Wegner Loop (Inner) July, 2020

Note, this page was written for the inner loop, but I have on the google earth as well as distances included the outer loop as well

Distance: 4.2 miles (inner loop) 4.8 (outer loop)

Duration:  3 hours (inner loop)

Difficulty: Easy

Hikers: Don, Marina, Dorothy, Michael, Micah, and the dogs!!

This is a loop off of the Acorn Creek Trail. For flowers in June and July it is much superior to Acorn Creek. For views of the Gore Range, Acorn Creek is the better trail, even if you do not go all the way to Ute Peak. In these days of Covid, it is also much less crowded.

Marina and I actually did part of the hike by ourselves on July 1 to spend time just taking pictures (with our Sony cameras), then everyone did the hike on July 4. For that hike Marina and I used only our Iphones for photography.

Here is the runkeeper gpx converted to the old National Geographic Topo program:



On this map, the W1, W2, W3 are places where you cross a small creek and can water your dogs or horses. I would suggest hiking this loop in a clockwise manner so that on the uphill, your animals can hydrate. Water is really not needed on the downhill back to the parking lot.

Here is the gpx file as shown in Google Earth, since Topos no longer really distinguish between meadow and forest, this will give an idea of what you will go through. I can supply the gpx file upon request, just email me (see address at the bottom of this page). 

Note I am actually showing both the inner loop (blue) and the outer loop (red). There is some gps tracking error early in the hike (top of picture) where they do not overlay. They are in fact on top of each other until the sign.



To do this hike, drive to the Acorn Creek trailhead. Coming North from Silverthorne, take a right on Ute Park road and keep left at the fork, where the road becomes Rodeo Drive. At that point signs will direct you to the trailhead parking. Start the hike like you are going on the Acorn Creek trail. At the power lines, there will be sign with an arrow pointing left. Do not take the left, take the other trail to the right and now you are on the loop. This is only about a quarter mile in from the trail head. You can't miss the power lines.

At around 0.65 miles you will come to a junction where the "loop" will start. As I said above, clockwise is the preferred direction, so go straight at the junction. Water will be at the following distances (approximate) unless drought shuts the creeks down:

During this, the trail will go in and out of meadows and continue to climb, until you hit another trail junction with a sign, at about 2.14 miles.
At: 39 deg 45' 6.70" N, 106 deg 5' 42.83" W
(note this sign has been replaced from the 2020 hike this is what it looks like in 2022)

At this point we turned to the right. It is a 4 way junction. Another trip or two to explore the other two possibilities. Continuing on there is a social or game trail (F1) at mile 2.97 then at mile 3.17 you will hit more junctions. Take a right and then almost immediately another right and you will quickly be led back to where the "loop" started. When you hit these junctions you will be next to private property and see houses, but the trail will quickly cut back east to hide the developments.

The hike was incredibly rich with flowers. Some of what we saw were Columbine, Flax, Geranium, Rose, Yarrow, Mariposa Lilly, and Fairy Trumpet. Here are some of the pictures from both July 1 and July 4, with resolution cut down for the web.

Columbines:











 

Flax





Rose


Geranium






Fairy Trumpet




Mariposa Lilly


Yarrow







Misc
Trees in a line:


Random trail pic


Columbines at a distance



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This page last updated July 4, 2022