indian creek - trail #41
Beginning Elevation: 8780
High Point: 9400
End Elevation: 9250
Difficulty: Moderate
Length, One Way: 3.4 miles
Seasons: Summer through Fall
USGS Quads: Harris Park
Other Maps: Arapaho National Forest, Trails Illustrated #104
Usage Level: Low
Access: The Indian Creek Trail has no trailhead of its own. It is generally accessed via the Lost Creek/East Captain Mountain Trailhead and the Lost Creek Trail. It can also be accessed by way of the non-motorized road through Groundhog Flat and up Grass Creek and is the preferred horse access. Both accesses are in the Mount Blue Sky State Wildlife Area. The road to the Lost Creek/East Captain Mountain Trailhead is closed to motor vehicles and all entry except hunting and fishing after Labor Day, then the State Wildlife Area is closed to all entry from January 1 through June 14.
Connecting Trails: Lost Creek, Cub Creek
Description
The Indian Creek Trail is a quiet, little-used trail through open woods and grassy meadows in the east end of the Wilderness.
This trail begins about a mile up the Lost Creek Trail from the Lost Creek trailhead and the Lost Creek trail. From there it climbs easterly out of the drainage and into the valley of Grass Creek, where the road from Groundhog Flats meets it. From here the trail continues southerly through relatively gentle terrain and open forest to its junction with the Cub Creek trail.
TRAIL'S HISTORY
The trail is part of the original trail system in the Upper Bear Creek Basin, probably built sometime around 1917. Until sometime after 1979, the trail went from the current intersection with the Lost Creek trail all the way to the Meridian trail (then called the Meridian Hill trail). The original layout took it farther to the east into the valley of Grass Creek (formerly known as Kirby Creek), but it was later rerouted off of private property, sometime between 1919 and 1934, according to old topographic maps.