Colorado Trail Segment 19 Hike Guide

September 27, 2021 The Virtual Sherpa Comments 0 Comment

Colorado Trail Segment 19 is a nearly 14 mile one way segment on the doorsteps of the San Juan mountains in southern Colorado. This segment is one of the last “easy” segments on the Colorado Trail before hikers enter into some really challenging terrain in the San Juan mountains. This portion of the Colorado Trail is full of farming land and has lots of exposure to the sun and elements with very little shade to be found. Hikers on this segment are going to want to be prepared with lots of water and a good weather forecast.

Colorado Trail Segment 19 Quick Facts

Virtual Trail Guide: Colorado Trail Segments 18 & 19

Colorado Trail Segment 19 Rating: ★★★ (⅗ Stars)

Distance: 13.7 Miles One Way

Elevation Start: 9,529ft

High Point: 10,404ft

Total Elevation Gain: 2,239ft

Estimated Time to Complete: 5-6 Hours One Way

Difficulty: Moderate What does this mean?

Class: Class 1- What does this mean?

Season: June – November (early spring or Fall is best to avoid hot temps)

Check the Weather Forecast

Directions to Colorado Trail Segment 19

Trailhead: Saguache Park Road & Eddiesville TH

Getting Here: Start Trailhead (Saguache Road):

End Trailhead (Eddiesville TH): Getting to the Eddiesville Trailhead requires a lot of patience because the drive is 20+ miles of dirt road. However, a 4×4 is not necessary, just a car with okay clearance. The only time a higher clearance car is necessary is in the spring when the two creek crossings can be higher.

Parking: There is no parking at the start of this trailhead. Your best bet and only option is to snag a dispersed camping site and leave your car there. At the end trailhead, there is a small lot that can fit about 10-12 cars with 2 non plumbing bathrooms located there.

Summary

Dogs: Colorado Trail Segment 19 is dog friendly, but just like 18, has lots of cows and poor water sources along the way. Even if your dog is good off leash, I would recommend keeping them on a leash as the cows were unavoidable for a large majority of this hike. In addition, be sure to be careful about allowing your dog to drink random sources of water because there is a lot of contamination going on here.

Camping: Camping options along this segment are not great but the best spots are around the mile 6.7-7.1 marker. These spots are along the creek that flows year round allowing for a great spot to refuel on water. In addition, these spots are usually shaded for a major part of the day allowing some reprieve from the sun. Outside of this area, there are other spots along the way but they are more in the – one here, one there category.

Access to Water: This segment offers water at mile 6.7 to about 8 or so. While you stay on the left side of the stream for this portion, you do leave it for a bit and then have to cross again around mile 9.7. Finally, there is another solid stream that you cross right before entering into the La Garita Wilderness about mile 10.9. After this point, you will be dry for the remainder of the segment.

Trail X Factors: Cows

Like the segment before it, Segment 19 of the Colorado Trail is full of cattle land. On our hike, we had a few groups of 30+ cows covering the trail making a detour around them necessary. In addition to some extra mileage, avoiding the cows poop on both the ground and water can be tricky at points.

Hike Tip(s): Be sure to check the weather for this segment. If you have bad (storms) weather or very hot weather, this segment is going to not be super fun. In addition, make sure you soak in the great water sources at mile 6.7 and 10.9 as they are your best and in cases only option to drink cow free water.

Best Views: Similar to Segment 18 – Colorado Trail Segment 19 is full of wide open spaces. These are often hard to capture into a photo but they really do fill the majority of the hike. The plateau you hike through from mile 6.7 to 10 or so has an amazing stream that will often have wildlife such as moose and elk in addition to the not so wildlife, cows. The end of this segment gives hikers good views of San Luis Peak, Alto Baldy Peak and Stewart Peak which should get you excited for the segments you have ahead.

Colorado Trail Segments 18 & 19 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 Segment 19: August 2021

The summer of 2021 was coming to an end and we were at a weird point in the Colorado Trail journey. We had hiked so far south that a drive to the trailhead now took the better part of a day and it was getting harder to pair segments together into a weekend trip. On this trip, Jackie, Juno and I were planning to tackle both segments 18 & 19 of the Colorado Trail. After camping near San Luis Peak, we made the hour+ drive back to the starting TH.

Segment 19 of the Colorado trail was more of the same as 18 with slightly more cattle. The hiking was beautiful with relatively little elevation gain and lots of water sources. Camping was somewhat hard to come by but overall, we enjoyed this segment. After completing segment 19, we were extremely excited as to what the next segments in the San Juan mountains had in store.