Snodgrass Trail #590

Dogs Off-leash

Features River/Creek · Views · Wildflowers

Both trailheads have signs indicating trail status—please abide by seasonal trail closures! This trail crosses private ranch land, Gunnison National Forest land, and land owned and conserved by a collaboration between the Crested Butte Land Trust and the Town of Mt. Crested Butte, so access depends upon respectful trail user behavior. Snodgrass Trail is quite popular throughout the spring and summer with bikers, hikers, and runners, so stay alert and keep trail etiquette in mind.

To access the Washington Gulch Trailhead, turn off of Gothic Road and follow Washington Gulch Road for three miles. The paving ends at 2.5 miles, but continue over the cattle guard, along the well-maintained dirt road for another 0.5 miles until you see a sign for the trailhead on the right side of the road. Parking is on the left side of the road, about 300 feet up the road, north of the trail sign.

To access the Gothic Trailhead, follow Gothic Road two miles north of the Crested Butte Mountain Resort base area until the paving ends at a cattle guard. Parking and a sign for the Snodgrass Trail are on the left side of the road. Use the stile to cross the fence and continue up the Snodgrass Road doubletrack for 0.5 miles (or, a much better option is to detour on Teddy's Trail and trade in an ugly doubletrack for gorgeous meadows and aspen forest) until you reach another fence crossing and a marked trail junction. Turn left off of the road to follow the Snodgrass Trail singletrack (hikers can continue up the rough doubletrack road all the way to the heavily wooded peak of Snodgrass Mountian, but the singletrack presents a far more scenic and entertaining option).

The Snodgrass Trail is mostly mellow, rolling singletrack, with a couple of steeper pitches and some mildly technical sections with rocks and roots. Frequent use and excellent signage make the trail easy to follow. Start from either trailhead for a great out and back hike, or, from the east side of Gothic Road, you can easily connect to Lower Meander and all the summer Mt. Crested Butte trails. While Crested Butte summers tend to stay fairly mild, the midday sun can be intense, so Snodgrass presents an excellent shaded option. The views, the flowers, and the forest are always stunning—enjoy!

The Snodgrass Trail features the best of Crested Butte's many local ecosystems. Dense aspen groves house shade-loving flowers and shrubs. Open sunny meadows present vistas of the surrounding mountains—most notably Mt. Crested Butte—and an abundance of lupine and sunflowers. Bridges span the two small stream crossings and offer a view of wetland flowers and plants.