Mount Elbert Lodge
PO Box 40 - Twin Lakes Colorado - 81251
Reservations: 800-381-4433 or 719-486-0594
Join us for your exploration of Leadville and Aspen.
MOUNT ELBERT LODGE AND AREA
The Lake Creek valley, where Mt. Elbert Lodge is located, provides access to Independence Pass - one of Colorado's highest paved passes. Situated in San Isabel National Forest, four miles west of Twin Lakes, the Lodge is surrounded by several 14,000 ft. peaks. You may hike to the top of Colorado's highest peak, Mt. Elbert, right from your cabin door. While nestled in the woods, the Lodge provides easy access to a variety of exciting recreational and historic sites, including Aspen (summer only), Twin Lakes, and Leadville.
Mt. Elbert Lodge is open year-round allowing you to experience all four seasons in the high country. In the winter, guests enjoy cross country skiing and snowshoeing on nearby mountain trails or travel a short distance for downhill skiing. Springtime brings forth the awakening of mountain wild flowers, migration of elk herds, and hiking access to the mountain trails. A summer agenda may include fishing, boating, biking, rafting, horseback riding, hiking and climbing. Or stay with in the fall when the aspen turn from green to gold and hiking is at its best as even the highest trails become accessible. Any time of year has its own beauty here at 9,700 ft. up in the mountains.
Things guests like to do in our area
If you visit any of the merchants listed below, please mention that you heard about them through Mount Elbert Lodge.
Hiking Trails
The Twin Lakes - Leadville area is criss-crossed with trails that will take you along mountain streams, into the abandoned mining district or up some of Colorado's highest peaks, Mt. Elbert, Mt. Massive, La Plata and others. We have included links to some information about some of the trails and will be adding our own descriptions for others as time goes along.
Interlaken Trail
Difficulty level: easy
Time to hike: less than 1 hour to Interlaken Resort
Directions to Trailhead:
From Mount Elbert Lodge drive 10 miles east (down the valley) on Hwy 82. Take the first dirt road (This road does not have a sign on it, there is a cabin type house on the left side of the road where you are turning right onto this dirt road.) to the south below Lake Creek as it crosses Hwy. 82 below the lakes. Follow this road back along the lake as far as possible. Park in the sagebrush field and find the sign that says "Colorado Trail".
Trail description:
This is an easy hike that takes you to the turn of the century resort of Interlaken. Interlaken is now abandoned but restoration work continues on the buildings. Walk west up the hill, traveling parallel to the lake. The first section of this trail is also part of the Colorado Trail. About 1 mile in, the Colorado Trail makes a sharp left and starts to climb. For Interlaken, proceed along the lower trail to the old resort. The trail rolls along the edge of Twin Lakes and offers wonderful views of Mt. Elbert.
BLM Interlaken restoration information
North Fork of Lake Creek Trail (also the trail to Blue Lake and Saddle Lake):
Difficulty level: easy (medium if you go to Blue Lake (12,460 ft), medium if you go to Saddle Lake (12,400 ft)
Time to hike: about 2 hours up to Blue Lake, 3 hours to Saddle Lake
Directions to trailhead:
From Mount Elbert Lodge drive 8.1 miles west (up the valley) on Hwy 82. Just before the first tight switchback, pull off the highway to the right on a dirt road (there has been a sign for North Fork of Lake Creek), drive in 50 yards to a gate and park.
Trail description:
This trail starts as a jeep road and quickly turns into a trail. It goes up the bottom of the North Fork of Lake Creek valley with timbered slopes on your left and the bare slopes of Mount Champion on your right. The stream is lined with willows and there are a lot of brook trout in the stream. In early and mid summer there are wonderful fields of flowers along the trail. The trail to Blue Lake cuts off to the left just after you cross the stream once you've entered the wilderness area. The Blue Lake trail is not well marked and it fairly steep while going up through the timber. The main trail continues up the north fork and the head of the valley splits into 2 valleys. Take the right hand (east) fork and the trail gets steeper just as you approach Saddle Lake. Just 100 yards beyond Saddle Lake is the Continental Divide (12,420 ft) and you can look into the Fryingpan drainage of the west slope. These lakes tend to thaw out in late June and from ice out to early October can be great cutthroat trout fishing.
Black Cloud Trail (one of the routes to Mount Elbert):
Difficulty level: medium
Time to hike: 1 hour to first stream crossing, 2 hours to tree line, 8- 12 hours round trip to Mount Elbert.
Directions to Trailhead:
Black Cloud is the shortest and steepest of the 3 routes up Mount Elbert. This trail starts 100 yards east of Mount Elbert Lodge. Turn into the small drive way on the north side of the road where there is parking for space for 3 or 4 cars. After about an hour you will cross the stream, then a second stream crossing 200 yards further. For the first 2 hours this is a good trail, a bit steep in places but nothing technical. Once above tree line, the trail becomes quite steep as it climbs a scree slope up to the ridge that leads to South Mount Elbert. For those who want to climb to the top of Mount Elbert, the round trip usually takes our guests 8-12 hours.
Mineral Belt Trail: The Mineral Belt trail is a loop around the Leadville Mining District that is great for strolling, biking, x-country skiing or snowshoeing.
Snowshoeing and Cross or Back country Skiing
The Mount Elbert area is a great place to snowshoe or ski as there are
trails for every experience level. If you stay with us we do have a
limited number of snowshoes available for rent or you may rent them and
all cross-country equipment from:
Bills Sport
Shop (in Leadville) 719-486-0739 Right on your way up if you are
coming from Denver or north, Bills has everything you need to stay toasty
and get around in the winter weather.
The
Trailhead (in Buena Vista) 719-395-8001. These great folks rent
snowshoes and cross-country ski equipment. They are right on your way if
you are coming to visit us from the south.
Horseback Riding
Our guest's favorite folks to ride with are:
Harvard
City Stables (west of Buena Vista) 719-395-4000. Providing the
highest quality mountain horse rides in the Buena Vista, Colorado area for
over 17 years
Mega
Mountain Magic (north of Leadville) 719-486-4570
Mount Princeton Stables (west of Nathrop) 719-395-6498
