Service Creek Trail

Service Creek, spelled Sarvis Creek on the wilderness signs and most newer maps, is a low-elevation trail through aspen and lodgepole along a trout stream east of Stagecoach Reservoir, in the small Sarvis Creek Wilderness south of Steamboat Springs. It opens weeks before the high country and is the place to hike in May and early June, or in October when the passes are snowed in.

From the trailhead at the south end of Stagecoach Reservoir, the trail heads east up the Sarvis Creek valley. The first mile crosses open sage and meadow, then the valley narrows and the trail settles into a pattern of aspen groves, lodgepole, and streamside meadows, climbing gradually and crossing side creeks on logs and rocks.

The wilderness boundary is about a mile in. The trail runs 12.4 miles in all, crossing Sarvis Creek on a bridge at 2.3 miles and climbing through the 2018 Silver Creek Fire burn near the top to the Upper Sarvis Creek trailhead at Buffalo Park, but a day hike turns around wherever it suits: the meadows around 3.5 miles, at about 9,500 feet, are the usual choice for the 7-mile round trip. The grade is never steep.

From Steamboat, drive south on Colorado 131 through Oak Creek and 2 more miles to County Road 14, turn left at the Stagecoach State Park sign and follow it 5.4 miles, turn right on County Road 16 toward the park, stay left before the pay station and head toward the dam, continue 3.6 miles on County Road 18, and turn right on County Road 18D to the trailhead in the Sarvis Creek State Wildlife Area. The last stretch is gravel. County Road 18 is subject to seasonal closures, which can add road walking early in the season; check the Routt County road page before a spring trip. The trailhead is inside the Sarvis Creek State Wildlife Area, so everyone 16 and older needs a valid Colorado hunting or fishing license or a State Wildlife Area pass to park there; the trail itself needs no permit.

Dogs are allowed; keep them leashed or under immediate voice control in the wilderness, the Routt National Forest's standard. Kids handle the grade easily and the creek gives them something to do. Moose, deer, and elk use the valley; the 1997 blowdown and later beetle kill left standing dead trees along the trail, so do not linger under them in wind. Sarvis Creek is a good small-stream fishery for brook and cutthroat trout with a Colorado license. Stagecoach State Park, across the reservoir, has a campground and a state parks fee; Oak Creek has a gas station and a diner. The Steamboat Springs hikes page lists the trails in town.