The Colorado Trail is a long distance backpacking trail that has been called “mile for mile the most beautiful trail in America.” We would have to agree. In our 491 miles on the Colorado Trail we saw rushing rivers, trickling creeks full of the clearest spring water, breathtakingly stunning mountain views, a huge variety of animals, fields full of multicolored wildflowers, and forests of aspen leaves trembling in the breeze… sometimes all in one day. Make no mistake, you’ll have to work for your views. However, you’ll be rewarded for panting through a scramble up a steep mountain with expansive mountain landscapes and magical views.
Hiking the Colorado Trail was one of the best things we have ever done, and it made us realize that we both have a passion for wilderness backpacking. Since then, we have backpacked a combined 3000+ miles fueled exclusively by vegan hiking food. Read on to learn more about the Colorado Trail and tips to help feel confident as you embark on this wild adventure.
General Colorado Trail Info
Overview
Distance and Time
The Colorado trail starts in the Denver area and heads generally southwest to its terminus in Durango. While various sources, side quests, and paths might make your total mileage vary slightly, you can expect to hike about 491 miles (780 km) if you take the Collegiate West option. The trail is wonderfully maintained and usually pretty easy to follow. We recommend getting the Colorado Trail Databook to help you plan your hike and the application FarOut (formerly known as Guthook) to get live information about water sources, see the GPS route of your hike, and read comments from other hikers about everything on and off the trail. For 300 miles, the Colorado Trail also joins with the Continental Divide Trail, so you might meet some hikers on a different journey.
This took us a little under 5 weeks – we started slowly, took our time, and took three zeros and a few nearos in town. Our pace varied widely: our shortest day was about seven miles while our longest was 23. We met plenty of people going faster than us and a few going slower. Of course, hike your own hike – but to be comfortable, give yourself at least 3-4 weeks to tackle this trail because the altitude is high and the elevation gain is killer.
While we genuinely thought that every single day of this hike was beautiful, our favorite part of the entire trip was hiking through the San Juan Mountains near the end of our trip. The terrain in this area is indescribable. If you find yourself with waning motivation, let that be your consolation: the best is yet to come.
NOBO or SOBO?
A big decision to make before you start on your journey is deciding whether to hike North (NOBO) or South (SOBO) on the Colorado Trial. As mentioned, the route actually heads in a more East-West direction than many thru hikes, nevertheless, the terms NOBO and SOBO are still used on trail. We definitely advocate for heading south on this hike, starting in the Denver area, for two reasons. First, if you start in Denver you will steadily gain elevation. You’ll be starting at 5520 feet and won’t hit 10,000 feet until around 100 miles in.
On the other hand, starting in Durango will launch you to almost 12,000 feet within the first 40 miles, most of which are a steady uphill climb. You will have a much easier time adjusting to altitude and getting your trail legs with a Denver start. Additionally, while the entire hike was stunning, the scenery does become more rugged and dramatic in the southern part of the hike. It’s a great thing to look forward to towards the end of your trip, rather than finishing it early on.
Side Quests and Route Options on the Colorado Trail
Choosing Collegiate East or West
The biggest route choice you’ll have to make is in the Collegiate Range when you must choose between the “Collegiate East” or “Collegiate West” routes. Collegiate East has a lower elevation and is below tree line for a lot of the journey. Collegiate West is higher, more rugged, has some brutal passes, and has more miles above tree line. We chose to hike Collegiate West and were really happy with our decision. Collegiate West is supposed to be “harder,” but Collegiate East has a lot of elevation gain as well – but often without the rewarding views, according to those we spoke to who chose that route.
The biggest thing to be aware of when making your decision is the weather – because Collegiate West spends so much time above tree line, if the forecast looks bad for the upcoming days, you will want to go East.
Tackling 14ers on the Colorado Trail
Another thing to consider when planning your hike is if you want to set aside some time to try and tackle some 14ers (side quests!). Colorado has fifty eight 14ers (mountains over 14,000 feet) and you can access three of them right off the trail. There are more that you can access with a slight deviation, and a few more on the Collegiate East route that we did not have access to. The peaks you can access easily are Mount Massive, Mount Elbert (the highest 14er in Colorado, although it only beats Massive by a few feet), and San Luis.
We climbed Mount Massive and it was a pretty hard hike, especially towards the top where the air was thin and the trail was a little ambiguous. You can access the trail to the peak right from the CT and it’s about 3.5 miles to the summit (stash your extra stuff or camp nearby so you’re not going up with your full backpack).
On the other hand, San Luis is further on in the hike, when you have your hiking legs and lungs, and was incredibly easy (it took us less than 45 minutes to summit from the trail and we just left our backpacks at the saddle).
When is the Best Time to Hike the Colorado Trail?
The earliest you can start depends on the snowpack of the previous winter, but the ideal time to hike the trail is in July and August. You can monitor the snowpack situation if you are trying to start in late June – The Colorado Trail Facebook group is extremely helpful for these kinds of queries as well as any other doubts you might have before your hike. If you try to hike before late June or past late September, you will be dealing with snowpack at higher elevations or early season snowstorms that could hinder your progress and create an unsafe hiking situation.
