Scarp Ridge
| Trail Features: | Outstanding Views, Wildflowers, Fall Aspens |  |
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| Trail Location: | Lake Irwin Campground | ||||
| Roundtrip Length: | 8.3 Miles | ||||
| Trailhead Elevation: | 10,320 Feet | ||||
| Total Elevation Gain: | 1920 Feet | ||||
| Avg. Elev Gain / Mile: | 463 Feet | ||||
| Highest Elevation: | 12,210 Feet | ||||
| Trail Difficulty Rating: | 12.14 (difficult) | ||||
| Parking Lot Latitude | 38.87961 | ||||
| Parking Lot Longitude | -107.10797 | ||||
Trail Description:
The hike to Scarp Ridge begins from the Lake Irwin Campground west of Crested Butte. To reach the trailhead from Crested Butte, drive west on Whiterock Avenue, which shortly becomes Kebler Pass Road/CR 12. After driving 2.5 miles the road temporarily turns into a hard-packed dirt road, but becomes a paved road again at 5.4 miles. At 6.7 miles you’ll take a right onto County Road 826. CR 826 is a fairly rough gravel road, but is (barely) passable for 2-wheel drive vehicles - if you take your time and choose your lines to avoid rocks, pot holes and washboarding. If you’re in a low-clearance vehicle, you should definitely check with a ranger beforehand to learn about current road conditions. At roughly 9.1 miles from Crested Butte you’ll reach Lake Irwin, and shortly afterwards, the road leading into the campground on the west side of the lake. Immediately past the campground entrance road is a parking area for the general public. This is where your hike begins. Hikers in high-clearance vehicles can continue to a parking area just below the old Lake Irwin Lodge.
You’ll begin your hike by walking a short distance towards a small campground restroom towards the east. Once at the restroom, head towards the lake where you’ll see a trail known as the Lake Irwin Trail. Unfortunately, there isn’t a marked trailhead here. Simply follow the path as it meanders northbound along the west side of the lake.
There are numerous side trails and social trails that break off the Lake Irwin Trail. Though this can be a little confusing at times, your best bet is to stay close to the lake as you pass through the campground. In some cases you may have to use a little intuition during this stretch. Your goal, however, is to head north, towards the old Lake Irwin Lodge rising a couple hundred feet above the lake.
At the north end of the lake, as you finally get past the campground, the trail begins to meander towards the west and away from the wetlands area off to your right. At roughly one-half mile the trail passes a small waterfall. Once past the waterfall, the trail continues by following a small stream up the hill.
At roughly seven-tenths of a mile you’ll reach the upper portions of County Road 826. Hikers should turn right here, and proceed up this road. As you travel up the road you’ll pass several cabins. We didn’t know this at the time, but one of these cabins was featured in the 1979 Disney film, Mountain Family Robinson.
At just over 1.4 miles hikers will reach the end of the road near the old lodge. Though this used to be a parking lot, parking for hikers is no longer allowed here. A parking area for high-clearance vehicles is located just below the lodge. As you approach the parking area for the old lodge, look for the Trail 419 trailhead as it branches off to the left.
From the trailhead the route resumes climbing again. Roughly one-third of a mile above the lodge, or roughly 1.8 miles from the campground, the trail disappears into a rock slab for a very short distance. Just before this slab is a cairn marking a junction. Trail 419 continues to left, while Trail 421 veers off to the right. This cairn is the only thing that marks this junction. Perhaps our brains were so deprived of oxygen from the steep terrain that we completely missed this marker, as well as any indication of Trail 419 branching off to the left. It would be several minutes before we realized that we missed the junction, and decided to change our plans. We originally intended to do the loop, but not knowing where or if the junction existed, we decided to do an out-and-back trip instead, which is reflected in this description. I’ll provide details on your options at the end of this page.
Our original plan was to take Trail 419 up to Scarp Ridge, as this is the easier approach. Though a longer route than Trail 421, the gradient isn’t nearly as steep. Though Trail 419 temporarily disappears into the rock slab, as mentioned, the path can be spotted up ahead as it veers towards the right and around a rock outcropping. As you continue upward, the views of Robinson Basin, 12,642-foot Ruby Peak and 13,022-foot Mount Owen are absolutely fantastic. You’ll also enjoy a bird’s-eye view of Lake Irwin and the green roof atop the lodge.
At 2.9 miles from the campground you’ll reach an unmarked trail junction, which sweeps in from the right. You should continue straight up the hill here. A short distance later another trail approaches from the right. This the Scarp Ridge Trail. Up to this point the entire route has been moderately strenuous to strenuous, and you will have already climbed 1545 feet.
After veering left at both junctions, the route now proceeds northwest along the Scarp Ridge Trail. Soon you’ll begin passing through scrub pine and willows. At roughly 3.2 miles you’ll finally reach the top of the ridge where you’ll enjoy panoramic views of the valley on the opposite side of the ridge. Visible along this stretch is 12,173-foot Peeler Peak, Peeler Basin and the Oh-Be-Joyful Valley. The trail continues along the top of the ridge, and eventually passes a communication tower. As you continue along this stretch you’ll likely notice that the ridge is shaped like a crescent moon.
At roughly 3.8 miles you’ll reach the upper Trail 419 junction. You should proceed straight ahead here. If you decide to do the loop, this is the trail you’ll take to return back to the lodge. From this junction the summit of Scarp Ridge is roughly a third-of-a-mile away. From the top, which is marked by a wooden post, you’ll enjoy absolutely spectacular views in all directions. Dominating the landscape towards the west and southwest are Ruby Peak and Mt. Owen, with Green Lake lying just below Ruby Peak. Towards the northwest, 12,609-foot Afley Peak and Blue Lake will dominate the view. Extending off Scarp Ridge’s northeast flank is 12,054-foot Carfield Peak.
As mentioned, we planned to do this hike as a loop (technically a lollipop loop), but changed those plans after discovering we missed the cairn marking the split in the trail. If you do the loop and take Trail 419 back down to the lodge, you’ll cut off 1.1 miles from this hike description, making the total mileage for this hike 7.3 miles. If you do an out and back route using only Trail 419, your roundtrip mileage will be only 6.1 miles, though this would be a much steeper climb than the one described here. One major bonus of taking the route we took is that you’ll have the opportunity to traverse along Scarp Ridge twice.
Additional Resources:
* Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre and Gunnison (GMUG) National Forests
* Trails Illustrated Map for Kebler Pass area - includes Scarp Ridge