Colorado Sangres: Cotton Creek/Lake

Colorado Sangres, West slope: Cotton Creek trail June 17-19, 2024

19.2 miles round trip to Cotton Lake, +/- about 3,000 ft.

This was a trip with my spouse--a pleasant development in the past few years that this happens sometimes. (I do not name her, because she has a $hitty family and prefers to keep a low digital profile.)

We had planned to stay a second night at Cotton Lake, and hike to the pass between Cotton Creek and Rito Alto Creek for the alpine views, but for various reasons we decided to hike out on day 3.

Cotton Creek is one of the longest and most gradually-climbing trails in the Sangres. (It is signed by the USFS as 8 miles and +2,800 ft.  to the lake. My Garmin and my legs find both of those figures to be a bit low.) It's a beautiful drainage: unfortunately, it's been hit pretty hard by beetle kill, so blowdowns, while not terrible, are annoying, and widowmakers are a definite challenge in selecting camps.

Day 1: ca. 6 miles, +2000 ft. (Mon, June 17)

We got a late start (as we knew we would), hitting the trail around noon. But it was a beautiful day, no rain. The elevation gain is very evenly distributed over the miles, so it is very pleasant hiking except for navigating blowdowns. There were almost no established camps or even decent possibilities, really, until about 5.5 miles in, so we were pretty quick to grab a nice creekside camp in one of the first meadow areas we came to.

Day 2: ca. 3.5 miles, +1,000 ft (Tue, June 18)

We had a leisurely sleeping-in morning (we were expecting to be only about 2 or 2.5 miles from the lake). The trail steepens and switchbacks a little in the upper section, but is still pretty gentle. (Some of the switchbacks are actually a bit irritating--even Spouse, who is not a diehard hiker like me, agreed.) We hit the lake (11,500) in the early afternoon, surprised to see it ringed by full-size trees, with camp selection limited by regulation (300+ ft from the lake), and even moreso by widowmakers. It took some time to settle on a decently level spot as far away from the standing dead timber as possible.

We napped, had a leisurely afternoon in camp, bathed, explored the lake, etc. We had encountered a couple other parties on the hike in, but we were the only ones camped at the lake. I got some nice shots of the evening light on Silver Peak over the lake. No marmots were around, which was fine, after having a struggle with super-aggressive ones in my last hike in the western Sangres. (I think the aggressive marmots are found in the more popular areas near Crestone--this drainage is a bit north of there.)

Day 3: ca 9.6 miles, -3,000 ft. (Wed, June 19)

We were going to head up to the pass to the south, but the forecast for Wed and Thur was poor, and the morning sky was dubious. Sealing the deal, spouse had a nosebleed, so all signs pointed to dropping being prudent. We had a lovely hike out, except that I roughed my legs up doing a shimmy-type log crossing. (I would have just forded, as we did on the way up, but spouse really wanted to try it.) We drove to Salida, where we enjoyed a couple days of regular tourist stuff, restaurant food, etc.

Overall, a great trip: much more low-key than how I would approach a solo trip, but that's just fine.

Some notes about this trail/drainage:

-The last two miles of road are considered a 4wd road, but it's really probably doable by almost any vehicle, if you go slow. Loose rock was the major issue. We were in a Toyota Rav4.

-The junction with the alleged Banjo Lake trail, which should be at about 5 miles, is not marked, and we did not find it in either direction. (I was looking.)

-The wooded nature of the lake is a bit of a bummer: most lakes at 11,500 are much more open. Widowmakers detracted from the camping possibilities. If a person were passing through to or from Rito Alto to the south, I'd suggest maybe camping somewhere in the couple miles *below* the lake on the Cotton Creek trail.

-This trail could be part of one of the few longer BP trail routes that exist in the Sangres: if you hiked up Cotton Creek, you can connect to any or all of the Rito Alto, San Isabel, or N Crestone Trails (and could also connect with east-side trails by crossing at Venable Pass).