Neota Creek Trail

Neota Creek is one of the gentler walks up here at the roof of the Poudre — a little over a mile and a half of easy grade that trades big climbs for big quiet. You start near the far end of Long Draw Road, where the creek slips under the road through a metal culvert, and follow it up the southwest bank as the forest opens and closes around you: dense Engelmann spruce one minute, a wide willow-filled meadow the next, with Iron Mountain rising square ahead to pull you along. The path is narrow and marked here and there by old axe blazes and a few small rock cairns, so keep an eye out for the cut ends of fallen logs when the tread fades into the meadow grass.

Be honest with yourself about your feet before you go: this trail sits on soggy organic soil and crosses a string of small seeps and step-over creeks, so unless it's a dry year or late in the season, expect mud and wet boots — waterproof boots earn their keep here. If the ground is truly saturated, the kind thing to do is save it for a drier day rather than widen the braid of social trails through the muck. Watch for moose in the willows, keep the dog leashed, and mind the sky if you climb into the open. The system trail simply ends near the Wilderness edge at about mile 1.6 — a fine, unhurried turnaround with the whole valley at your back.

Trail Facts

Getting There

From Ted's Place, drive 53.7 miles up CO-14 to mile marker 69.5 and turn south onto Long Draw Road (FDR-156), directly across the highway from the Blue Lake parking lot. Follow Long Draw Road 13.4 miles to its end at the La Poudre Pass / Neota Creek parking lot, passing the Long Draw (9.0 mi) and Grand View (12.1 mi) campgrounds along the way. There's a toilet at the lot but no water. The Neota Creek trailhead is actually about 500 feet before the parking lot, next to the metal culvert where the creek runs under the road — look for the signpost and wooden trail sign. Stock trailers can't park at the lot; there is limited roadside parking for them.

Know Before You Go

• Wet feet are the norm. The tread sits on organic soil with a flat grade and crosses numerous seeps and small drainages — waterproof boots are strongly recommended, and in a truly muddy spell it's kinder to the ground to pick another trail.
• Stay on one path. Where the trail braids into social trails across open mucky meadows, pick a single line and stick to it — this is a fragile alpine environment that scars easily.
• Moose country. They favor the willow flats along the creek; give any moose a wide, unhurried berth, especially with a leashed dog along.
• It's a Wilderness trail. No bikes, no wheeled or motorized conveyances of any kind; group size is capped at 12 people and stock combined, and stock is prohibited above the Wilderness boundary.
• Dogs on a hand-held leash. Required with hikers throughout.
• Camp & fire limits. No camping or fires within a quarter mile of the trailhead or within 200 feet of water or the trail; two Leave-No-Trace campsites sit north of the creek near miles 0.2 and 1.6.
• Short season, exposed sky. Long Draw Road usually opens by early July and the route is closed in winter; watch the afternoon sky for lightning in the open alpine stretches.