Juno and I. After tackling segment 9, we pushed onto segment 10 and camped about 3 miles into the segment. With rain incoming, we got up early the next morning to push through the remaining 10 miles. It could have been the bad weather but we really thought this segment was one of our least favorite of the first 10. There were several tough climbs with no rewarding views and very few memorable portions of this hike. We were glad to have it behind us and move on to segment 11!