White River National Forest · Colorado

Ute Creek

12 mi of trail, end to end · native material surface · trail No. 1824 · trail class 3 · typical grade trail_grade · tread 18-24 inches wide · hiking, horse

Trailhead Ute Trailhead Drive there

Ute Creek #1824 the Forest Service's write-up

The Ute Creek Trailhead is just outside of the Ute Creek summer homes. The trail switchbacks .5 mile to the top of a ridge between Ute and Campbell Creeks, and follows a ridgetop for nearly 2 miles before dropping into the Ute Creek drainage. The trail follows Ute Creek 4 miles to the Flat Tops Wilderness boundary, passing through aspen groves, Englemann spruce and grassy meadows. The Ute Creek Fire of 1994 burned the trees along several miles of the trail. Please use extreme caution around standing dead trees. Two miles into the Wilderness, the trail reaches the Flat Tops Plateau. It continues through spruce-fir for another mile before breaking into open parks for 2.5 miles, where it meets Oyster Lake and the junction with Oyster Lake Trail (#1825) .

Restrictions <a href="https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/whiteriver/specialplaces/?cid=stelprd3825863">Wilderness regulations apply</a> in Flat Tops Wilderness.

This hike on fs.usda.gov

Yellowhorse #2288 the Forest Service's write-up

The Yellowhorse Trail is 3.9 miles long. It begins at the Ute Creek Trail #1824 and ends at the West Marvine Trail #1888 .

This hike on fs.usda.gov

Every trail in White River National Forest

All 729 trails in White River National ForestFind a trailForest on fs.usda.gov

About this trail's facts

The lines are the US Forest Service's National Forest System trails layer (public domain), read 2026-10-16 and simplified for the map; the length is the line's, end to end, and the class, surface, grade and tread width are the forest's own entries where it publishes them - a forest that publishes the centreline alone has none. The trailheads and the points along the way are the Service's recreation points, and the write-ups its own recarea text, unedited. Heights come from USGS 3DEP through Terrain Tiles on AWS (Mapzen/Tilezen), read along each line and rounded; a short trail on steep ground can be off by a few tens of feet. Closures change: check the forest's own site before you go.