A portion of the Colorado Trail north of Breckenridge is getting a little love this summer.
The Gold Hill Trail is closed for at least six weeks starting today, June 22. Crews organized by the U.S. Forest Service are using heavy machinery to repair 1.5 miles of trail washed out by rain and snowmelt.
The closure runs from the Highway 9 trailhead to the Ophir Mountain Trail intersection. It reopens in August.
“We appreciate the public’s patience and understanding during this short-term closure,” said Dillon District Ranger David Ilse. “Respecting the closure will help crews complete the work more effectively as well as keep crews and the public safe.”
There will be a detour during construction. Look for signs to the alternate parking lot and trailhead just east of the Gold Hill TH at Swans Nest. The half-mile detour takes you under the highway and onto a mix of dirt road and singletrack.
The Colorado Trail and Continental Divide Trail share Gold Hill. Through-hikers and bikers should use the detour.
Paying for this work is the Continental Divide Trail Maintenance Fund. When finished the trail will be “more sustainable,” the Forest Service reports, returning Gold Hill to its glory days.
In the 1983 first edition of “The Summit Hiker,” local author Mary Ellen Gilliland describes Gold Hill as the “most manicured trail in Summit County” with “first-rate hiking conditions.” She commends the Forest Service for trail marking, maintenance and water bars. Gold Hill was barely five years old at the time.
Carved and finished in the late ‘70s, Gold Hill was part of a then-new Colorado Trail project linking 567 miles of dirt trail from Denver to Durango.
In Summit County the Colorado Trail, known as the CT, shares mileage with the ambitious Continental Divide Trail, or CDT, which spans nearly 3,100 miles from Canada to Mexico.
Preview image via Breckenridge Grand Vacations Blog.