Hagerman Tunnel Hike

Another Ghost Town?

 As more and more people continue to get outdoors to recreate, Colorado had a major change starting July 1, 2020 for anyone who wants to access a State Wildlife Area or State Trust Land. Any visitor 18 or older will now be required to have a valid hunting or fishing license to be on the land.

As Colorado's population continues to grow the state’s trails and wildlife areas are feeling the impacts of increased visitors.

One of the biggest issues with the other wildlife area is that people don’t stay on the trails. They like to kind of go wherever they want to go and that’s a big impact, that’s really pushing wildlife away. For visitors from out of state that can be $80-90 each person.

The Hagerman Tunnel Trail was next on our list of trails to hike. We drove to Turquoise Lake near Leadville, taking the Hagerman Pass turn off to the Windsor Lake Trailhead 3.5 miles down a dirt road. It wasn't marked very well but it lived up to our hopes of a nice hike once we figured out which trail to take.

The signs are hard to read, so I interpreted them for you below.

Born in 1883 and died in 1921 the Colorado Midland Railway was the standard gauge over and through the Colorado Rockies. It had less than 350 miles of track. Never made any other excited the imagination of railroad lovers as have other railroads in the nation- the section of railbed that you are about to
walk over leads to fallen in snow sheds over trestles no longer in existence to the lofty Hagerman tunnel, 11350 feet above sea level that pierced the Rockies.
In your walk you will see the almost forgotten site of a magnificent wooden trestle 1084 feet long.

We started up at a gradual climb in the Mt Massive Wilderness, making this an easier hike with less elevation gain (675 feet in 6 miles) than our past few. 

I wonder if we need a fishing license to hike here. 

The higher we climbed, the more impressive the views with a few water crossings that weren't too difficult.

I found some Columbine along with lots of other wildflowers.

I got a kick out of this sign. But what impressed me more was the fact that this was an actual town , way up in the mountains. It sounded like a wild place.

Typical of the short lived ghost towns for the Rockies- was Douglas City- It was built for Italian constructions workers who labored in this area and helped build the Midland Railroad,
Hagerman Tunnel and trestles. This one street "city" had eight saloons, mostly in tents and a dance hall. Here the "Professor" played the piano wile the ladies of the evening too jaded for Leadville entertained and took the laborers' money. The wild city was the scene of drinking, shooting fighting and knifing and other innocent pleasures.

There are several cabin remnants left.

This is the east portal of the Hagerman tunnel, the highest railroad tunnel in the world at the time of its completion in 1887. The great tunnel is at 11,035 feet above sea level. Its cost $200,000 and was replaced. It is hard to read the rest until DANGER DON'T ENTER.

We didn't climb back to the tunnel behind me. The snow was too slick.

As we were exploring the remains of the town, Mike found this piece of a ladies leather boot and other items. We could imagine life then and left everything as we found it.

We found some great hikes high in these Rocky Mountains and are glad we had time to acclimate before attempting them.

Lunch with a view at the top of the hike overlooking Opal Lake.