Colorado Trail Segment 23 Hike Guide

August 8, 2022 The Virtual Sherpa Comments 0 Comment

Colorado Trail Segment 23 starts at the Carson Saddle and ends at Stony Pass in the San Juan Mountains of Southern Colorado. This segment is 15.9 miles long with 3500ft of elevation gain. This segment is unique because almost the entire hike is above 12,000ft and exposed to the elements. With a lack of coverage comes a plethora of fantastic views, good camping and ample water sources. This is a worthy backpacking trip on its own and is arguably one of the best segments of the entire CT.

Colorado Trail Segment 23 Quick Facts

Virtual Trail Guide: Colorado Trail Segment 23

Colorado Trail Segment 23 Rating: ★★★★★ (5/5 Stars)

Distance: 15.9 miles

Elevation Start: 12,366ft

High Point: 12,982ft

Total Elevation Gain: 3,515ft

Estimated Time to Complete: 7-9 Hours One Way

Difficulty: Moderate to Difficult What does this mean?

Class: Class 1- What does this mean?

Season: June – November (the earlier you try to hike, the more likely you will encounter snow.

Check the Weather Forecast

Directions to Colorado Trail Segment 23

Trailhead: Carson Saddle & Stony Pass

Getting Here: Start Trailhead: Carson Saddle is located on a 4×4 road just outside of Lake City and requires a long drive on forest roads. I have not driven to this trailhead on my own but am familiar with the area. If you have a standard 4×4 or a good driver in an AWD (not super high clearance) you shouldn’t have a problem accessing the “end TH”. I would not recommend leaving a car here.

End Trailhead Stony Pass: Stony Pass is about a 10 mile/40 minute drive on a 4×4 road from the mountain town of Silverton, Colorado. I have no experience driving this road but based on what cars I could see parked here, a standard AWD/4×4 should do the trick.

Parking: There are no good parking areas at Carson Saddle but a small parking area (3 or 4 cars) on the top of Stony Pass. There are no restrooms at either location. Gun to head, I would say it’s okay to leave a car on Stony Pass for the night but not on the Carson Saddle.

Fee: There is no fee to access either TH on this segment.

Summary

Dogs: Colorado Trail Segment 23 is dog friendly with lots of water sources along the way.

Camping: Camping on this segment can be somewhat tricky, especially if the weather is bad. There are a handful of spots to camp around 1-2 miles in and then again Cataract Lake around 5.5. However, if there has been a lot of recent rain – the spots around the lake are going to be a muddy mess. After this, there is a “spot” around mile 10 that is not on flat ground and again at mile 13.5 which is likely your best bet. We ended up throwing up a tent around mile 10 since the weather was turning really bad but camped on the small saddle here vs the downhill sloping spot. Overall, camping can be tricky on Colorado Trail Segment 23.

Access to Water: CT Segment 23 is fairly easy to access water with the last 5 miles being the driest. In general though, water shouldn’t be a problem for any segment or through hikers.

Trail X Factors: Hiking at 12,000+ ft

Segment 23 of the Colorado Trail can be tricky if you are not used to high elevation since almost the entire 16 miles are above 12,000ft. If AMS is not your issue, bad weather could be. Especially during the Monsoon months of July/August – getting off of this segment by 11AM/12PM should be your goal. With the exception of a few spots, there is no escape from a thunderstorm here and bad weather could turn dangerous quickly.

Hike Tip(s): Be sure to plan your camping spot on this segment beforehand if you are in a time crunch. With so few options to camp, it would be very easy to add on more miles or pop up the tent in a less than ideal spot for the night.

Best Views: The entire thing. This was one of the best segments for us during the first 23 on the Colorado Trail, it’s simply beautiful at every single turn. Even with less than perfect weather, the views here were just breathtaking.

Colorado Trail Segment 23 Hike Route

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Gear Needed

Jackie’s Gear:

Aria’s Gear

Bowls

Colorado Trail Books:

Full Version
Pocket Guide
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Our Trip to Colorado Trail Segment 23: July 2022

After finishing segment 22, we continued our weekend of hiking on Colorado Trail Segments 22-24. With 9 miles on our legs on the day already, our hope was to get 10 more in before the afternoon storms once again foiled our day. As we started segment 23, clouds were already starting to build, not the best sign. We started down the trail and finally pumped some water after a long dry spell from the segment before. Jackie, Aria (our husky) and I were all very thirsty and super relieved to be drinking from the cold mountain spring. The hiking continued and as we were working up to one of many unnamed passes on the day, I spotted a cow moose and her two very young calves.

As we kept hiking higher and higher, the clouds had reached their limit and the skies started to open. Cold rain at first but slowly transitioning to hail and some thunder and lightning. Instead of putting ourselves in danger, we hunkered down under some willows until the wave of energy passed. Not even close to our mileage goal, we pressed on. Up a handful of other saddles and passes with the San Juan Mountains around us draped with low hanging clouds and fog. Even with the partially blocked views, it was stunning. It truly felt like we were in Ireland, Scotland or even New Zealand with how green the land around us was. Colorful wildflowers covered the ground in all directions so whatever views we were missing above, were more than made up on the ground.

On Colorado Trail Segment 23 we did something we typically never do – stop and eat lunch. Both Jackie and I made a tuna wrap with some pickles while Aria begged for whatever scraps we managed to throw her way. Jackie even took a nap! For the first time in over 350 miles we were just trying to enjoy the hiking instead of pushing for miles and end points. The weather, which had held up for several hours, started to turn south again and we were forced to camp on a little saddle around mile 10 or so. The storms that night were fierce – heavy rains, whipping winds and loud cracking of thunder and lightning. The next morning brought a lot of the same and with extra time not on our side – we got up, stuffed the tent into a stuff sack and started hiking in the pouring rain. It was flat out miserable.

We kept on hiking through the gloomy morning and eventually the rain let up. While the weather improved, the visibility did not and the views we had were of clouds and fog. Morally a little defeated, we eventually finished Colorado Trail Segment 23 with a small dirt road hike to the top of Stony Pass. Weather aside, this segment was great but we had more hiking to do to finish off our day. Continue reading about our trip here on Segment 24 of the CT.