Type: Road/Trail, Loop
Difficulty: 5 / 10
Altitude: 9,781 ft
Elev. Gain/Loss: 5 ft / 5 ft
Dog Friendly: No
Jog-Stroller Friendly: No
Filed Under: Cycling, Hiking, Running
The start and end of this run is the farthest west parking lot at Copper Mountain ski area and follows the Colorado Trail to Camp Hale outside Leadville the up Resolution Creek to Ptarmigan Pass near I-70 and Vail Pass and then down the bike path back to Copper Mountain. The name of this loop came as an off-road alternative to the popular road biking loop also by the same name that goes from Copper to Leadville to Vail and back to Copper. The off-road loop described below is for trail runners and mountain bikers. It may be shorter than its road counterpart, but not any easier.
It is recommended to run the loop in a clockwise fashion. Start by taking the farthest west of the dirt roads that travel up the slopes of Copper Mountain ski area. After one or two switchbacks, you should come to some signs directing you to the (CT) Colorado Trail. In years past the CT was accessed directly from the paved Vail Pass bike path, but now they divert you through a few miles of horse poop infested trail on Copper Mountain before you join up with the CT. After about two miles you will leave the horse poop and Copper Mountain. At approximately 2.4 miles you will intersect with Guller Creek and the CT. Take the CT up a long gradual completely runnable valley for several miles. At 5.5 miles you will start to make a few switchbacks as you climb above the tree line. Here is also located one of the 10th Mountain Huts.
Continue on the CT over Searle Pass (12,035 ft, 7.18 mi) and on through some of the most beautiful alpine scenery around for a few more miles. This is a very long section at or above tree line. Make sure there are no electrical storms coming as there is not an easy place to retreat. At 9 miles you will come to the end of a long ridge and start to climb over it to Kokomo Pass (12,011 ft, 10.3 mi).
From Kokomo Pass you will have a nice long downhill into the Cataract Creek drainage for 4 miles that will dump you out on a gravel road at the historic 10th Mountain Division training camp named Camp Hale. Follow the Gravel road westerly for almost 4 miles staying right whenever possible. The first major right will be going back uphill up Resolution Creek.
Take this gravel road and follow it uphill (for what seems like eternity) to the top of Ptarmigan Pass (11,772 ft, 23.4 mi). Through here and Camp Hale you well see many 4WDs and motorcycles, and a handkerchief is sometimes helpful in really dry conditions to combat the gravel road dust.
At the top of Ptarmigan Pass keep on going. The road will get a bit rougher. At approximately 24 miles (or .6 miles after crossing the pass) the dirt road will switchback sharply to the left. Do go that way! Instead look for a small trail that veers off to the right a bit. Take this singletrack trail for a few miles through some more incredibly beautiful terrain ? all downhill ? till you get to I-70.
Once at the interstate (26.5 mi), get on the paved bike path and take it downhill all the way back to Copper Mountain and your car for an almost exactly 30 mile jaunt.
Copper Mountain Resort is located 75 miles (121 kilometers) west of Denver and 20 miles (32 kilometers) east of Vail off Interstate 70 at exit 195, easily accessible from both the Denver International Airport and Eagle County Airport.
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