Weather-wise, we absolutely loved hiking through August and into September. We saw plenty of wildflowers at the beginning of our hike, but by the end were starting to see some fall foliage, and the contrast was really nice. We also only had to deal with four or five days of rain throughout the whole hike and the bug situation was manageable.
Remember that the closer you get into the fall, the more you’ll have to pay attention to water sources, because many will be drying up. You will also have to consider that as summer wanes, you’ll have less daylight for hiking.
Is the Colorado Trail Crowded?
The best time to hike also depends on if you want a social experience or more solitude. We started on July 28th and while we met lots of people along the way, many days we were hiking and camping alone. A hiker we met who did their thru-hike in July said that there were regularly dozens of people at a campsite and they were easily able to find a trail family. Of course, your exact start date, pace, and what the people around you are doing will also have a big impact on how many people you meet along the way. In general, it seems like most thru-hikers try to start hiking in July. While Colorado’s short hiking season means you will definitely see people while hiking, it seems like those who prefer solitude might want to wait until August or September to do this trail.
Safety Concerns on the Colorado Trail
While you can absolutely tackle this trail as beginners (our longest wilderness backpacking trip prior to the CT was 3 days), there are some things to remember in order to have a safe trip.
Monsoon Season and Lightning Safety
Firstly, the trail has several areas above tree line, and the hiking season coincides with monsoon season in Colorado. That’s why it’s absolutely imperative to monitor the weather and tackle any passes before noon. You do NOT want to be caught above tree line in a thunderstorm. We had a close call one evening in Collegiate West and ended up racing a thunderstorm down to tree line – sometimes despite the best planning you might get into a gnarly situation, so make sure you also brush up on lightning safety so you’ll know what to do if caught in a similar position.
Temperature on the Colorado Trail
Don’t think that because this is summer you’ll be nice and warm – remember that you’ll be over 10,000 feet for most of the hike. We even had snow one night on the trail in August! Make sure your tent is warm, your sleeping bag is warm (ours were rated for 20 degrees), and you have enough layers to be comfortable both sleeping and hiking. I get cold easily and was very happy to have brought a fleece as a mid-layer. Some nights, I had to sleep in all of my gear (including layering my fleece, puffy, and rain jacket) to stay warm.
Bear and Wildlife Safety
There is no legal requirement on the Colorado Trail regarding food storage. When we hiked, we used hard-sided bear canisters and appreciated having a seat, though they weigh a ton and weren’t easily accessible for breaks during the day. There was also the issue of placing the canisters carefully so they wouldn’t get knocked off a mountain by a human or animal. We have since switched to using an Ursack with a smell-proof liner, though on the Colorado Trail you might be camping above tree line and may need to sleep with your food in that situation.
We didn’t have any problems with bears or other critters getting into our smelly things, though we did get our stove lid nibbled on when we accidentally left it in our vestibule one night. Food storage for thru-hiking is strangely a contentious issue; hike your own hike but we will always use some sort of food storage that will protect the wildlife whose habitat we are visiting, remembering that “A fed bear is a dead bear.”
Bike Safety
The Colorado Trail is open to mountain bikes for most of the trail except for where it passes through wilderness areas. Many people also bike-pack the entire length of the trail, taking detours through bike free areas. This was a little stressful at times, though most of the bikers were very friendly. Trail etiquette dictates that bikers yield to hikers; however, we found that in reality this just didn’t work. We yielded to bikers going both uphill and downhill simply because they are faster – it didn’t make sense to not step aside and allow them to pass. This is a trail where it’s particularly important to keep an earbud out if you are listening to something so as to avoid a hiker/biker crash.
Vegan Food on the Colorado Trail
Is it possible to eat vegan while thru-hiking the Colorado Trail?
It is absolutely possible and pretty easy to eat exclusively vegan food on the Colorado Trail. There are plenty of trail towns that have full services with a variety of supermarkets for resupply. We loved discovering the new-to-us chain Natural Grocers which offered a vast range of vegan options in both Salida and Durango. If budget or food variety is not a concern, it is absolutely possible to buy a vegan resupply even in the small trail towns we stopped at like Jefferson, Twin Lakes, and Lake City. Because we were on a budget and weren’t sure of the options available in these small areas, we ended up sending ourselves three resupply boxes and bought the rest of our resupply food in towns along the trail.
Here was our resupply plan, including where we stopped for zeros, where we sent boxes, and where we were able to find good vegan food in trail towns.
Our Pace
The towns below were the best fit for our hiking pace. For the first half of the trail, our average mileage was about 15 miles per day. For the second half, it was probably closer to 18-19 miles per day. We did buy extra snacks while in town picking up our resupplies, but overall we thought we had a good amount of food. If you plan to go significantly slower or faster, you might want to consider other options for a resupply: you can stop in Bailey (off mile 40), Leadville (off mile 143), Creede (off mile 343), and Silverton (off mile 411) as well.
