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Catamount Trail

The Catamount Trail is an out-and-back hike that begins in Green Mountain Falls, follows a road through a residential area to Catamount Falls, then switchbacks through open woods to the Garden of Eden, a hidden valley. The hike ends below South Catamount Reservoir on the north slope of Pikes Peak before returning to Green Mountain Falls.

Start: Junction of Ute Pass Avenue and Belvidere Avenue in Green Mountain Falls

Distance: 6.4 miles out and back

Hiking time: 2 to 4 hours round-trip

Difficulty: Moderate

Elevation gain: 1,400 feet

Trail surface: Paved road to closed dirt road to singletrack dirt trail

Seasons: Year-round. The trail has snow and ice in winter. Bring micro-spikes.

Schedule: Open daily

Other trail users: Mountain bikes and horses are allowed but rarely seen on the rocky trail.

Canine compatibility: Leashed dogs only

Land status: Green Mountain Falls and Pike National Forest

Fees and permits: None

Map: USGS Woodland Park

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

Other: Parking for the hike is along Ute Pass Avenue in Green Mountain Falls. There is no public parking on either of the 2 streets that access that start of the trail. Illegally parked cars may be towed.

Finding the trailhead: From downtown Colorado Springs and I-25, take the Cimarron Street / US 24 exit (#141) off I-25. Drive west on US 24 for 15.5 miles to the second Green Mountain Falls exit. Go left across the westbound lanes of US 24 and follow Ute Pass Avenue southwest for 0.7 mile into the town of Green Mountain Falls. Park on Lake Street to the left on the north side of a small lake (GPS: 38.933954, -105.014739) or in one of several roadside parking lots along the east side of Ute Pass Avenue north of Lake Street. The trailhead is the junction of Ute Pass Avenue and Belvidere Avenue a couple blocks north of Lake Street (GPS: 38.935764, -105.0177).

The Hike

The popular Catamount Trail is one of the Pikes Peak region’s hiking gems. The 3.2-mile trail, an out-and-back hike from Green Mountain Falls in Ute Pass to South Catamount Reservoir off the Pikes Peak Highway, offers a well-­maintained trail, waterfalls and cascades, granite cliffs and boulders, and a gorgeous hidden valley filled with tall grass and birdsong on summer afternoons. The hike, despite ascending steep slopes, has an amenable grade and is easily completed in 4 hours. The trail, creek, and waterfall are named for the elusive catamount, another name for the mountain lions that inhabit Colorado.

Two roads—Belvidere and Hondo Avenues—allow access from Ute Pass Avenue to the beginning of Catamount Trail on a closed dirt road that leads to a waterworks building just below Catamount Falls and the actual trailhead for Catamount Trail. Both Belvidere and Hondo, however, have no public parking; only residents are allowed to park along the streets. There is no parking at the gated end of either street and violators will find their cars towed. To reach the trail, you must park at the Gazebo Lake on Lake Street or in one of several roadside parking areas on the east side of Ute Pass Avenue north of Lake Street. The roads were closed for hiker parking after years of cars clogging the narrow streets, blocking driveways, and lining the streets below the gates.

The hike starts at the junction of Ute Pass Avenue, the main street through Green Mountain Falls, and Belvidere Avenue, which goes left (west) from Ute Pass Avenue on the north end of town. After parking your vehicle on Lake Street or at one of the lots on the east side of Ute Pass Avenue, walk north to the road junction and the unofficial trailhead for the hike.

Walk west up paved Ute Pass Avenue, passing rustic old cabins and residences along gurgling Catamount Creek, for 0.7 mile until the road ends at the forest and a gated dirt road. Houses of note along the narrow, quiet street include the 1889 House of Seven Gables at the junction of Belvidere and Ute Pass Avenues; the Willomere House, built in 1888 for early settler George Howard; the first log house in Green Mountain Falls, built in 1887; and at the end of the road, the Hummingbird, a small house built by a groom for his bride. He was tragically killed in a railroad accident before the wedding.

Belvidere Avenue dead-ends at a gate that blocks a dirt road that goes left (south) up to a waterworks area and Catamount Falls. Go around the left side of the gate and hike up the road for 0.3 mile to the start of the Catamount Trail, a bridge over the creek, and a small tumbling waterfall, the lowest of a series of falls that make up Catamount Falls. The lowest falls are seen from a bridge over the creek, while the rest of Catamount Falls are seen from Catamount Trail. A mile to the south is Crystal Falls on Crystal Creek, which again is several small falls that cascade over boulders. For more information on both falls, read Hiking Waterfalls in Colorado (FalconGuides, 2013).

After a mile of walking, you reach the official trailhead for the Catamount Trail at the north side of the wooden bridge over the creek. A weathered sign marks the trailhead. Follow the blue dots nailed to trees to stay on the path at important junctions. There are two options to reach the Garden of Eden, a verdant hidden valley above the falls and behind the ridge above the trail. The old trail steeply follows the creek into the valley, while the described and preferred route follows a trail built between 1990 and 2000 up the mountainside north of the falls. This route, with lots of switchbacks, gradually gains elevation, is easy to follow, and offers two short trails to overlooks.

Catamount Trail crosses meadows below granite cliffs in the Garden of Eden.

From the trailhead and road, scramble up the steep stony trail. Take care stepping on water-worn cobbles in the trail. A junction, marked by a post with two small signs, one yellow and one blue, is reached after a couple hundred feet. Go right on the blue dot trail and pass beneath Dome Rock, a 100-foot-high cliff.

