Tomboy Trail

The Tomboy Trail is a popular 4WD road that climbs toward the east along the north side of Telluride Canyon in southwest Colorado.

Five miles along the trail is the Tomboy mining ruins site and further is Imogene Pass and Ouray. The beginning of Tomboy Road is at the north end of Oak Street in Telluride.

I started my hike from the free parking area on the southwest side of Telluride and walked through the town streets a few blocks to Oak Street. There isn’t any parking at the intersection of Tomboy and Oak.

Tomboy Road is also the access for the east end of the Jud Wiebe Trail, a popular 2.7 mile loop that takes about 2 hours to hike. Climbing past the Jud Wiebe Trail Head, there are increasingly higher views toward Bridal Veil Falls and Ingram Falls at the east end of the Telluride Valley.

 The trail is a single lane rocky road with frequent wide spots. The surface is mostly easy to walk on and is steep but not as steep as mountain trails can sometimes be. There were quite a few commercial mountain tours going up the trail and several rented jeeps.

I saw three other hikers and no mountain bikes. The views are mostly open and the Aspen and Spruce forest is not noticed as much as usual. In mid July there are many wildflowers in bloom including some Columbines.

During the first half of the hike, Bridal Veil Falls, on the south side of the valley is frequently in view. The hike to Tomboy rises above the elevation of that also popular destination. There is one spot along Tomboy Road where Bear Creek Falls, Ingram Falls, and Bridal Veil Falls are all in view at the same time.

One interesting feature of this route is the short tunnel cut through the rock. After the tunnel, the trail is more level for about a mile and the main Telluride Valley goes out of sight. About one mile before the main Tomboy mining site, some outlying mining ruins start to appear.

The mining ruins along the Tomboy Road appear to be more devastated than one might expect. Another popular ghost town in the area is Alta, where the old buildings appear to be better preserved. There is an interpretive sign at the Tomboy site that says the town had a school, stores, stable and miner’s cabins. The mines started producing gold ore in 1894 and are 3000 feet higher than Telluride at about 11,800 feet.

The main Tomboy site looks like it was hit by tornados, a large scatter of debris without much standing. The surrounding area though is very scenic. It took me 3:00 hours to arrive at the Tomboy site and a quicker 2:00 hours to descend. With stops, my total hike was 5:30 hours for a little more than 10 miles. It was a mid 60s F day, partly cloudy with a few drops of rain. I carried and drank two liters of water.