The trail up to St Marys Glacier

[osue077]

When I was in high school, we used to go up there. Is that trail open still? I can't find anything on it anywhere. I am guessing that it's closed but if anyone knows different, let me know.

[co4x4couple]

there are a few trails off of fall river road that will lead around the back of st.marys glacier not sure of the trail #'s but ill look them up. lots of good camping spots there too

[Snotty]

If it is the one that is visable off of I70, (The trail head/hill climb), then no... It has been closed for some years. I ran it as late as the late 80's and when I came back to CO in 2000, it was closed. Not sure by whom though...

[osue077]

It's the one that goes right up to St Mary's Lake below the "glacier" that probably isn't even there anymore.
http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&resnum=0&q=St%20Mary's%20Glacier&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wl

[JeepDiva]

We ran it sometime in the late 90's. But yeah, it's closed now.

[otisdog]

I remember MANY years ago going up that and camping at the glacier. I believe the road you are talking about has been closed to motorized vehicles but you can still hike it. If you go up Fall River Road almost to St. Marys there's a a big parking area on the left and just above that is the road. I see people hiking it all the time.
You can follow the Kingston Peak trail up behind the glacier although you can't see it.
There's another trail that goes up to the Yankee Hill area on the east side and you can sit at the top of it and look at the glacier.
Jim

[osue077]

We ran it sometime in the late 90's. But yeah, it's closed now.

Yea, thats when I ran it. Fun trail but I guess I can hike the mile up to the lake.

[ArloGuthroJeep]

Top of Kingston Peak (err, guess heading back down to the I70 side) gets pretty close to the top doesn't it? I remember driving it last year and seeing lots of snowboarders hiking up on a trail next to us.

[teamextreme]

We used to run that trail back in the 80's too. My son and I went there on our dirt bikes via Central City a few years ago and discovered that it's pretty much closed. Odd thing is, there's no signage that tells you it's closed, but there's also no carsonite forest road signs indicating it is an official road. You can make it about half way up (we did on our bikes) then someone has put an enourmous amount of work into blocking the trail with gigantic boulders, effectively closing the trail.

[projectAviator]

doesn't jenny creek go to St. marys?

Tim

[GPP33]

doesn't jenny creek go to St. marys?

Tim

nowhere near it.

[co84rc]

got upside down in first trail rig up there about 15 years ago.young and dumb..........

[GRNMEG359]

doesn't jenny creek go to St. marys?

Tim

nowhere near it.

Jenyy is not that far from st.Mary's though it doesn't go to St. Mary's, its just on the other side of Rollensville, up mofat pass. You take Mammoth gulch road out of Rollensville and that takes you to Kingston peak, which i think is the closest you can really get to st.mary's with a vehicle. Its in the string of trails around the coninental divide and peak to peak highway.

To the OP I hear they closed that trail because of sink holes from mining. My family owns land up there but most off it is closed off because of huge uncovered holes, they can be anywhere...

[Runt]

I haven't been up there for 1.5-2 years, but I do believe the trail is re-opened. For years there was a gate and a "no motorized vehicles" sign blocking the entrance right off the side of Fall River Road at that little parking lot, but 3-4 years ago the sign and gate were removed. It has seen a fair amount of vehicle traffic without being re-closed, so I think it was legitimately opened.

It is a short and fun little boulderfield with some pretty challenging lines. Be leery of hikers though; I have seen/heard of hikers being pretty pissed about the vehicle traffic. They even slashed a friend's seats after his vehicle was left on the trail broken, while he camped at the lake at the base of the glacier.

Last time I was there I just hiked it, but it was still open and had signs of recent traffic.

[Bill]

I emailed the Clear Creek Ranger District about this as my group was planning to run this trail later this summer. Here's the reply:

There is no legal way to drive to that lake. A hiking trail begins 1/4-1/2 mile from the lake along the black top road(Fall RiverRd) The hiking trial starts on Private land and I have heard that the landowner is charging people to park to access the trail. Hope this helps. Let me know if you have any other questions.


Brant Wobig
Clear Creek RD
Arapaho & Roosevelt National Forest
Idaho Springs, CO
(303) 567-3022

[jimfoo]

We used to run that trail back in the 80's too. My son and I went there on our dirt bikes via Central City a few years ago and discovered that it's pretty much closed. Odd thing is, there's no signage that tells you it's closed, but there's also no carsonite forest road signs indicating it is an official road. You can make it about half way up (we did on our bikes) then someone has put an enourmous amount of work into blocking the trail with gigantic boulders, effectively closing the trail.
I used to also run the trail a lot way back then. Not sure what it looks like now, but at my last run, it was extremely erroded, exposing some fairly hefty rocks, so maybe they weren't placed. It was too tough to do on my bike, and no way I would have taken my 4wd on it.