Route: Bears Ears Trail #1144

The Bear's Ears Trail is contained within Routt National Forest. It passes thru both Routt County and Moffat County. Officially it's 47 Miles from end to end, but if you connect it by a 3-mile section of County Rd 80 in California Park then it makes a nice loop. I started hiking sections when I moved to Craig Colorado in 2014. I have completed this trail a number of times. Twice in one day and once on an overnight speed packing trip. I have never passed more than 5 people on the entire route. Parts of the trail allow motorized travel and parts don't.  The motorized sections are used by atv's and utv's especially during hunting season and are generally well maintained and easy to follow. The parts of the trail that forbid motorized travel are generally less maintained and sometime difficult to follow. This route is special because its so secluded and requires a skilled navigator. A big change from most trails in Colorado.

I am running this Route on Sunday (July 9th) and will have a friend along with me to support and document the run. I will submit my official GPX file when I complete it. (the GPX file included is from an overnighter)

Moffat County has no current FKTs on record and we are a coal town in transition to a tourism town. I beg you to accept this route as an official FKT. I am not fast, but I hope to establish this route as an official FKT and watch it take off.

I hope you enjoy the Relive video, it gives a good idea of terrain.

Relive Bears Ears Trail #1144.1

I also included the Hiking Project Page for the trail, just to verify it's a real trail.  :)

Hiking Trail, Hayden, Colorado (hikingproject.com)

Thank you for your time and consideration,

Mark Buchanan

jmb64vols@yahoo.com

970-620-1557