View Full Version : Elkhead Pass via Pine Creek Trail
I am looking at routes to incorporate one or more peaks during the upcoming thru hike. I see one option of leaving the CT at mile 6.5 of Section 12 and hiking west on Pink Creek Trail. Near Missouri Basin the trail forks with a +- 2.5 mile spur heading north to Elkhead Pass. The TI map show about a 1750 foot elevation gain on this spur with the last 100 feet or so looking very steep. Has anybody had experience approaching Mt. Belford from the south taking this route?
Are you just looking for peaks on that CT section? I ask because the CT Guidebook and CT website offer several suggestions of alternate routes and peak bagging opps along the entire length of the CT. Two of the most obvious are Mt Elbert and Mt Massive.
Thanks Dogwood for the suggestion of Elbert and Massive, both very close to the trail. I was focusing on the Elkhead Pass area as I had purchased TI map #129 based on a recommendation of highest concentration of peaks per TI map.
bearcreek
05-17-2011, 11:11
You can get Massive and Elbert from segments 10 and 11. You can cut off at mile 13.7 by Twin Lakes in segment 11 and go over Hope Pass on the CDT, left on Clear Creek Road about a mile, then right on the Missouri Gulch Trail. From there you can climb Missouri, Belford, and Oxford in a single day then go over Elkhead Pass to the Pine River and camp. From there you can do Harvard via the South Pine Creek Trail, come back to Pine Creek and hike east to rejoin the CT at mile 6.5 of segment 12.