Colorado Trail missed section near Monarch Pass
August 06, 2026
We got up at 6:00 and had breakfast with my dad and stepmom. We got on the road a bit before 8:00.
There wasn’t too much traffic and we made good time to Poncha Springs. We headed up the road towards Monarch Pass and stopped to pick up our resupply box from the Butterfly House. It was there. The address label clearly shows the proper ZIP code and address, but one end of the box had been crushed on its long journey to Kansas, Alaska, and back to Colorado.
We continued on to the top of Monarch Pass and stopped at the gift shop to use the bathroom. We also split a big scoop of ice cream.
We got on the trail towards Boss Lake trailhead around 11:15. We skipped the segment of trail between Boss Lake and Monarch Pass - we had walked out the jeep road to the Butterfly House hostel. When our resupply box was in Kansas instead of being at the Butterfly House, and the hostel had no food cart this year, we had hitched into Salida so we could resupply. Then it was much easier to hitch to Monarch Pass than to get up to Boss Lake on the jeep road.
The trail climbs away from the highway and then follows the ridge through the Monarch Ski Resort.
We weren’t sure if the tree thinning is for fire mitigation or trying to collect more snow.
Once past the ski area the trail continues climbing along the ridge towards Bald Mountain. We stopped for lunch behind a few trees because there was a strong wind from the southwest. The trail skirts behind the top of Bald Mountain to a saddle above a lake.
The wind got really strong near the saddle so we were glad to descend into the valley. After going by the small lakes the trail follows a tiny creek steeply down past Hunt Lake towards Boss Lake Reservoir.
We got down to a jeep road and followed that a more than a mile out to the highway. We put our thumbs out and it didn’t take too long before we got a ride back up to the top of the pass from some young guys visiting from Texas.
We got back to the car and drove down to The Lodge at Poncha Springs. We checked in to our room and washed up a little, but we were hungry so we quickly headed over to Elevation Beer Company. We got some dinner from the “Patty Wagon” food cart there and tried some more of their beers. The beer really is good there, and we bought several varieties to take with us to New Mexico where we will be staying for a week.
