How to Get a Collegiate Loop Permit

About Collegiate Loop

No permit is required to walk the Collegiate Loop. The Pike-San Isabel National Forests publish which of their wilderness areas need a self-issued trailhead permit - Holy Cross, Lost Creek and Mount Evans - and Collegiate Peaks is not among them, so there is no registration station to fill in on this route. The Colorado Trail Foundation states there is no permit required to travel the CT, though note its FAQ also carries a blanket line about self-issuing at wilderness areas that does not apply to this particular wilderness. The one piece of paperwork it does flag is a Colorado State Wildlife Area pass, which may be required to travel through the first half-mile of Segment 12 on the Collegiate East depending on your trip plan. Commercial and nonprofit groups are a separate case: they are required to obtain a special use permit through the local ranger district in advance. The loop is 160 miles as a circuit. Collegiate West is 84.8 miles with 19,800 feet of gain across five segments; Collegiate East is 78.3 miles with 17,800 feet across parts or all of Segments 11 to 15. The Foundation publishes no loop high point and no combined gain figure. The season is short. The Foundation's guidance is that the CT season is primarily July and August, that thru-travellers should begin no earlier than late June because high elevations and north-facing, treed slopes retain troublesome snowpack into July, and that you should finish no later than late September before snow becomes plentiful. Winter snow remains into late June with snowfields lingering into July, and it advises against travelling higher portions - generally above 10,000 feet - until late June. Group size is capped by forest order. The Collegiate Peaks Wilderness occupancy and use order prohibits entering the area with more than 15 people per group, or a maximum combination of 25 people and pack or saddle animals in any one group. The same order requires dogs to be under physical restraint of a leash except working stock dogs or dogs used for legal hunting; prohibits camping within 100 feet of lakes, streams and National Forest System trails; prohibits campfires within 100 feet of any lake, stream or trail or above 11,000 feet in elevation; requires stock to be hitched at least 100 feet from water and trails; prohibits shortcutting switchbacks; requires weed-free forage; and prohibits storing equipment, personal property or supplies for longer than 72 hours. The order runs to December 31, 2027. Fire restrictions are the live variable and we cannot give you today's answer. As of a late-July 2026 reading, the Pike-San Isabel National Forests had Stage 2 Fire Restrictions in effect covering the Salida and Leadville Ranger Districts among others, beginning June 30, 2026, with fire danger at both listed as Very High; the Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre and Gunnison National Forests began Stage 2 on July 1, 2026. Between them those two forests cover the whole loop, and under Stage 2 campfires are banned outright - which supersedes the wilderness order's 11,000-foot rule. Because fs.usda.gov blocks automated requests, that is the most recent verifiable state rather than the current one. Check both forests before you go. Two Leadville Ranger District closures were also active at that reading and sit on or beside the loop's northern end: a Willow Fire Area Closure starting July 22, 2026, and an Interlaken Hotel and Annex Area closure starting June 22, 2026, at Twin Lakes. Their exact boundaries could not be verified. The Colorado Trail Foundation's own detours and closures page could not be read at all - its site blocks automated access and no 2026 archive exists - so treat any claim about what is currently open on the CT, including ours, as needing confirmation from the Foundation directly. Resupply is straightforward: the Foundation names Twin Lakes Village, Buena Vista, Mount Princeton Hot Springs, Monarch Pass and Salida as good resupply points on or near the loop.

The Collegiate Loop joins the Colorado Trail's two Collegiate routes into a self-contained circuit: 84.8 miles of Collegiate West with 19,800 feet of gain, and 78.3 miles of Collegiate East with 17,800. The northernmost point is Twin Lakes Reservoir southwest of Leadville and the southernmost is south of Monarch Pass. The entire Collegiate West is co-located with the Continental Divide National Scenic Trail.