Poison Ridge
Poison Ridge is a part of the Continental Divide Trail. Seen here with sheep mountain in the background. Poison Ridge has a high point of 11,400 feet and can be a designation of itself.
8/15/2020
Poison Ridge to it’s high point.
4 miles hiking
869 feet elevation gain
Trailhead: We headed out of Tabernash, west on route 40, through the town of Granby, to CO route 125, which is directly across from the Windy Gap Wildlife Viewing Area. We drove north on 125 over Willow Creek Pass and down the north side to Forest Service road 106, which is also route 52. We drove west on 106 which is a nice well maintained dirt road until it dead ended into a T intersection with Forest Service road 730. If you head in this way, you will benefit from a high clearance vehicle on 730. We took a right on 730 and after climbing 2 miles we came to a level open meadow where often times people are camping. The trail starts at the North side of the meadow.
Route: We decided to check out Poison Ridge after our hike up Sheep Mountain (not the one pictured above, if you are confused please read my Sheep Mountain post). The trailhead sits just across the meadow from the start of Sheep Mountain, where we had parked the tuck. The hike begins with a short steep section for 1000 feet and then begins a relatively gentle climb just below the ridge proper on the west side of the ridge. Initially it wonders through an open area and then into a forested section at 0.6 miles. The forest offered a nice reprieve from the summer heat. At 1.6 miles the trail come out of the forest with nice views of the Cold Water Creek drainage, the Hendricks Ranch and a peek of Matheson Reservoir. We continued along the well established trail until it took at sharp descent at 1.9 miles. Form here ,Poison Ridge descends and then climbs back up to Arapaho Ridge Trail where the Continental Divide Trail continues onward. We went off trail at this point and climbed up the steep slope to the ridge above. On the ridge,, we heading back south following the ridge up and down, mostly up to it’s high point at 11,400 feet, 1.9 miles of hiking. Lots of unobstructed great views from the top of the many ranges in the area. Unfortunately, both the Cameron Peak and Williams Fork forest fires were creating smoke plumbs in the distance. After a brief snack, we continued to follow the ridge south and down paralleling the trail and did a quick bushwack at 2.4 miles to the trail just below, following the trail back to the trailhead. Never saw another hiker the entire day even though it was a weekend. It is a bit of drive to the trailhead and I recommend hiking both sheep Mountain to the south and Poison Ridge on the same day.
Poison Ridge trail as it enters the forested section
Back out into the open 1.2 miles
View of Matheson Reservoir
Headed South on the ridge towards the high point
High Point with Sheep Mountain in the background