Vegan Colorado Trail Resupply plan
We started in Denver with about five days of food. Here is where we stopped to resupply:
Jefferson (off mile 72)
We sent ourselves a small resupply box via USPS. We knew we would start slow and didn’t want to have to carry 7-8 days of food to make it all the way to Breckenridge. Our resupply had roughly 2 days of food in it. Bonus: It was a very easy and fast hitch in and out of Jefferson.
Breckenridge/Frisco (off mile 105)
We shopped here for our resupply. If budget is a concern, plan to shop in Frisco instead of Breckenridge. Both towns are connected by the free Summit Stage Bus, but all of the big grocery stores are in Frisco. Frisco is also a really cute mountain town and seems to be less overrun with tourists than Breckenridge.
Everyone talks about the Frisco Walmart for resupply, but we thought the Walmart was a little disappointing for a vegan resupply. They did have some dehydrated refried beans, nutrition bars, and snacks, but we ended up walking to Whole Foods from Walmart to supplement. Of course, Whole Foods is more expensive, but they had a ton of good vegan options. There is also a Safeway in Frisco if you think you’ll have better luck there. We bought about 5.5 days of food in Breckenridge, which was enough to get us to Twin Lakes with a side trip to climb Mt. Massive. Bonus: You can take the free Summit bus to and from the trailhead.
If you are in Breckenridge and feel like splurging on a restaurant meal, Piante Pizzeria is a delicious fully vegan pizza restaurant.
We stayed at the Bivvi Hostel in Breckenridge, which was nice enough, but it did NOT have laundry on site (as of August 2021) and we had to walk about a mile to the laundromat. If you care about washing your clothes in town, we wouldn’t recommend this hostel.
Twin Lakes (off mile 177)
This is where we sent ourselves a big resupply, about 6 days worth of food for two people. We sent two boxes to the Twin Lakes General Store, one for each of us. The General Store also has a hiker box, fuel canisters, a hiker discount, and very friendly staff. The general store will have enough vegan snack food to supplement your boxes (although at elevated small town prices). We also saw one vegan backpacking meal available there. In Twin Lakes, there is also a food truck with vegan veggie burgers and fries (don’t expect to be blown away by them, but it is nice to get a meal you don’t have to cook yourself). You can walk into Twin Lakes straight from the trail without having to hitch.
Salida (off mile 253)
We did the Collegiate West route and went into Salida for a resupply and a zero. Salida was our favorite trail town and also had the best options for resupply: check out Natural Grocers for tons of vegan products, and Safeway for everything else you might need. Both are very well stocked. We bought about 6 days worth of food in Salida and had more than we needed to get to Lake City, though this is also where we started hiking a bit faster. YMMV, literally.
We stayed at Simple Lodge Hostel in Salida and loved the vibe – super laid back, with loaner clothes and plenty of other hikers to hang out with for communal meals, board games, or movies.
Transportation note: the hitch out of Salida is harder than the hitch into town, but we still managed it in a few legs even with three hikers.
Lake City (off mile 357)
Our last zero was in Lake City, and we have mixed views about this town.
The good: you don’t have to worry about finding a hitch, as they offer a shuttle to and from Spring Creek Pass that departs from the town at 11:00am and arrives at the pass 30-45 min later. The Lake City Trail Hiker Center run by Community Presbyterian Church is an amazing hiker resource with wifi, water, hiker boxes, loaner bikes and more.
The bad: Unfortunately, the hiker hostel “Raven’s Rest” has shut down since our hike and there are not many budget options for lodging. This is also the worst town for resupply that we hit on the trail. It’s technically possible (we did it), but the town only has one grocery store with limited, super expensive options. We were glad to have gotten some dehydrated refried beans from the hiker box at the hostel to supplement. Luckily, we only needed to buy about three days of food at this resupply. If you aren’t planning on stopping at Molas Pass, or if you’d rather not chance it at the grocery store, Lake City also has a post office where you can send a resupply box.
Though a hitch into Creede (off mile 343) might be more difficult, there are better options for cheaper lodging and resupply there. We would no longer recommend spending the night or taking a zero at Lake City, especially for hikers on a budget.
Molas Creek Campground (off mile 409)
We sent our last resupply box to Molas Creek Campground with enough food for the final four or so days of trail. If you send a box here, MAKE SURE it goes through UPS. This campground is about a 10 minute walking detour from the trail and has a small store with a few vegan snacks and a hiker box, the possibility of a (paid) shower, and an electronics charging area for hikers.
Durango (off mile 486+)
Durango has restaurants with vegan options and a Natural Grocers for snacks.
We hope this information has inspired you and shown you that it’s completely possible to do a vegan Colorado Trail thru-hike. It was an incredible experience and we absolutely recommend this trail to everyone. We had a lot of fun and felt like we had enough to eat, were getting stronger rather than weaker, and genuinely enjoyed all of the food we had brought. If you have any other questions about this hike, its vegan options, or vegan thru-hiking in general, feel free to contact us. Happy trails!