Best Damn Weekend Ever: Hike Colorado’s Flat Tops Wilderness, Backpacker, April 2006
Flat is bad if you’re talking tires, bubbly, or EKGs. But if you’re talking about trails—especially ones above treeline—it’s another thing altogether. On these paths, you get panoramic summitlike vistas and tides of wildflowers without the throbbing thighs or burning lungs. This exponential reward-to-effort ratio is what you’ll find 30 miles south of Steamboat Springs in Colorado’s 235,035-acre Flat Tops Wilderness, an expanse that looks as if the pointy coiffure of the state’s Fourteeners got a crew cut.
For an unbeatable sampler of the Flat Tops’ greatest hits—one that combines tundra trekking, bustling trout ponds, dreamy wildflower meadows, and a sphincter-clenching dash across an eroded arête—plan for 3 days and a 24-mile circuit from Stillwater Reservoir. Day 1 is short on mileage and long on views. From the Hooper-Keener trailhead, follow the East Fork Trail 2.5 miles through aspens accented with larkspur, Indian paintbrush, and daisies on a gradual climb to Causeway Saddle at 11,600 feet. The scenery from this tundra isthmus in the sky is staggering: 12,354-foot Flat Top Mountain to the southeast and the Lost Lakes Peaks to the west. At dusk, the scene goes electric-kool-aid-acid-test as alpenglow paints the neighboring peaks. If weather is dicey, push on to Causeway Lake. Otherwise, pitch your tent here on the saddle and settle in for the sunset show.
In the morning, cast a Parachute Adams or your lucky dry fly to the 14-inch cutthroat trout lurking near the outlet of Causeway. If you can’t tempt the granddaddy, scores of gullible young ones are on hand for the hooking. Then, it’s onward through spruce forests and purple-painted lupine meadows on a path so smooth and gently graded you’ll hardly feel you’ve hiked 7 miles when you reach camp at West Lost Lake. Scout for a site just west of the crescent-shaped shore.
Get an alpine start and top your bottles off for day three’s 14.5-mile denouement. You’ll gain 1,300 vertical feet as you ascend the towering Chinese Wall to its columbine-covered summit, an 11,200-foot plateau with sheer ramparts evoking its namesake feature. Roadless vistas of undulating tundra unfold along the 6-mile summit ramble, but don’t dally. Lightning is a genuine concern in these exposed highlands, and you’ll want to cross Devil’s Causeway—the adrenaline-spike highlight of your weekend—by noon. This rocky tightrope is 50 feet long and only 4 feet wide—no yellow brick road for someone toting a 30-pound pack and peering down 600-foot drops. The buzz feels nice, though, once you’re safely on the far side, which is just a stone’s throw from Causeway Saddle and the 2.5-mile stroll back to the trailhead. Chase away post-Devil’s butterflies at Strawberry Park Hot Springs (clothing optional after sunset), 7 miles north of Steamboat.
Directions From Yampa, take County Road 7 (which becomes FD Road 900) and drive 17 miles to Stillwater Reservoir.
Beta For info on trail conditions, call Yampa’s USDA Forest Service office at (970) 638-4516.
Map Trails Illustrated Flat Tops NE Trappers Lake
Permits None required
Gear Steamboat’s Ski Haus (970-879-0385) carries anything you might have forgotten to pack.
