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Hackett Gulch Rating Trail Photos  Return to Trail List   
CO
Delorme CO Atlas & Gazeteer pg: 50, 1-D / 49, 7-D
Nearby Trails: Coming Soon.


Access: This trail is currently CLOSED as a result of damage from the Haymen Fire. Take Highway 24 west out of Colorado Springs through Manitou Springs. From Manitou Springs it is 22.5 miles to the town of Divide where you take a right on CR 5 (reset your odometer). After a 1/4 mile, vear left onto CR 51. At 3 miles, turn right at a blue and yellow sign for Teller County 51. 6.6 miles later you vear left at an intersection of trails. From this point, it is 5.1 miles to the left to Hackett Gulch and 7.1 miles to Longwater Gulch. Longwater Gulch is marked by a yellow sign, but the sign for Hackett was not to be seen on 4/11/2000. It is also possible to access the trail by following Highway 24 through Divide into Florissant and take CR 3 North, but these specifics are unknown. If anyone has taken this route, <A HREF="mailto:scott@4x4trails.net">please let me know.</A>




Trail: Hackett Gulch is one of the funner trails that I've driven in Colorado. There are many bypasses that would allow stock vehicles to get through with little problems. There are also some larger rock formations that can challenge the modified rigs. The Sunday that I took the trail in early May gave us some beautiful weather. There was still a little snow on the roads leading to the trail, but nothing once we dropped in. The group I was with consisted 5 XJ's from 3"& 30's to 6" & 33's. We chose to run the trail down to the river and come back up Longwater Gulch. I'm sure the trail's difficulty would be raised with a little rain which would cause to slippery sections as well as raise the river crossings to a dangerous height. The trail itself is a nice smooth drive over a moguls with a few rocky sections, steep hills and a few river crossings thrown in. The day we crossed the river, it was halfway up the door of my 3" lifted XJ. I would caution anyone that attempts the river crossings to check the depth before proceeding. <BR><BR> After turning onto Hackett Gulch, the first obstacle comes after about a mile. It's just slight off-camber section near a tree. Be cautios, it can be deceiving. At 2.3 miles you begin the first rocky section. The left route allows for some harder lines while the right route is a simple dirt/rock path. At 3 miles you reach a peak that has some nice views. At 4.3 miles, you are heading down a hill and the trail splits. The right trial is the route we took continue towards Longwater. At 4.9 there was a large moguled hill where we ran across a few broken down vehicles. It seemed they all had varying views of how one should get up the hill (themselves stuck at the bottom). All of the XJ's crawled up the hill with minimal trouble. At 6.3 miles you come to the first stream crossing. This first one was the shallowest of the three we crossed. After a short stop for lunch, the group continued along the stream heading right to Longwater. At 6.4 miles, we reached the second stream crossing. This one calls for the driver to stay near the rapids to avoid some larger rocks in the middle of the stream. And just after that you reach the last stream crossing before Longwater. This last crossing had me floating a little down stream with the water over half-way up my doors. Any later in the Spring and the crossing wouldn't be possible without more of a lift. The 5 mile drive back up Longwater is fairly easy with only one rock obstacle at the 2 mile mark. The rest of the trail is rather simple with some interesting mogul sections. It makes for a fun end to two great trail runs. <BR><BR> ***Since this write-up the BLM has removed a number of the stock bypasses for Hackett Gulch. This forces drivers to take the more difficult routes including Hackett rock. It may not be suitable for stock vehicles and open diffs. Be sure to go with other vehicles and choose your lines carefully*** <BR><BR> -<A HREF="mailto:scott@4x4trails.net">Scott Brayshaw</A>


G.P.S. Coordinate List:
No Extended G.P.S. data for this trail is available.