One-way Distance: 0.6 miles
Difficulty: Moderate
XC Skill level:
Elevation: 8432 - 8754 feet
Cellphone: 0 bars
Time: 30 mins.
Trailhead: Base or Upper
Fee: none
Attractions: Groomed & ungroomed
The Little Beaver trail is located in the Sunlight Mountain Resort Nordic Area near Glenwood Springs, Colorado. Beginning at the top Little Beaver starts out near the lower end of Dipsy Doodle as an ungroomed trail. Near the quarter mile point it has a junction with the Ute Connection trail and from there all the way down to its lower end where it meets up with the Old Four Mile trail it is groomed. The upper end of the trail that is ungroomed has a moderate slope to it and the cross country skiing skill level is intermediate. The lower end of the trail has a couple of places that are steep enough to warrant a more difficult skill level rating.
According to the map that they hand out at Guest Services the groomed portion of the Dipsy Doodle trail ends just past the point where the Little Beaver trail begins. The groomed trail that Dipsy Doodle is following continues all the way to where the ungroomed portion of the Little Beaver trail ends at its junction with the Ute Connection. If for some reason a person wanted to skip the ungroomed part of Little Beaver they could just stay on the groomed trail until they reached the Ute Connection and then pick up Little Beaver from there.
The ungroomed portion of Little Beaver is pretty easy when there are already some tracks to follow and the narrow swath that it takes through the trees is rather scenic.
With no markers on the trees the ungroomed portion of the trail might be hard to follow if there were no other tracks to go by.
The ungroomed portion of the Little Beaver trail ends after a quarter mile or so when it comes to the Ute Connection.
From that point on the Little Beaver trail begins getting quite a bit steeper.
It might be hard to tell from the picture but this is one of the steepest parts of the trail. It's a big workout going uphill but a nice glide going in this direction.
The elevation profile shows how the trail steps its way down the mountain and each of the spots where it is a little steeper.
As the Little Beaver trail nears the end there is an unmarked connector that branches off on the right that goes over to the Ute downhill ski run.
The final stretch of the Little Beaver trail makes another big drop as it comes to an end at the Old Four Mile Road. From here it is just under a half mile to the right to the Base trailhead at Sunlight Mountain Resort. Going to the left it is about a quarter mile to the Sunlight Cross Country Ski cabin and the Babbish trail and another quarter mile past that to the Upper trailhead on Forest Road #300. It is a good idea to print out a map and take along, or pick one up at Guest Services, until all the interconnecting trails become familiar. Little Beaver has trail markers at both ends and at its junction with the Ute Connection but others like Dipsy Doodle don't have any signs at all. If you would like to see it for yourself then all you have to do is 'Take a hike'.
