Skeleton Gulch ranks high as one of the most beautiful and remote backpacking destinations in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado. Near 11,000 feet in the Never Summer Mountain Range, it is a place where you can spend days without seeing anything but wildlife, mountains, streams and wildflowers.
The Skeleton Gulch Trail starts from the Ditch Road that twists through the mountains for sixteen miles. The parallel Grand River Ditch delivers mountain runoff water to the Atlantic Basin for farming irrigation.
For the easiest hike in you can start at the La Poudre Pass trailhead. The Specimen Mountain Research Natural Area is on the east across the Colorado River. A packed earth trail trod by thousands of day hikers every year leads you to the Ditch Road gate. The one lane gravel road gently rises into the Never Summer Range. You are treated to a spectacular view of the Colorado River Valley as you walk the road. Specimen Mountain, The Crater, and Shipler Mountain across the valley on the east and the Never Summer Range on the west provide a panoramic view equal to any in the world. Stepping to the edge of the road you can actually look down on birds flying below. Northwest you will see Mounts Lulu, Richthofen, Teepee and Lead looming over your final destination. Look for trout swimming in the swift clear water in the Ditch. Watch for mule deer, elk and moose that frequent the road. It is less than four miles to the footbridge that begins the Skeleton Gulch Trail.
A few hundred feet before the footbridge you will come across a small piece of civilization and a trail leading to Ditch Camp #3. Three employees of the company that owns, operates and maintains the Ditch live in a small A-frame style house from May through October each year. It is possible to hitch a ride up, or down if you see a green pickup coming along the road. The workers are usually friendly and tell great stories about the area.
Start from the Colorado River trailhead if you want a longer, more strenuous backpacking experience. The La Poudre Pass Trail starts there and winds for nearly three miles to the Lulu City site. Watch for mountain goats, elk, deer, pica, marmot, moose and all kinds of ground squirrels along the way. Mountain lion, bear and mink sightings are rare. The site of an old silver mine camp, Lulu City lies 2.7 miles from the trailhead. There is not much left of Lulu City but it is a great spot to rest up for the hike ahead of you. A half mile after Lulu City you reach the Stage Road trail and for nearly a mile the trail goes straight up. You cannot help but marvel that horses ever drew heavy wagonloads up it. At the top is Ditch Camp #3.
Reserve a site here for your first night on the trail. No matter which direction you came from it is a great spot to finish acclimating to the altitude. There are four campsites to choose from around a small open field. In the late 1800s and early 1900s groups of Asian laborers lived there. Sit quietly and keep your camera handy. Mule deer and moose are often seen crossing the meadow.
Take your time in the morning. Eat a leisurely breakfast and watch the meadow wake up. Break down camp and take the trail to the southwest. It skirts the edge of a larger meadow, crosses Sawmill Creek and ends at the Ditch Road directly across from the footbridge to the Skeleton Gulch Trail. A ten-inch wide spilt log over Sawmill Creek and the Ditch joins the road with the wilderness beyond.
Skeleton Gulch Trail drops and rises, sometimes steeply for one point five miles. Timid mule deer can be seen feeding on the tender grasses in small meadows along the way. To your right you will see a slope covered in rockslide. Listen for the chattering call of pica. Stop and you might catch a glimpse of one scurrying from rock to rock. We have seen bear tracks in the soft dirt beside runoff streams and a fallen log clawed to tatters. All around will be the wildflowers of the season.
A signpost lets you know you have reached Skeleton Gulch. Set your backpack against it and continue along the trail. You will come to the edge of a meadow as large as two football fields end-to-end. There is a mud wallow at the eastern end near you. Moose come there to coat themselves with mud and nibble the young shoots of grass. To the west a hundred yards and across is another rockslide where marmot can be seen and heard. Mountain goat can be seen on the near vertical slope directly west. Sit and rest. Enjoy the solitude before going back and setting up camp.
The meadow at Skeleton Gulch holds many surprises in, and around it. Walk the length of the meadow to the west where you will find a clear trail. Follow it to the end. I promise you will not be disappointed.
Skeleton Gulch is true wilderness that is worth the trip. Pack for cool weather at night, at least one rainy day, and make sure you keep your camera handy.
