BHN_COSprings-34

Start: Parking area on right side of FR 371 off Old Stage Road

Distance: 5.8 miles out and back

Hiking time: 2 to 3 hours

Difficulty: Moderate

Elevation gain: 175 feet total

Trail surface: Singletrack dirt trail

Seasons: Year-round. Apr through Nov is best. The trail may be icy in winter.

Other trail users: Mountain bikers, horseback riders

Canine compatibility: Leashed dogs only

Land status: USDA Forest Service public land

Fees and permits: None

Schedule: Open daily

Map: USGS Mount Big Chief

Trail contact: Pike National Forest, Pikes Peak Ranger District, 601 S. Weber St., Colorado Springs, CO 80903; (719) 636-1602; www.fs.usda.gov/psicc

Special considerations: Stay on the designated trail. Trail can be icy in winter; use caution and wear micro-spikes as needed.

Finding the trailhead: From I-25 take the Circle Drive exit (exit #138) and drive west on Circle Drive, which becomes Lake Avenue at its junction with CO 115. Continue west on Lake Avenue until it dead-ends at a roundabout at the Broadmoor Hotel. Turn right on Lake Circle and drive 0.25 mile to a roundabout. Turn left on Mesa Avenue and follow it around the west side of the Broadmoor Hotel and golf course. At a four-way intersection, go left on El Pomar Road and drive to an angling right turn onto Old Stage Road. Follow the steep paved road until it turns to gravel at a sharp switchback. Continue up the twisting gravel road for 6.25 miles to FR 371 at a sign for Emerald Valley Ranch. Turn left on FR 371 and drive 0.3 mile on the narrow road to a saddle (parking for Gray Back Peak Trail). Park in a small area on the right just past the saddle. The trailhead is 0.1 mile down the road on the right (GPS: 38.731474, -104.906631). Use caution driving on Old Stage Road as it’s steep, often busy with traffic, dusty, and can be muddy, icy, and slippery.

The Hike

The Pipeline Trail, sometimes called Emerald Valley Trail so it’s not confused with another Pipeline Trail in North Cheyenne Cañon, is one of the best unknown hikes in the Pikes Peak region. The trail is close to the city, and the trailhead is relatively easy to reach from the Old Stage Road on the south side of the Pikes Peak massif.

The trail follows an old pipeline so it has minimal elevation gain. The singletrack path is generally wide and easy to follow as it threads across steep dry drainages and open wooded slopes on the northern edge of broad Emerald Valley. It’s a perfect family hike on a summer afternoon when wildflowers dapple meadows or in early October when golden aspens blaze across mountain slopes.

To access the trailhead and hike, drive up the dirt Old Stage Road, a rough road that accesses the Broadmoor Stables, Emerald Valley Ranch, and the Gold Camp Road, which continues west to Cripple Creek. The road is sometimes busy, steep in places, and may be a rough washboard. Take your time driving and watch for cars on blind corners. The road is usually snowpacked and icy in winter; a four-wheel-drive vehicle is recommended in winter conditions.

Begin the hike by walking 0.1 mile down the dirt road from the parking area to the 8,618-foot trailhead on the right. Look for an exposed 10-inch metal pipe—the pipeline—in the trail. If you walk down the road to Emerald Valley Ranch, now a Broadmoor Hotel property called The Ranch at Emerald Valley, you’ve gone too far.

The historic Emerald Valley Ranch area below the Pipeline Trail was the site of a sawmill in the late 1800s. Later it was an Episcopal retreat and Girl Scout camp before Spencer Penrose, founder of the Broadmoor, bought the property and used it as Camp Vigil for his friends. Later the ranch belonged to the City of Colorado Springs and was used by groups like the YMCA and the Boy Scouts. It was turned into a dude ranch in 1946 and operated until the Broadmoor bought it in 2011 and turned it into an exclusive retreat with expensive cabins.

Hike west on the mostly level trail, following a trail alongside an old pipeline. The pipeline, which delivered water from Penrose-Rosemount Reservoir to the Broadmoor Hotel below, was built around 1920. Just past the trailhead the trail swings past the wooden ruins of an old mine. Continue another 0.3 mile to a trail junction at Little Fountain Creek. Keep straight on the Pipeline Trail. This area around Cather Springs does have some private property so stay on the trail to avoid trespassing.

The right turn follows a rough trail for a half mile up the steep draw to Bear Trap Ranch and on to Mount Vigil, the prominent peak above that’s ringed by tall granite cliffs. Some historians believe that this draw was descended by Lieutenant Zebulon Pike and his band of merry men when they retreated down to the prairie below after failing to climb his namesake mountain in November 1806.

The hike continues west on the Pipeline Trail, which dips in and out of shallow dry drainages and edges across steep gravel slopes. Broken granite cliffs loom above the trail. A stone wall composed of jumbled moss-covered boulders borders the pipeline and trail in places. Douglas fir and Engelmann spruce fill cool, shady vales while ponderosa pines spread across sunny well-drained slopes.

Emerald Valley, drained by an unnamed tributary of Little Fountain Creek, is bounded on the north by a high ridge of rocky mountains. Mount Vigil, an unranked 10,073-foot peak surrounded by tall cliffs, anchors the eastern edge of the ridge. In the middle of the ridge are 10,433-foot San Luis Peak and 10,450-foot Mount McKinley, while 10,490-foot Knight’s Peak is at the west end above Penrose-Rosemount Reservoir.

After 1.8 miles, as the valley begins narrowing, the trail crosses a stone bridge and at 2.4 miles intersects FR 371 (which may be closed), a rough road that runs west up the valley from the ranch, at the site of the old Emerald Valley Boys Camp. Little remains of the camp except a stone fireplace from a now-vanished building and several foundations. Continue west on the trail, now following the four-wheel-drive road west up the valley.

The valley floor is open, with grassy meadows and groves of quaking aspen along a trickling creek. After 2.9 miles the trail reaches several beaver ponds. This is the turnaround point for this out-and-back hike. It is possible to continue hiking west up the old road, which eventually becomes a rough trail that passes over a saddle southwest of Knight’s Peak, descends down into East Beaver Creek’s valley, and then climbs back northwest to the Gold Camp Road. Return to the trailhead and your vehicle by following the trail back east, making a 5.8-mile round-trip hike.

0.0	Parking lot on the right side of FR 371. Walk down the road to the trailhead (GPS: 38.731474, -104.906631).
0.1	The trailhead is on the right side of FR 371. Look for a pipe with a concrete cover at the trailhead. After a couple hundred feet, you will hike past an abandoned mine.
0.4	Pass a junction with a gravel road.
0.5	Cross Little Fountain Creek to a trail junction. Continue straight ahead.
1.0	Cross a dry creek bed and drainage.
1.2	Cross a dry creek bed and drainage.
1.4	Intersect a trail that goes left to the road. Continue straight.
1.8	Cross an old stone bridge.
2.4	Junction with FR 371. Continue straight on the trail.
2.9	Reach beaver ponds on the left and the turnaround point. Turn around and hike back to the trailhead. The trail continues west from here, wrapping around Point 10,490, also called Squires, to the Gold Camp Road.
5.8	Arrive back at the trailhead on FR 371.