Wheeler Trail

Wheeler Trail

This trail to the top of Wheeler Pass (unofficial name) is the Wheeler National Recreation Trail. The Colorado Trail and the Continental Divide National Scenic Trail follow part of the same route. It climbs steadily at about a 15 percent grade through spruce-fir and lodgepole forest on the west slope of the Tenmile Range. The tundra flowers bloom brilliantly in July. From the ridge of the Tenmile Range, you can view the upper Blue River valley, the town of Breckenridge, the Breckenridge Ski Area, and the scars of mining days. Views of the Gore Range, Copper Mountain, and the Front Range are fabulous! In 1879, Judge John S. Wheeler purchased 320 acres, now part of Copper Mountain Resort, and started a hay ranch. The next year silver miners arrived, and the ranch became a town known by various names: Wheeler ’s Ranch, Wheeler Station, Wheeler’s, Wheeler, and Wheeler Junction. Wheeler Junction prospered with a hotel, saloons, a post office, and several sawmills. In 1884 the Colorado & Southern Railroad finished laying tracks to Wheeler Junction on the east side of Tenmile Creek. Their railroad station at Wheeler was named Solitude Station. On the other side of the creek, the Denver &Rio Grande railroad had their line with a station called Wheeler’s.

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