Four Pass Loop: The Colorado Hike of Your Wildest Dreams

At last, summertime has made her gorgeous appearance and here you are looking to experience the Colorado hike of your wildest dreams.

So here I am to tell you this: the Four Pass Loop is it.

Not only will you be taken aback by the authentic beauty of mother nature, but she will literally take your breath away with nearly 8,000 feet in elevation gain.

The Four Pass Loop is a “highly trafficked” trail based on All Trails take, but I’d say those two words are highly relevant based on those hitting the trails who enjoy a hike at this level.

You could spend hours at a time passing not another soul in sight, but when you do pass hikers along the trail? The vibes are positive and communal and they’re the kind of people you quickly relate to because, well, you’re both out there climbing mountains and that’s pretty cool.

Spending three nights in the back-country is not for the faint of heart, let alone post- spending hours each day hiking your ass up and down mountains in the ever-changing weather conditions, with an elevation gain that’s quite intense.

To put it into perspective: hiking up one of the four passes, Buckskin Pass, for example, is less than 3 miles from the bottom of the mountain to the top, but it has an elevation gain of nearly 3,000 feet.

It will kick you in the ass the moment you start walking uphill with all of your weekend belongings on your back. And when you finish that, you most certainly have more hiking to do. Two more mountain passes to be exact.

Four Pass Loop was my first back-country trek. I’d say it was the most physically challenging thing I’ve done in line with my first half marathon and climbing up Macchu Picchu Mountain, which are both stories for another day.

I’d still do this hike over and over again and fully intend to again this coming summer.

Sure, I’m a naturally active human. I hike every weekend I have the opportunity for it. But with this hike’s combination of uphill, elevation gain, and the weight on your back it’s challenging for even the most active of humans.

Regardless of your current physical state if you love hiking, do it often, and are used to some elevation gain you can do it. And if you’re the latter, well you can get there.

When there’s a will there’s a way, and when there’s both? There are epic views like these.

Taking the Loop from Crested Butte CounterClockwise

The popular route to take the Four Pass Loop is starting from Aspen. We took an alternate route: from Crested Butte.

If the timing of the year is right (we were there the first weekend in July), you’ll start your trek by making your way through fields of countless wildflowers.

For the record, I’ve never seen anything like those wildflowers in my life.

The wildflowers in all their beauty thriving out there in the wilderness will make you recognize the true power of our beautiful Mother Earth, and how she thrives with or without us. But pack it in, and pack it out, folks. To maintain her beauty, she needs us to look after our own damn selves.

Once you hit the official start of the loop about 1.5-2 miles in from the start of the Four Pass Loop trailhead, you’ll come to a stop and have the option to go either clockwise or counterclockwise. There’s a well-marked sign that will help lead the way.

We took the counterclockwise route and I’ll be honest and potentially biased, that based on what I could see every time I turned around, it appeared that counterclockwise is the route where your views are the best of the best. It’s impossible that you could go wrong either way and I can’t confirm that opinion until I try the other way around.

After doing the entire loop I’d confidently say that no matter which path you decide to take, it will be difficult either way. You are, after all, climbing up and down mountains that reach 12,000+ feet. Climbing downhill on some of the passes can be just as difficult as going up.

Give Yourself 3-nights & 4-days in the Wilderness

And a night for sleeping in Crested Butte, if you can swing it. My home base in Colorado Springs is right around 3.5 hours from Crested Butte. We started our drive Thursday night after work and made it to our hotel that night so that we could get moving the next morning, rather than spend the first part of the day driving. I’d highly recommend this, as the first day is quite the trek in itself.

Warning: Crested Butte is f****** expensive. The cheapest Airbnb we found was $260 a night, including cleaning fees and taxes.

Helpful hint: make sure you check out cleaning fees and other additional fees they tack on. Our room was listed at $160, and $100 was added on just for fees – for one night!

We stayed in an Airbnb/hotel-style room. It was nothing special other than a place to stay for the night, and not far from the trailhead (about 45 minutes to an hour). Really ya’ll, you don’t need much. The idea is to appreciate the great outdoors and a bed is all you need before sleeping on the land of Mother Earth.

We started the hike around 10am on a Friday and ended it around 2pm on that following Monday. That’s one mountain pass per day. I personally couldn’t have imagined it any other way. After making it to the top of a mountain pass and then walking back down that mountain and some, A LOT some, I can’t really fathom having to do another mountain pass in that same day. But you do you.

What to Bring

Pack as light as you possibly can. No matter what I tell you, it will take your first backpacking trip (speaking from experience) to really grasp the fact that any extra piece of material that goes into your bag will make a difference. You’re not only climbing up four mountain passes, you’re climbing up four mountains with around 40 pounds on your back and that also makes a difference. It’s really hard and you’re gonna need any relief you can get.

I’m currently researching gear for my upcoming trips this summer, for example, a down sleeping bag and a lighter tent. I brought a normal camping sleeping bag that I hooked on to the outside of my bag and I would not recommend it. Less is more, my friends.

Here are some of the essentials I’d recommend you bring:

• Life Straw
• Lightweight sleeping bag
• Lightweight tent
• Dehydrated food, Trail Mix, Cliff Bars, Beef Jerky (if you’re in to that sort of thing), Candy
• Jetboil cooking system
• A bear bin, you’ll have to stash away anything that has a scent a good walk away from camp
• Lightweight clothing
• Hiking shoes (obviously)
• Sandals, you will want to take those hiking shoes off when you’re doing hiking for the day
• Thick hiking socks, tip: it’s nice to have a clean pair at night to change in to. You’re gonna get gross
• Lightweight rain jacket
• Hat and/or shades for sun protection
• Waterproof cover for your backpack

Have you tackled this epic hike? Is there any advice you have, or anything you wish you would have known before taking on this adventure? Questions/things I didn’t mention that you want to know? Let me know, I’d love to hear from you!

P.S. You’ll be living off cliff bars, trail mix, and dehydrated food for days. If you love pizza (vegan options available!) don’t miss a stop here in Crested Butte when you arrive back to civilization: Secret Stash Pizza – Best Pizza in Crested Butte and the WORLD.

Happy Trails!

Much love, Nat