Colorado Trail Segment 8 trailhead

RT Length: 10.7 miles

Elevation Gain: 4038’

After quite a long wait at the Eisenhower Tunnel I made it to the Far East Lot at Copper Mountain and was on the trail at 5am. The lot has enough room for hundreds of vehicles, if not more. The trail starts near the construction area, at the south end of the lot

I crossed a bridge over Tenmile Creek, and the trailhead was directly on the other side

I was following the Colorado Trail. This was a class 1, easy to follow trail all the way up to the Peak 9/Peak 8 saddle.

After hiking for 2.3 miles, I came to the Colorado Trail/Wheeler Trail junction. At this point I continued straight, on the Wheeler Trail

This trail took me above treeline, to the Peak 9/Peak 8 saddle.

From the parking area, it was 3.7 miles to the saddle. From the saddle the hike became class 2, and I gained around 800 feet to the summit, but it was an easy 800 feet. I turned right, and headed south up to the ridge on tundra

Once on the ridge I turned left, and followed a slight game trail southeast

The last bit of the hike to the summit can look overwhelming at first, but it can be kept at class 2. I thought of it as similar terrain to the “16 Golden Stairs” on Pikes Peak Barr Trail, but much shorter (maybe 30 feet or so to deal with).

I dropped down to the left of the ridge, and took a game trail to the summit.

I summited Peak 9 at 7:30am

Peak 9:

It was starting to snow lightly, I’d forgotten my gloves, and I could see sunshine on Peak 8 so I turned around and headed back to the Peak 9/Peak 8 saddle.

Here’s a look at that rocky section on the way back

Back at the saddle, I headed north, and gained about 600’ to the top of Peak 8. This was a simple trek to the summit, as I just followed the “Ski Area Boundary” signs. At times, there was a game trail to follow.

There was a lot of junk left on this ridge. It looks like when they put in the posts for the ski area boundary signs, they left their tools behind. There was also an emergency station, with litters and first aid supplies for injured skiers.

The route to the summit was obvious

I summited peak 8 at 8:30am

Peak 8:

This peak gets a lot of traffic. There was a wind break with a summit register box filled with old school IDs and medical cards. Someone had even left a small tube of sunscreen inside.