Click on photo to be on the trail to Parkview Mountain.
With good tires and a medium to high ground-clearance vehicle, one can drive
right up to the distant bowl of Parkview Mountain. With a regular vehicle, one
can start up the trail a ways and then take an easy walk to the end of the "road".
To get to the trailhead, it is recommended that you first drive all the way to the
Willow Creek Pass where there is a big sign marking the Atlantic Drainage to the
north and the Pacific Drainage to the south. The Continental Divide makes a long
west to east run along the northern boundary of Grand County and then wraps around
Grand Lake. From Willow Creek Pass, head south and drive slowly with your
right turn signal on as the road makes a broad curve to the west. Just where the
curve in Hwy. 125 is at its western most point, there is an inconspicuous dirt road
to the west (right). This is your trailhead. It is about 6/10th of a mile from The Pass.
Pull onto the dirt road slowly and be prepared for people coming down towards
you as you head up (although almost no one knows about this road, until now!).
17 miles up Hwy 125 from Hwy 40, the valley opens up where two creeks come
together. One gets a nice view of Parkview Mountain to the Northwest and
Cascade Mountain (show below) to the northeast. This is also where County
Road 4 ends after crossing Stillwater Pass far up the valley to the right of
Cascade Mountain. About 15 miles east of Stillwater Pass is Lake Granby.
You can drive the entire length of County Road 4 in the summer with a
regular vehicle. Drive slowly to minimize dust and keep to the right on the
many blind curves. If there have been recent storms, downed timber might
block the road. In the winter, one can often see snowmobilers heading up
to Stillwater Pass and the surrounding mountains.
A couple miles up Hwy. 125 from the meadow shown above, one passes
the remarkable formation shown below on the east side of the highway.
The far side of this natural wall is a vertical sheet of rock. It continues
right up the backbone of the mountain, although most of it is buried.
From the top of Parkview Mountain you can gaze upon a number of
long dikes that rival the Great Wall of China.