Zimmerman (North) Trail

The north half of the Zimmerman Trail starts about as high as a trail can start around here — better than 10,500 feet, at the very end of Crown Point Road where a small wooden sign leans on the west shoulder — and then, unusually for this country, it spends most of its miles going gently downhill. Stay right at the trailhead and the tread drops away through a predominantly lodgepole forest that carries the marks of the 2020 Cameron Peak Fire; in the open stretches a carpet of grouse whortleberry keeps the path readable, but where the trail spills into the interconnected grassy meadows above the confluence of East and West Sheep creeks, it can simply vanish into the tall grass — this is a place to have a GPS track loaded and your route-finding wits about you.

The heart of the walk is that meadow country: beaver ponds strung along the drainage, native cutthroat finning in the shallows, and a broad, unbridged ford of Sheep Creek that runs deep and cold in spring — pack water shoes if you're here before midsummer. Just past the crossing the trail rides the crest of an old earthen dam, where the Zimmerman family meant to raise a reservoir a century ago and never did; you'll pass the remains of three log cabins and a collapsing rock-filled crib wall, with rusting slips and machinery still scattered in the grass. From there the path climbs back into timber and threads a few more soggy meadows before it ends quietly at Black Hollow Road (FDR-142). Treat this as real, remote wilderness: watch overhead for fire-weakened trees, keep an eye uphill for rockfall, and clear out of the drainages if a storm builds — flash flooding runs hard here even from a small rain.

Trail Facts

Getting There

From Ted's Place, drive 26.5 miles west on CO-14 to the Pingree Park Road (at mile marker 96.1). Cross the Cache la Poudre River and go 4.3 miles to Forest Road 139 (Crown Point Road); turn right and follow it 18.8 miles to its end at the Comanche Peak Wilderness boundary, where the trail begins. There are no toilets and no stock water at the Zimmerman Trailhead, but there's room for a few vehicles and some stock-trailer parking with a pull-through & turn-around.

Know Before You Go

• Burn country. This trail ran through the 2020 Cameron Peak Fire — Colorado's largest — so watch for falling trees, hidden stump holes, rockslides, and flash flooding that can arrive even from a light rain far upstream.
• Route-finding required. Where the trail crosses the grassy meadows around the Sheep Creek confluence it disappears into tall grass; carry a map and GPS track and expect to lose the tread.
• Unbridged ford. The Sheep Creek crossing near mile 3.7 is broad and can run deep in spring runoff — water shoes or sandals keep your boots dry.
• Wilderness rules. It's the Comanche Peak Wilderness: no bikes or wheeled conveyances, no motorized use, and group size is capped at 12 people and stock combined.
• Dogs on leash. Dogs must be on a hand-held leash with hikers (voice control only with stock).
• Water is spotty. Reliable water is really only near the East & West Sheep Creek confluence — carry plenty and treat what you gather.
• Closed in winter. Crown Point Road isn't plowed and usually reopens in late June, so plan on a summer-to-fall season.