Devil's Causeway overnight
Dates: September 4-5, 2021 (Sat-Sun)Trip Report #: 499Partner: Nate Arganbright
Devil's Causeway Overnight (~11 miles, 1 night)
A nice late summer overnight hike.
Intro
Nate and I were both feeling a tad under the weather so we decided to take it easy and do a mellow overnight hike in the mountains. But it was Labor Day weekend, so we were seeking an area that would be relatively uncrowded and would not require overnight permits. In searching for a hike idea, Nate came across the Flat Tops Wilderness. Neither of us had been to this area, even though it is the second largest US Wilderness area in the state of Colorado. Nate found a hike that sounded pretty unique: an 11-mile loop hike on high plateau with 360-degree panoramas of the surrounding Flat Tops and a section of the hike that goes along the top of a 50-foot land bridge (the "Devil's Causeway") that narrows to only 3 feet wide at one spot, with nearly vertical cliffs dropping several hundred feet to the drainages below. And camping options abound. Sounded like a good plan!
Even though the Devil's Causeway Loop can be done as a day hike, Nate and I made the 4 hour drive there in the morning, hiked about halfway along the loop, and found a nice place to camp. We enjoyed a night out in the wilderness, and completed the loop (including the unique Devil's Causeway section) the next day, getting out before noon with plenty of time to drive back to Estes Park. Late summer / early fall colors were starting and the sun was out, so it was a beautiful time to be on a hike.
The following page gives some photos from the unique overnight hike.
Map
We stopped at a mercantile on the way and picked up a National Geographic map packet titled Colorado Backpacking Loops North. One of the dozen or so hikes in this packet was the Devils Causeway loop. The following image is just a photo of the page from the map packet. We hiked clockwise along the loop. As you can see in the map, this hike can be made longer (about 26 miles) by including a longer bigger loop to the northwest.
Trailhead to camp (First half of loop)
We hiked clockwise along the 11-mile loop. We hiked about half of the loop in a couple of hours, and set up camp at a lake just east of the trail. With the evening light and fall colors beginning to show, it was a beautiful time to hike.
Camp (Halfway along loop)
We set up camp just east of the trail, about halfway along the loop. Evening and morning light, good food, microeconomics, poached water mites, and good company.
Camp to Trailhead (second half of loop)
The next day we hiked the remaining half of the 11-mile loop, which included the memorable narrow landbridge of the Devils Causeway. It was only a couple of easy hours from camp to the trailhead.
Drive back to estes park
The drive between the trailhead and Estes Park is about 4 hours, but is quite pleasant and scenic.
