Fish Creek Trail

Fish Creek is a trail transformed. The 2020 Cameron Peak Fire — the largest in Colorado's history — swept through nearly every acre of this drainage, and the forest that greets you now is mostly silver snags and open, sun-struck slopes rather than deep shade. That loss comes with a strange gift: with the canopy gone, the country lays itself bare, and from the switchbacks above trailhead-1 you can look clear across to the Mummy Range, then out to ridgeline after ridgeline as you climb. In summer, wildflowers push up through the ash in bright, unexpected patches, and two green islands survive the burn — a pocket of standing timber near the Little Fish Trail junction, and a sheltered mile centered on the Fish Creek crossing.

The walking itself is honest and moderate. From trailhead-1 on Pingree Park Road the trail climbs a steep ridge by switchbacks, crosses into the Comanche Peak Wilderness, and meets the Little Fish Trail around mile 1.7 before dropping to Fish Creek and following its banks upstream — the creek keeps you company, and water, through the middle miles. Near mile 4.9 you cross on a stringer bridge (there's a horse ford just downstream), then climb through surviving lodgepole to the upper Wilderness boundary and coast down to trailhead-2 at Sky Ranch. Go in prepared: this is burned country, so watch overhead and underfoot for falling trees and hidden stump holes, carry a map and GPS because the tread vanishes in places, and turn back if a storm builds — a small rain far upstream can send flash flooding down these bare slopes fast.

Trail Facts

Getting There

From Ted's Place, drive 26.5 miles up CO-14 to Pingree Park Road (CR-63E) at mile marker 96.1, cross the Cache la Poudre, and follow the gravel road up. For the lower, northeast trailhead-1 (where the mileage begins), stay on Pingree Park Road for 8.0 miles; the Fish Creek trailhead is on the right just before the bridge over the South Fork of the Poudre. There's river water here and limited stock-trailer parking along Monument Gulch Road. For the upper, southwest trailhead-2 at Sky Ranch, drive 15.9 miles on Pingree Park Road to the Tom Bennett Campground turnoff (FR 145) on the right, cross the South Fork, and continue to the entrance of Sky Ranch. Tom Bennett Campground has seasonal facilities; there's stock parking at trailhead-2 but no water, and the road up (FR 145) is usually unplowed and inaccessible in winter.

Know Before You Go

• Burn country. This whole drainage burned in the 2020 Cameron Peak Fire — watch for falling trees, hidden stump holes, rockslides, and flash flooding after even light rain (it can hit far downstream from where the storm sits).
• Route-finding. With little tread or vegetation left, the trail is hard — sometimes impossible — to follow in places, and the open, changed landscape can be disorienting; carry a map, compass, and GPS (COTREX or this GPX).
• Wilderness rules. Inside the Comanche Peak Wilderness there are no bikes, no motorized use, and group size is capped at 12 (people and stock combined).
• Dogs. Must be on a hand-held leash with hikers (voice control is allowed only with stock).
• Water. Easy to reach along the creek through the middle miles, but the first two miles from trailhead-1 and the upper 1.4 miles from trailhead-2 are dry — carry enough, and treat what you draw.
• Stock. Horses are fine here, but to keep noxious weeds out, stock must be fed only pellets or certified weed-free hay throughout the trip.
• Season. Trailhead-1 is usually reachable in winter (park clear of the plow; expect to need snowshoes or skis), but trailhead-2's road is unplowed and the trail is very hard to follow under snow.