The Culebra Range has a weird reputation in Colorado. The majority of the area is private land and there’s very limited public access. Many people pay the $150 fee to access the high point of Culebra Peak and never give the area a second thought.

My first trip to the Culebras was also my first solo trip to climb a summit in the Rockies. Summer of 2021 was a bad season for wildfires. On fire.airnow.gov, I noticed a small area of the state near the New Mexico border was out of the smoke plume that engulfed the rest of state. That was the Culebra Range, and after a bit of digging I set out to hike Trinchera Peak a few days later. I began at Blue Lakes campground, hiked Forest Service Road 436 until its abrupt end along the ridge over 12,600 ft. The weather did not cooperate that day, with high winds and dense cloud cover sending me back to the trailhead. I returned a few weeks later and was thwarted again: many dozens of bighorn sheep were grazing above treeline, blocking my path to the summit. They’re not known to be aggressive toward people but it seemed like a bad idea to walking headfirst into a herd of wild ungulates. Instead I hiked north along mixed tundra and talus towards the 12er Teddys Peak. I didn’t reach Teddys but it was still a good day in the mountains. I resolved to return some other time.

Well that winter a massive windstorm swept across the Front Range and devastated the area. Many, many acres of trees were downed and the Forest Service had to close the road to clear the deadfall. It was so bad the road remained closed for two years. During that time the only other access point was FS Road 437, a much steeper and rougher road that led to treeline on Mt Maxwell. In 2023 I was able to climb Maxwell and its northern neighbor Cuatro Peak. South of Maxwell is Bar NI Ranch, private land with no access (not even paid) for hikers, and very, very limited access for hunters. South of there is Cielo Vista ranch with its famous and also limited access for hikers and hunters. Going north from Maxwell to Trinchera is a long day, and on that trip it wasn’t feasible. With Road 436 closed, I would have had to hike out-and-back along an undulating ridgeline with daylight fading.

This summer, with the road reopened, I resolved to finally reach Trinchera and go all the way to Maxwell. But why stop there? I wanted to make the most of the now-open road: in addition to Trinchera-Maxwell I would hike north from the end of the road, along the ridge until it dipped back below treeline. This would be a traverse of all of the public land along the spine of the Culebra range: about 11 miles of ridge, and quite a bit more below treeline to connect them all. I made a plan to accomplish this in two trips: first the Trinchera-Maxwell traverse. Then I’d undertake an even longer loop hike from Road 436 to treeline near Forbes Park, then bushwhack down to the Indian Creek trail that would lead me back to the start of road 436. I spent a good bit of time planning this route and enlisted some outside help to get started (more on that later).

Well (spoiler alert) I only managed to traverse from Trinchera to Maxwell before the San Carlos Ranger District closed the road again. This was a bummer but I understand. The San Carlos rangers are also responsible for the Spanish Peaks, Wet Mountains, and the eastern half of the Sangre De Cristo range. It’s just going to take more time to get the road back to its former capacity.

I set off for the successful part of the traverse in early July, spending the night at the Bear Lake Campground. The plan was to hike Road 436 then follow the ridge south to Maxwell, then turn east down Road 437 to end the hike at Purgatoire Campground. Five thirteeners would be tagged: Trinchera peak, Leaning North Peak, Leaning South Peak, Cuatro Peak, and Mt Maxwell. I was joined by a friend and coworker who we’ll call JC. My girlfriend would hike the first road with us then pick us up at the end.

We set off at 6:30 AM after a light breakfast. The road hike had changed a lot in the past four years. The once-contiguous mixed conifer forest was now split apart by acres of desolate stumps. On the plus side, some of these areas were covered in tall wildflowers that were more than happy to reap the sunlight for themselves. Overall hiking the road is somewhat uneventful relative to the ridge that lay ahead. At the end of the road JC and I turned south and headed uphill while my GF turned back and wished us well. After about two minutes of hiking tundra, we noticed a herd of elk in the valley below. Maybe 50 of them were relaxing in the walled garden of the Trinchera Ranch. This ranch extends pretty far north of here, and is the private landowner involved in the access issues with Mt. Lindsey. We watched the elk for a bit until they suddenly rose up and set off for some other grazing spot.

Trinchera Peak isn’t far from the end of the road. The hike is mostly Class 2, with a very short Class 3 scramble before the summit. In no time we were there. The summit is broad, flat, grassy, and home to five large cairns. On a windy day (and it can get VERY windy in this range) these cairns are your only shelter option.

From here the hike mellows out: mixed tundra and talus and no scrambling for quite some time. Wildflowers were blooming and the views are great. You’ll see the Spanish Peaks, The Sangres, the San Juans, the Wets, Pikes Peak, and quite a ways into New Mexico. Culebra Peak and all of its neighbors are tantalizingly close. The ridgeline is the boundary between public land to the east and private land to the west, so we stayed as close to it as possible.