One option is to take a left turn on the yellow dot trail. This follows the old trail up to the Garden of Eden as well as offers access to upper Catamount Falls and the Thomas Trail, which traverses south from Catamount Creek across steep slopes to Crystal Falls before dropping down Boulder Street to Ute Pass Avenue and the lake. It’s almost 3 miles if you hike this loop from town to falls and back.

Catamount Trail heads north, gently climbing through a forest of spruce and fir while switchbacking up the steep mountainside. Partway up, a side trail traverses 300 feet south to rocky Town Overlook, a scenic viewpoint. Return to the main blue-dot trail and continue hiking upward. The trail gains over 700 feet from the road to a gravel saddle at 8,850 feet on a high ridge. Another short trail, marked with light-blue dots, goes southeast for 400 feet to Valley Overlook and great views of Green Mountain Falls nestled in the valley below.

The trail gently descends 100 feet down into the eastern end of the Garden of Eden, a moist hidden valley filled with wildflowers, honeybees, and birdsong in summer. Broken granite cliffs hem in the valley on the north while a dense woodland of Engelmann spruce and Douglas fir blanket the cooler south side. The long ridge on the south is 9,461-foot Mount Rebecca. Towering ponderosa pines grow alongside the trail as it threads west alongside willow-lined Catamount Creek.

The valley slowly pinches down as it bends southwest. The trail crosses the creek, climbs over some big boulders, and passes through a maze of fallen trees. Farther along, the creek tumbles over granite blocks, forming small waterfalls and noisy cascades. Continue hiking along the rocky trail above the creek until it passes through a broken fence and makes a sharp right turn to a gravel road and a small diversion dam. Walk up the road for 100 yards to a good utility road at about 9,000 feet that provides access to the South and North Catamount Reservoirs’ dams. This is the end of the hike. From here you turn around and retrace the trail back to your car parked down on Ute Pass Avenue.

Another option is to extend the hike to the reservoirs and get a view of Pikes Peak. Take the right fork of the service road, then the middle fork, and follow it up South Catamount Creek for 0.3 mile. Finish by climbing up the road between the rock rubble dam and spillway to the top of the dam at 9,225 feet. South Catamount Reservoir along with neighboring North Catamount Reservoir and Crystal Reservoir comprise the 2,267-acre North Slope Recreation Area, a Colorado Springs watershed area managed for outdoor recreation. Most folks come to fish in the high lakes, catching brook, rainbow, and cutthroat trout as well as lake trout up to 30 inches long. There is also picnicking but no water sports, wading, or swimming in the city water supply.

Miles and Directions

0.0	Trailhead on the east side of Ute Pass Avenue in Green Mountain Falls (GPS: 38.935728, -105.017427).
0.7	Gate at the west end of Belvedere Road (GPS: 38.937259, -105.03131). Go left through the gate and up the closed dirt road.
1.0	Reach the junction of Catamount Trail and the dirt road (GPS: 38.93394, -105.02989). Go right on the trail past a couple small waterfalls.
1.1	Hike a short distance up the trail to a junction (GPS: 38.93330, -105.03018). Go right on Catamount Trail. A left turn follows the old trail up steep slopes alongside the creek.
1.6	Junction with overlook trail (GPS: 38.93409, -105.03292). Go left to the first overlook, then return to the main trail and continue uphill.
1.8	Reach the top of a ridge (GPS: 38.93398, -105.03541). Go left to the upper overlook (purple blazes), then return to the trail. Go left (west) and descend into the upper valley.
3.2	Turnaround point of the hike at the utility road (GPS: 38.930752, -105.045846).
6.4	Arrive back at the trailhead.

Green Mountain Falls and Catamount Trail

The town of Green Mountain Falls was named in December 1887 by William J. Foster for the waterfalls on Catamount Creek as well as Crystal Falls to the south. The area was previously part of a ranch owned by George Howard, who settled here in 1881. Foster bought the valley off Howard in 1887 with the intention of making a resort town beside the Colorado Midland Railroad, which was built up Ute Pass at that time. In 1888, streets were platted, the lake was excavated and a gazebo was built on a small island, and over one hundred tent cabins, rented for $4 to $7 a week, were erected for summer guests escaping the lowland heat.

The following year a couple of hotels, the seventy-room Green Mountain Falls Hotel and Lakeside Hotel, opened, and a train depot made the town an official stop. The town, incorporated in 1890, flourished as a lakeside resort. The Catamount Trail was built back in those early days for vacationers—men in suits and bowler hats and women in Victorian hoop skirts—to hike up to the falls for a picnic and game of cards. Many also hiked beyond the falls to the summit of Mount Rebecca.

Now the vacation cabins have been converted to year-round residences, and Green Mountain Falls, with 640 residents, has lapsed into a quiet reverie as a Colorado Springs bedroom community. The network of trails that connected the town to the waterfalls and mountains were ill-defined and fell into disrepair, especially the popular trail alongside Catamount Falls. The steep trail became a mess of slick boulders and a hike to the valley beyond required balance and sturdy shoes. By the late 1980s, after several hiking injuries and rescues, a town committee decided to build a better trail. Work began in 1990 on a new Catamount Trail, which, instead of following the creek, angled up slopes to the north. The trail, with twenty-two switchbacks and 770 feet of elevation gain, was finished in 2000 after ten years of work done by hundreds of volunteers. Much of the work was completed in 1997.