| Difficulty: | Number: | Miles: | Altitude: | Obstacles: | Time: |
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| Moderate 5 | FR499 | 3.30 | 9,600 ft. | Tight Switchback - 2 | 2-3 hours |
Closure:
July - Best
August - Best
September - Best
October - May be snowed in
Accessed:
From Hahns Peak Village, CO, head northwest on County Road 129 toward Lucky Camp Lane for 5.2 miles. Turn right onto Forest Road 550 and go 3.8 miles. Slight right to stay on Forest Road 550 and go 2.5 miles. Slight right onto Forest Road 504 and go 2.2 miles. Turn left onto Forest Road 500 and go 1.1 miles. Turn right onto US Forest Road 498 and go 1.7 miles. US Forest Road 498 turns slightly left and becomes US Forest Road 500. Go 0.5 mile and turn right onto Forest Road 500 and continue to follow Forest Road 500 for 0.8 miles. Turn left to stay on Forest Road 500 and go 3.77 miles. The road will become the Wyoming Trail, FT1101, which allows full size vehicles for 0.63 miles down to another intersection where the Ellis Jeep Trail is a right turn.
John M. (Jack) Ellis was the son of parents that came to Colorado from Pettis County, Missouri, in 1861. Growing up in Denver, Jack Ellis, with his brother, Curtis Ellis, started an import business of fish to the land locked Rockies. They were also wholesalers to other merchants giving the brothers access to Denver's business circles. Jack sold his interest in the fish business to his brother and tried his hand with a Denver grocery firm. He then went to work for a Denver meat packing firm, which is where he became interested in cattle. He left the packing firm in 1893, and became a cowboy, working in the eastern and southern parts of Colorado. In 1897 he filed for a homestead in the Elk River Valley, sixteen miles nortwest of Steamboat Springs.
Another homesteader, William Keller, a widower with four children, passed away. Ellis sold his homestead and purchased the Keller homestead. On Christmas day, 1899, Jack Ellis married May E. Keller, the daughter of William Keller. About this time the Laramie, Hahns Peak, and Pacific narrow gauge railroad was building into North Park. With tie-hackers cutting timber in Hog Park to supply the railroad, Ellis was given the contract to supply the tie camps with meat for the men and grain for the horses. Ellis built a road from Hahns Peak to the tie camps in Hog Park, and was kept busy for a number of years haulling supplies.
In 2012 the Hahns Peak Ranger District proposed a project to re-align the Ellis Jeep Trail. The new route would head northwest from FR82, before connecting with the Ellis Jeep Trail, FR499, and tie in with logging roads in the Sierra Madre area. From here it would connect with FR500 and drop into Big Red Park. This would in essence eliminate the historic Ellis Jeep Trail. The reasons for this proposal relate to the muddy areas in a meadow in the southern section of Hog Park. These meadows could be avoided without elimination of the entire Ellis Jeep Trail. More likely is the concern that the historic 4WD road runs along the edge of the Mount Zirkel Wilderness.
Burroughs, John. Where the Old West Stayed Young New York, New York: William Morrow and Company, 1962. Print.
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East end crossing South Fork of Hog Park Creek photo by: Adam M |
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Once on the other side you will travel through forest that has recently been thinned. There will be some wider openings here along this section as it is a previous road used for forest projects (FR85.1).
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Thinned forest along FR85.1 photo by: Adam M |
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You will come to another intersection where the new Ellis Jeep Trail leaves the old FR85.1. The Ellis Jeep Trail will be to the left and up hill. The old FR85.1 is to the right and is closed.
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New section of road photo by: Adam M |
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This is where the new switchbacks will start as they climb up a ridge. There will be four moderate switchbacks to start that continue up the ridge out of the creek valley. The road will come around a curve and start six tight switchbacks to get up the steeper section of this ridge along the Continental Divide.
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Climbing the first tight switchback photo by: Adam M |
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Tight switchback photo by: Adam M |
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Finally you will top out on another old forest road, FR83.1, near the Wyoming and Colorado border along the east side of the Continental Divide. The Ellis Jeep Trail will continue on the old FR83.1 to the left while the right is the closed section of FR83.1.
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Old forest road FR83.1 photo by: Adam M |
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The road will be wider and head south just below the Continental Divide running for almost two miles through the forest. It will curve in and out along the divide following the landscape at 9,100 feet as it works its way toward the next intersection.
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View to the southwest photo by: Adam M |
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Finally you will come to a small saddle on the Continental Divide, only 9,240 feet, and a main intersection. There will be a motorized trail to the right, the Wyoming Trail, FT1101, which is only for ATVs and Motorcycles. The sharp turn to the left is the continuation of FR83.1, which is closed. The left at the intersections that heads up a steep and rocky hill is the section of the Wyoming Trail, FT1101, that allows full size vehicle travel. Take the left and start your climb.
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Steep climb up FT1101 photo by: Adam M |
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The climb heads up along the Sierra Madre Mountains following the Continental Divide, toping out at about 9,600 feet where the road will become a better, less rocky, two track. You will pass a kiosk on your left and change over to the Red Park, FR500, road.
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West end of FR499/FT1101 photo by: Adam M |
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