Near Leaning South Peak we encountered another herd of elk. It was smaller than the last one and several of them were calves. They were right on the ridgeline near a snowfield. We didn’t really have space to get around them so we had to convince them to leave as politely as possible. JC blew his whistle to get their attention, and they soon headed south toward quieter pastures. When we reached the snowfield, we found a small pond they must have been drinking from.

After we reached Leaning South Peak the easy part was over. We had a steep uphill to Cuatro Peak, then a mixed class 2/3 downclimb before a final steep hike to Maxwell. I should mention now that JC is more of a cyclist than mountaineer. He had never climbed a 14er or 13er and had never done any class 3. The downclimb from Cuatro is steep and the rock isn’t great. It’s fairly loose and your best bet is to go from gully to gully, only truly scrambling when necessary. I had already done this portion of the ridge in 2023 so I took the lead, scouting ahead and giving him advice on holds and moves. It wasn’t that bad, but it was definitely easier two years ago when I had already gone up the same ridge the same day. If your’e interested, there’s a trip report from WildWanderer here on this very site with a lot more detail about this portion of the hike.

The saddle between Cuatro and Maxwell is an interesting area. There are several fissures in the ground and low spots between rock outcroppings. On a windy day this is a good place to seek respite and have a snack. I wish I had more pictures of this spot.

The climb up Maxwell is steep but all class 2. There are game trails that zigzag up the hill which we welcomed. At this point we had been gaining and losing elevation over and over and over again and we were getting tired. It was a relief to finally reach Maxwell. The entire range south of here is private land. The immediate area is property of the Bar NI ranch to the East and Cielo Vista ranch to the west. Cielo Vista allows paid access to many of the peaks you can see but it gets expensive if you want to climb anything but Culebra Peak and Red Mountain. Bar NI ranch is essentially not open to the public at all, with very few exceptions. Again, you’re looking at forbidden fruit, so enjoy the view while you can.

From here we turned east, following the ridge downhill toward Road 437. If you stay on the ridge proper you’ll make a few class 3 moves here and there. We ended up staying mostly south of the ridge. The private property boundary goes southeast here, so unless you stray pretty far from the ridge you’ll stay on public land. The terrain gives way to gentle talus, then tundra, then krummholz. A short walk through the stunted forest took us to the end of Road 437. From here we had a long, winding hike in the summer heat to Purgatoire Campground. In some ways this part was harder than the scramble. Doing the traverse in this direction results in about 1000 feet more elevation loss than gain, and our legs were starting to feel it. There wasn’t any water along this route apart from the stream at the trailhead and the dirty pond full of elk poop near Leaning South. After many switchbacks on the rocky road we finally reached the end of our day where my GF was waiting with the car at the intersection of Road 437 and County Road 34, saving us a short uphill hike to the campground.

So part one of my Culebra Public Ridgeline traverse is all done. I’m not sure when part two will happen. Sure, I could climb road 436 in before sunrise, bypassing the closure and any logging activity. But that would defeat the point of this whole project. My employer, REI, actually sort of sponsored this trip under their Challenge Grant program. The program gives employees a small amount of outdoor gear to help them complete a self-imposed challenge in the outdoors. My prior trips to this area were marked by severe wind and incoming storms, so I asked for a raincoat and softshell pants. I know there are rules about promoting your business and products on this website, so hopefully I'm not stepping on any toes here. For a long time 14ers.com had an affiliate link to REI.com that would give a small commission on any purchase, but that doesn't appear to be the case any longer. For what it's worth, I more than appreciated the lightweight raincoat with pit zips (Xerocloud) and the stretchy softshell pants with zip pockets (Activator). It felt like the right gear for the occasion.

The intention is not just to advertise REI-brand products but to encourage us to be a good steward of the outdoors and to share our experience and knowledge with the co-op members and the public. When I first learned of this program the Culebras immediately came to mind. The area is (in my opinion) overlooked and in need of good stewarding. It seems Forest Service is doing what they can with their always-limited budget and resources. The non-profit group La Veta Trails has done considerable work in the area as well. I know there’s always a danger of bringing too much attention to an area to the point where it gets “loved to death,” but I’m of the opinion that this forgotten corner of Colorado needs more love than it’s gotten in the last few years.

So one day I’ll have to come back for the northern half of the ridge. With the road closed, the only access now is via steep bushwhacking, and I’m not super stoked on that. There is a known route to 12er Teddy’s Peak from Road 413 near Blue Lake Campground but it’s not any sort of official trail. You can find it on Alltrails, and I’ve seen it on paper maps at Cuchara Mountain Park. Perhaps I’ll give it a shot before the snowpack settles in, or just wait until next summer to enjoy another day of blue skies and wildflowers on the ridge.