Round Trip Distance: 4 miles
Difficulty: Easy
Elevation: 9352 - 9823 feet
Cellphone: 0 bars
Time: 2 hrs.
Trailhead: Clear Creek Point
Fee: none
Attractions: Forest hike
The Clear Creek Point trail is located in the Plateau Division of the Uncompahgre National Forest near Montrose, Colorado. The trail begins off of the Divide Road where it follows what looks like an old skid trail or logging road that comes to an end near the midpoint of the Rim trail.
To get to the trailhead begin at the intersection of Townsend and Main in downtown Montrose. Head west following the signs for Highway 90. Continue following the Highway 90 signs for about 3.3 miles and turn left onto 6250 Road. After about 2.5 miles 6250 Road transitions to become the Dave Wood Road. Follow the Dave Wood Road for another 15.3 miles and turn right onto the Divide Road. Continue on the Divide Road for 1.9 miles where the sign in this picture will be on the left hand side of the road.
Just past the trailhead there is a locked gate that bars passage to OHVs and such with a walkaround on the righthand side.
There are some logs across the road just past the gate afterwhich the trail continues unimpeded.
Just past the quarter mile point the trail splits. For this post we followed the left fork. On the trip back to the trailhead we explored the right fork for a few hundred yards but not long enough to tell where exactly it headed to.
The route that the trail follows appears to have been a logging road or skid trail. It is very easy to hike and route finding isn't much of a problem. Actually, without any trail markers about all that you can really say is that you are following 'a' route. Whether that route is the Clear Creek Point trail or not is another question.
After about a half mile from the trailhead the route bends around to the right and begins paralleling the Rim trail. The 2 trails are about a thousand feet apart but at this point there aren't any trails that connect the Rim trail with the Clear Creek Point trail.
Before reaching the 2 mile point the trail meets up with another old road that also runs between the Rim trail and the Divide Road. Following that route to the left will lead on up to the Rim trail after a few hundred more yards.
After passing through some trees the trail reaches a well grazed meadow and becomes much fainter. At present it isn't too hard to pick out the final stretch of the route.
The trail is so faint as it connects to the Rim trail that you might say that it sneaks onto it. We had already completed the entire Rim trail earlier in the day and while we were watchful for this intersection we had completely missed it. Before leaving we piled up 2 or 3 cairns to mark the spot.
If you follow the Rim trail to the left for a little less than a quarter mile you will come to the big stack of rocks overlook in this picture where there is a great view of the Wilson Group, Lizard Head and Lone Cone.
