Backpacking the Middle St. Vrain Creek ~ 2002...

The Indian Peaks Wilderness is one of Colorado's most accessible wilderness areas. It lies within Roosevelt and Arapahoe National Forests, borders the South end of Rocky Mountain National Park, and straddles the Continental Divide. Many of the trailheads on the East side of the Continental Divide are less than a 1.5 hour drive from Denver. This does mean that the wilderness receives a fair amount of foot traffic, but there is still plenty of solitude to be found. Permits for backcountry overnight camping are required from June 1st through September 15th. This limits the number of people in each region of the wilderness and makes for a more enjoyable backpacking experience.

You can start your trip from one of two trailheads. The main trailhead is located on the West end of the Camp Dick Campground, near Peaceful Valley, Colorado. At the end of the paved road there is a large parking lot, and unless you have a capable 4WD vehicle, this is your starting point. From the parking lot there is a fairly rough 4WD road that continues West for about 4 miles. With the proper vehicle you can drive this road and start your hike from the road-end, near the wilderness boundary. We made this trip in June, which is still early in the summer season for the high country. Since the 4WD road was gated closed, we had no choice in the matter. Our trip started at the main parking lot. The 4WD road heads up the canyon, traveling mostly on the South side of the Middle St. Vrain Creek. Just 10 yards from the parking lot, a foot trail leads down to the creek, across a foot bridge and into the forest. This was our route, Buchanan Pass Trail #910. At this point, you are still in Roosevelt National Forest and have not crossed the wilderness boundary. We started our trip late in the day (after work on Friday) so we had only a couple of hours of daylight to hike before finding a spot and making camp. Overnight camping is restricted within 1/2 mile of Camp Dick, but in an hour or so we were several miles into the forest, past this restriction. There are many established campsites along the trail. We picked one that was out of sight and made camp for the night.

The night was cool and damp since we were in the valley and fairly close to the creek. Our tent collected dew and condensation making the morning slightly wet. No worries - the forecast was for warm weather and dry skies. After breakfast we set off up the trail. In less than an hour we reached the point where the foot trail meets the end of the 4WD road. At this point the trail is wide and flat, providing nice views of Saw Tooth Mountain. By this time the sun was warm and the skies were their typical Colorado clear blue.

We continued up the Buchanan Pass Trail #910 as it followed the Middle St. Vrain Creek. About 1/2 mile from the end of the 4WD road you come to a sign that notes you are crossing into the Indian Peaks Wilderness. The trail is broad and climbs the valley at an easy incline. The hiking is easy even with a weekend's worth of food and gear on your back. Soon we reached a large meadow where it is evident that there was a burn in the past. This must have happened some time ago, since there are mature pines starting to fill in the spaces left by the downed trees. To the North, there is a steep rocky ridge that borders the valley, and you can see where large rock slides have rolled to the valley floor. I wouldn't want to be around when boulders the size of camp trailers started tumbling a couple thousand feet down the mountain-side. As you enter the meadow burn area you get your first glimpse of Elk Tooth Mountain. It has a very distinct profile.

The mid-morning sun was getting hot, so we decided to take a break. The St. Vrain Glacier Trail #917 starts by splitting off to the right of the Buchanan Pass Trail #910 about 1 mile from the end of the 4WD road. It was here that we sat by the stream and snacked on home-made granola and Power Bars. As we were readying ourselves to start up the trail, we saw 3 riders on horseback coming up the trail. We waited for them to pass and held on tight to the leash of our younger dog, who is very curious of everything. The riders had fishing gear, but no overnight packs, so we figured they were heading up Trail #910 to Red Deer Lake, a popular fishing spot. They were probably on a day trip from the Peaceful Valley Ranch. We watched them negotiate through the creek next to the foot bridge. The last horse was not too happy to be wading through the spring run-off. After they passed we started climbing up Trail #917, which is slightly steeper than the lower sections of Trail #910, but still only moderately strenuous.

About an hour up the trail we made a navigational mistake. The trail dipped towards the creek and we missed seeing the rock cairn on the other side. The trail crosses the creek here and the rock cairn was hidden in a snow drift (we didn't find this out until the next day, when we were hiking out). There did seem to be a faint trail that led up into the rock slide field, and that's where we went. Boulder-hopping with a full pack is time consuming and energy burning - our dogs were not having any fun either.

After more than 30 minutes of working our way through the rocks we came to a point where the rock cairns disappeared and the rocks became steeper and larger. It was time to sit down, pull out the map and compass, and figure out where we were. From the map, we were pretty sure that the trail should be on the other side of the creek, so found a narrow spot, jumped the creek and bush-whacked straight South until we intersected the trail (about 25 yards South of the creek). We did this only to find the trail crossing back over the creek within the next 1/4 mile! Oh well, roll up (or zip off) the pant legs, lose the boots and wade through the clear and VERY cold creek - snow melt is just like ice water!

We took a short break to dry (and warm) our feet and filter some water for our water bottles. Then we headed up the trail. The higher we climbed up the valley, the wetter the trail became. Much of Colorado is in a severe drought this year, but you wouldn't know it hiking up the St. Vrain Glacier Trail. We slogged over marshy, muddy trails ever since leaving the Buchanan Pass Trail. There are still substantial snow drifts. And I would imagine that on a "normal" year, there would be much, much more snow. Maybe enough to prevent our travels.

About 20 minutes of hiking (maybe less) after the last creek crossing, we came to a good sized lake with an incredible view of Elk Tooth Mountain. The trail here, crosses a log jam and heads up a North facing slope towards Gibraltar Lake. The snow drifts became taller and taller, so we decided to cut short the hike and find a place to camp. I was excited to photograph Elk Tooth Mountain at sunrise from this lake. After considerable searching we found a reasonable camp site. This gave us the rest of the afternoon to explore and enjoy the fresh air and mountain sunshine. The night was clear and cool - great sleeping weather! 

The next morning I woke early and was poised by the lake with my 4x5 equipment as the sun came up. You can see those pictures in the Colorado Gallery section.

We made a leisurely breakfast, packed up camp and headed down the mountain. This time we managed to stay on the correct trail! We encountered many more day-hikers along the hike out (Sunday), especially after we got down to the Buchanan Pass Trail. As we approached the 4WD road, we discovered that it had been opened for the season. This greatly increased the foot amount of foot traffic. We were very happy to have missed the rush, feeling like we had the Middle St. Vrain Valley all to ourselves for the entire weekend!