White River National Forest · Colorado

Ute - Deep

8.2 mi of trail, end to end · native material surface · trail No. 2031 · trail class 2 · typical grade trail_grade · tread 18-24 inches wide · hiking, horse

CampgroundsBoat launches

Along the way Sweetwater Lake Campground Sweetwater Lake Day Use Area

Begins at the forest's mile 0, 39.7974, -107.1608 - no trailhead mapped Drive to where the trail begins

Cross Creek TH #1855 the Forest Service's write-up

The Cross Creek trail begins at Ute - Deep Trail #2031 and ends at Sweetwater Trail #1854. Hike the Ute Trail #2031 for about 1/4 mile and turn right onto this trail, which runs parallel to Sweetwater Canyon and quickly drops down into a lush aspen forest in the first 1/2 mile and crosses Lake Creek, before a steep sagebrush and scrub oak hill. As the trail enters a large wet meadow, it becomes faint, but continues again straight across near an aspen grove. From this point on the trail is fairly level passing through spruce/ fir forests with some aspen. After crossing the Dry Sweetwater Creek the trail ends connecting onto Sweetwater Trail #1854 which can be utilized to return back to the Sweetwater Lake area, about 2 miles northwest of Sweetwater Campground. Early summer is the best time to find excellent displays of lupine, white and purple peavine, flax, sulfur flowers, wild geraniums, locoweed and scarlet gilia.

This hike on fs.usda.gov

Every trail in White River National Forest

All 729 trails in White River National ForestFind a trailForest on fs.usda.gov

About this trail's facts

The lines are the US Forest Service's National Forest System trails layer (public domain), read 2026-10-16 and simplified for the map; the length is the line's, end to end, and the class, surface, grade and tread width are the forest's own entries where it publishes them - a forest that publishes the centreline alone has none. The trailheads and the points along the way are the Service's recreation points, and the write-ups its own recarea text, unedited. Heights come from USGS 3DEP through Terrain Tiles on AWS (Mapzen/Tilezen), read along each line and rounded; a short trail on steep ground can be off by a few tens of feet. Closures change: check the forest's own site before you go.