Date of hike: 6/10/11
Distance RT: ~6 miles, but we overshot the intended return point and traveled ~12 miles.
Time: 5 hrs 30 min
Difficulty: Moderate
Permits required: None
Brief Description
This trail gradually ascends through forested hillsides as you head west paralleling Wigwam Creek. You'll cross Wigwam creek about nine times on your way to a series of alpine beaver ponds and meadows. Source: Outdoor Recreation Information Center.
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| From Topos Maps website. |
The map above shows a dotted red line that outlines the Wigwam trail path. The trail starts at the "TH" symbol at the lower right hand corner of the map, where Forest Rd 545 (black line) changes to a red dotted line (the trail). You can see that Wigwam trail (#609) travels through the Lost Creek Wilderness area of Pike National Forest, following the zigzagging Wigwam Creek waters. NOTE: The Wigwam Trial "turnaround point" is located at the intersection of Goose Creek and Rolling Creek Trails (at Wigwam Park), visible at the top center of the map. We were not aware of this and continued another 3 miles down Rolling Creek trail (thinking it was a continuation of the Wigwam trail), making our total milage double that of the intended trail's length (12 miles versus 6).
Directions from Denver
-Take US Hwy 285 Southwest to "Pine Junction".
-Turn LEFT at the stop light and take Park Country Road 126 for ~22 miles to the "Cheeseman Canyon" trailhead and parking lot.
-Drive past this parking area and turn RIGHT onto the dirt Forest Road (FR) 211.
-Travel down FR 211 for ~2 miles until you get to an intersection with "FR 211.0" (gated road).
-Stay RIGHT to continue on FR 211.
-Travel ~1 mile until you get to a second intersection with FR 560.
-Take the RIGHT fork option to begin traveling on FR 560.
-Travel ~1.5 miles until you get to a third intersection with FR 541 (Flying G Road).
-Stay RIGHT to continue down FR 560.
-After traveling another ~2.5 miles, you will get to the forth intersection with FR 545.
- Turn LEFT and follow this road ~1.2 miles until you read the Wigwam trailhead parking lot (unmarked but we saw two options, one higher ground to the right and one lower ground to the left).
Parking
No bathrooms. No Fee. We drove our humble Honda Civic but recommend taking a higher clearance vehicle to this parking lot if possible, since the gravel Forest Roads leading you here are quite bumpy, narrow and steep at times. We parked at the upper (staying right) lot area and followed an unmarked dirt trail down a nearby hill towards the Wigwam Creek banks to find the official trailhead.
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| Broad zoom showing the path from Denver to the Wigwam Trailhead (located west of the town of Deckers). Lost Creek Wilderness, Pike National Forest. |
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| Close up of the meandering Forest Roads taking you to the Wigwam trailhead parking lot after turing off of CR 126. |
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| Views from my car window on CR 126. Most of this road parallels this river's path. |
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| The dirt roads of FR 211 reveals what remains of past forest fires. |
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| Our GPS system shows that it can't locate where the heck we were driving after we turned off of CR 126 to begin the journey on FR 211 and beyond. |
Personal Notes and Experiences
Hiking "Wigwam trail" (and beyond!) was our first hike in Colorado. We intended to head to west to the mountains located within the Rocky Mountain National Forest near Estes Park, however, we realized that we did not have sufficient cold weather clothes to survive the near-freezing morning temperatures that were still present there in early June. So, we looked at options to the south from our large pile of free hiking trail brochures that we had collected from the REI flagship store. We chose Wigwam trial because it appeared to be a good middle milage and difficulty level for new hikers who still wanted a challenge.
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| We finally found the trailhead after deciphering our driving directions on the ambiguous FR leading us here! |
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| New boots, new day pack... we were looking pretty fly! |
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| Crossing one of many bridges along Wigwam Creek. |
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| Stoney mountains all around us. |
Eventually we passed an intersection with Goose Creek trail and Rolling Creek trail. Since Rolling Creek trail continued to the same direction of the Wigwam trail, we continued on that path thinking that we had not reached the end of Wigwam yet (there were no signs to turn around)! The scenery was quickly changing from covered forest, to open prairie grass lands. Pines to aspens, and back to pines.
