Segment 4, Colorado Trail, CO
Segment 3 is almost 13 miles long. I hiked most of it the day before. There really isn't anything special about segment 3 but it was fairly easy hiking. I was up and moving before 0800. It was cloudy and 56f and segment 4 was just around the corner.
Rolling Creek Trailhead is off of Wellington Lake Rd, a dirt, forest service road. There is a small parking area here. This is also the access to the town of Bailey about 8 miles away. A resupply option for those hiking the Colorado Trail. I was glad that I opted to go to Buffalo Creek instead of Bailey. There were 2 vehicles at the trailhead but the road did not appear to be busy at all. Might've been a long wait.
Within 2 miles is Lost Creek Wilderness. No bikes are allowed in Wilderness Areas so I thought that this would be the most spectacular part of the trail yet. It wasn't. It actually reminded me of the Appalachian Trail. It was through the woods with lots of rocks, roots, blowdowns and stepovers. I wasn't sure if a bike could even make it through. To me it was the most difficult part of the trail to this point. There were also some steep, rocky dirt road walks as well.
6 miles to get through the Wilderness and after about 5 miles made it over 10,000 ft for the first time. A very large meadow was next up. Even though it started to rain, hiking through the meadow was nice. Decent camping possibilities in the rain were few but I was on the lookout. If it hadn't been raining there were probably plenty of good sites, but the rain changes perspective. Finally settled on a spot on the edge of the meadow. Once the rain stopped, the mosquitoes came out in full force.
Segment 4, Colorado Trail, CO
Segment 3 is almost 13 miles long. I hiked most of it the day before. There really isn't anything special about segment 3 but it was fairly easy hiking. I was up and moving before 0800. It was cloudy and 56f and segment 4 was just around the corner.
Rolling Creek Trailhead is off of Wellington Lake Rd, a dirt, forest service road. There is a small parking area here. This is also the access to the town of Bailey about 8 miles away. A resupply option for those hiking the Colorado Trail. I was glad that I opted to go to Buffalo Creek instead of Bailey. There were 2 vehicles at the trailhead but the road did not appear to be busy at all. Might've been a long wait.
Within 2 miles is Lost Creek Wilderness. No bikes are allowed in Wilderness Areas so I thought that this would be the most spectacular part of the trail yet. It wasn't. It actually reminded me of the Appalachian Trail. It was through the woods with lots of rocks, roots, blowdowns and stepovers. I wasn't sure if a bike could even make it through. To me it was the most difficult part of the trail to this point. There were also some steep, rocky dirt road walks as well.
6 miles to get through the Wilderness and after about 5 miles made it over 10,000 ft for the first time. A very large meadow was next up. Even though it started to rain, hiking through the meadow was nice. Decent camping possibilities in the rain were few but I was on the lookout. If it hadn't been raining there were probably plenty of good sites, but the rain changes perspective. Finally settled on a spot on the edge of the meadow. Once the rain stopped, the mosquitoes came out in full force.