Wheeler Trail

The Wheeler Trail is the old stock driveway that crosses the Tenmile Range between the Spruce Creek valley south of Breckenridge and Copper Mountain, named for the rancher who pushed cattle over it in the 1880s. As a hike it is a 9-mile point-to-point over a 12,450-foot saddle with 2,300 feet of climbing, most of it above treeline, and the Summit Stage bus between Copper and Breckenridge makes the shuttle free.

From the Breckenridge side, the trail leaves the Spruce Creek trail about 1.5 miles above the lower trailhead and climbs north and west through spruce, then out onto the open east slope of the range. Long switchbacks gain the crest between Peaks 9 and 10 at the saddle, the high point of the day, with the Tenmile peaks running north in a line and Copper Mountain's ski area below to the west.

The descent to Copper drops through tundra and then forest on the range's steeper west side, with the trail sometimes faint across the alpine; watch for cairns. It reaches the Wheeler Flats trailhead near the Copper Mountain exit of I-70 after about 5 miles of descent. The trail can be walked in either direction; starting from Copper puts the steeper side on the way up.

The Breckenridge end starts from the Spruce Creek trailhead: 2.5 miles south of town on Colorado 9 to Spruce Creek Road, then 1.2 miles of dirt to the lower lot. The Copper end is the Wheeler Junction trailhead at I-70 exit 195: go south on Highway 91, turn left at the gas station immediately past the interstate, and follow the road to the parking lot; the bike path connects it to the Copper Mountain bus stop. The Forest Service's official southern access is north of McCullough Gulch, where parking now requires a Quandary Trailhead lot reservation or the free Summit Stage shuttle from the Airport Road lot in Breckenridge, which is why the Spruce Creek approach described here is the simpler start. The Summit Stage runs between Copper and Breckenridge all day and costs nothing. No fee or permit.

Dogs are allowed; the whole crossing is outside any wilderness, so voice control is the rule, but the alpine section is long and exposed for one. Not a kid hike. Carry three liters; there is water low on both sides and none across the top. The trail is faint in places on the alpine and a map or GPS track is worth having. The Spruce Creek trail and Mohawk Lakes share the Breckenridge trailhead, and the Tenmile Range page lists the rest.