Berthoud Pass Trail

We ventured into the I-70 Corridor for a hike on the Berthoud Pass Trail. Since it's not quite skiing season but also not summer by any means, we figured the I-70 traffic would be manageable. Luckily, we were correct in that assumption, although I'm sure the traffic will worsen with each weekend after the New Year. Since our hike was right along the route to Winter Park Ski Resort, we were happy to not be stuck in traffic which is a common issue with hiking in this area. But as we venture further South for hikes, we'll have to deal with the traffic.

The traffic was better than it could have been because we got an early start to make sure we were driving home on I-70 in the early afternoon. We got to the trailhead around 9 am and were finished by noon. The hike included having an early 11 am lunch after reaching the summit (once we hiked down a little ways where it was less windy).

The weather was mostly cooperative for us. It was sunny and in the mid 30's. We did end up above the treeline which meant lots of wind. If it wasn't so windy, we would have gone further along the Berthoud Pass Trail, but since the hike plateaued out we decided to turn around once we got the best views. The views were gorgeous and panoramic, especially since we got so high up.

This hike was quite steep, with over 1,500 feet in elevation gain in less than 2 miles. It left us quite tired, especially with being windblown. With how difficult it was, it took us about 3 hours which is slow compared to our average pace of about 2 miles per hour. But we haven't been out hiking in a little bit so we need to get ourselves back into shape to do some harder snowshoe trails.