New York Creek Trail - 8.2 Miles Round-Trip

New York Creek Trail runs 4.1 miles from Lincoln Creek Road to the Continental Divide in the Collegiate Peaks Wilderness. It continues over a 12,273' pass to the Goodwin-Greene Hut (west), Bowman Creek Trail (south) and Ptarmigan Lake (southeast).

Trail Map | Photo Gallery

This lightly used trail follows New York Creek through attractive forests and meadows into a large alpine basin below Difficult Peak (12,925') and winds steeply up to the Continental Divide. Views are exceptional, and you'll likely see more elk than people in these big open spaces.

Anticipate vague sections, especially above treeline and over the pass. Cairns mark the final push to the Pass, which can be confused for well-worn game tracks following similar routes:

The trail begins on a flat bank along Lincoln Creek, which you'll immediately cross. This ford is wide and can be difficult during peak runoff. Once over there's another small channel of stagnant water that also must be crossed to regain the trail, hidden by dense willow just beyond the water.

Punch through the willow and find a clear trail (.15 miles) that crosses a small meadow and rises steadily on an old roadbed. Keep straight at a large cairn (.6 miles : 10,355') and emerge in a meadow where the trail arcs steeply up to the aqueduct service road (.95 miles : 10,580').

Turn right on the road and follow it past an S-curve over Brooklyn Gulch (1.3 miles) to a sign pointing left off the road back onto the trail (1.45 miles : 10,605'). It enters a verdant, moss-draped forest and crosses the Collegiate Peaks Wilderness Boundary at 1.55 miles (10,645').

The trail rises steadily in dark timber above New York Creek to a crossing at 2.25 miles (10,830'), then cuts across large meadows to the west side of the valley. Travel steepens across open slopes with good views across stream-cut meadows below.

It gradually bends away into a high subalpine forest and crosses left over a stream (3.22 miles : 11,475'). There are many good places to camp in this idyllic stretch of forest.

The trail clears treeline (3.5 miles : 11,710') into a vast alpine basin framed by the Divide and Difficult Peak (12,925'). The trail can be faint and cairns may be hard to pick out - a map is helpful to stay on track and avoid game trails which use similar routes to reach the Divide.

The trail generally angles SE through rolling tundra on the final push to the Pass on the Continental Divide (4.1 miles : 12,273'). Views extend down New York Creek, south down Bowman Creek, deep into the Collegiates and across much of the Elk Mountains. Improvised travel is fairly easy on the Divide, but consider your route carefully across delicate tundra vegetation.