Boulder Brook and Storm Pass Trails

The trailhead for the Boulder Brook and Storm Pass Trails is situated on Bear Lake Road 6.4 miles from Beaver Meadows, on the left (south) side immediately before the Bierstadt Lake Trailhead. The junctions of trails a short way south of the road are so complex that they defy verbal description. One trail dodges swamps for 1.5 miles to Sprague Lake and Glacier Basin Campground. Another intersects it after approximately paralleling Glacier Creek and the road the entire distance from Bear Lake. The Storm Pass Trail leaves the Glacier Creek Trail 0.5 mile from the road. The Boulder Brook Trail cuts across this tangled web, heading due south and straight up Boulder Brook. Numerous short spur trails complete the confusion by connecting the trails in various ways. To sort all this out, refer to the map and pray that signs are in place.

These trails tend to be used mainly by horse riders, but the Boulder Brook and Storm Pass Trails, at least, attract some hikers as well.

The Boulder Brook Trail is fairly easy to follow. Just stay on the path that always seems to head uphill. Past the junctions, the trail stays close to Boulder Brook, a small stream bordered by aspens. Eventually you arrive at an area that is still very open because of the forest fire of 1900. Amid many rocks, scraggly trees struggle for life where fire burned even the organic humus of the old forest floor.

Boulder Brook and its trail meet the North Longs Peak Trail (see page 93) 2.5 miles from the road. The Boulder Brook Trail may be best reserved for fall hiking, when the aspens have turned yellow, but it serves as a useful link between Longs Peak and Bear Lake Road throughout the hiking season.

The Storm Pass Trail strikes uphill from the Glacier Creek Trail 0.5 mile from Bear Lake Road. Following an easy grade through thick woods, the trail winds to the top of a ridge and drops down a bit to marshland at the head of Wind River, 2.5 miles from the starting point. Beaver activity is obvious here, where aspen and willow dominate.

An unimproved trail leads 2.2 miles down the northwestern side of Wind River to a road just above the East Portal of Adams Tunnel, a key link in the Big Thompson Irrigation Project. (The road is closed to public vehicles, however, at the east end of the East Portal.) Beyond Wind River, the Storm Pass Trail winds uphill through heavy forest for 1.7 miles to Storm Pass, southwest of Estes Cone (see Storm Pass Trail to Estes Cone in the East Edge Chapter).