We saw a beaver's dam, and applied additional layers of sunscreen to ward off the intense rays of sun that were now beating down on us. It was mid-afternoon and we were still heading outward. Suddenly, we stared questioning ourselves. Had we missed the turnaround point? We had been hiking over 2.5 hrs and surely we had to be reaching the end of the trail soon! We were walking at a fast clip, but then again this was our first time hiking "at altitude" so perhaps we were thinking we were going faster than we actually were. We decided to hike until our timers hit the 3 hour mark. Our major concern was our water supply. We had consumed half of the water already and we hadn't even turned around. We were quite thirsty and getting fatigued, but we decided to press onward. The end of the trail had to be around the next corner... or the next... or the next?
During this last 30 minutes of travel outward, we started to climb upwards into the shaded forests once more, following a nice break walking through a flat grass-covered valley. At this point, we were stopping more. We knew we were hungry and thirsty, but we wanted to save a quality rest break to refuel and hydrate at our turn around point. Despite out mortal cravings for nourishment, we continued to be energized by all of the sights and smells that surrounded us. At 2:45 PM, just a few minutes before our 3 hr turnaround point, we surrendered to the mystery of this seemly never ending trail. Plopping onto some surrounding rocks, we snacked on energy bars, trail mix and consumed another half of our already half-empty water supply. We had packed 2 liters of water in a new Kleen Kanteen bottle, thinking that we wouldn't need much for a 3 hour hike. But now we were 3 hours outward and still had to make the trek back to the car!
Feeling more satisfied and energized after a 15 minute break, we packed up our things and began the journey back to our original starting point. We felt a bit defeated at the time, thinking that we couldn't finish our first trail hike, but we knew we couldn't put our health at risk with such a low water supply. We crossed paths with the two friendly women campers for a second time near Wigwam Park. We exhanged greetings and they asked us how we were enjoying our hike. We told them how we were disapointed in not making it to the end today, and then their eyes lit up! This is the end of Wigwam trail here! You probably went an extra 3 miles out! This put a shocked look on our faces. Really?! No wonder we are so tiered! 12 miles for our first hike. We had a smile on our faces the rest of the way back, and we made the return trip in record time since it was mostly downhill. At some point along this return trip, we established the fact that both of us were a bit dizzy and our legs felt like two dead weights mechanically stepping. But we did find ourselves square with a white tailed deer. A very special few seconds and the only encounter with wildlife the entire day! We downed the last few sips of water 1 hour before crossing the finish line.
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| Located off of CR 126. |
Once we reached the car and started to take off our hiking boots, fatigue finally tookover us. Joe had to rest at the wheel for a few minutes before starting the engine. We were very tired and thirsty and our bodies were sounding the "low fuel" alarms by bringing us two dull headaches that quickly matured into pounding mind bombs. Our watches read 6:15 PM as turned left onto the paved CR 126 heading home. We could have stopped at a local gas station to load up on snacks and fluids to get us home to Denver, but instead, we pulled off at the first descent restaurant that we came across, Zoka's Restaurant and Bar, to celebrate our accomplishment! We were seated to a table for two and we requested orders of water and iced tea. We delayed ordering food until we felt hydrated again, and this was only accomplished after our waitress placed a pitcher of iced tea and water on the table, which both of us easily finished. Where you two hiking? Inquired the curious waitress. Emily ordered the BBQ ribs dinner and Joe the Friday fish fry special. Turns out there was little conversation over dinner as both of us sought recovery in two different ways: Emily nearly finished her dinner plate while Joe continued to sip his ice tea and rub his head to dissuade the persistent waves of nausea that he was experiencing.
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| Zoka's Restaurant and Bar. |
You could say we over did it! Upon arriving home and taking long hot showers, we assembled our blowup mattress sofas and spent the rest of the evening steaming movies on Netflix, eating reheated leftovers from our earlier meal and continuing to nosh on ice cream and popcorn. Neither of us had ever felt so beat! We now respect the toll that altitude that take on the human body that isn't adapted. The next time we visited REI we purchased a 2 liter Camelpak to complement our 2 liter Kleen Kanteen so that we would never go hiking with a limited water supply again.
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