Monte Cristo Ghost Town — Friday, Jul. 31, 2026

I arrived at the Barlow Pass parking area around 8 AM to meet my hiking group and the lot was already full so I grabbed a spot along the Mountain Loop Highway. There is a privy in the parking area that is in good shape and a Forest Service Pass is required to park. 

From the parking area, follow the trail through the gate. There is another privy near the creek crossing about a mile in but no TP. At the creek crossing, there are a couple of ways to approach it. The first is to just cross the creek using the large log, dismount with the ladder near the end of the log, and proceed carefully through the rest of the logs to the rest of the trail. The other way is to cross over the rocks and through the creek to the end of the large crossing log and follow the rest of the logs to the rest of the trail. On this date, my group decided to try the water crossing because the water was no higher than our ankles. A couple of us used water shoes to cross but everyone else just crossed in their boots and no one wearing boots reported wet feet. On our return trip, I was the only one who used water shoes and the cold water made it nice to get out of my hot boots for a little bit. 

After the river crossing, the trail is largely straightforward, flat, and wide enough for two people in most spots, with a few areas of modest incline. There are no obstacles of note but there is a large area of the trail that has been washed out. A short reroute has been built around the washout area to rejoin the main trail. Just before the townsite, there is another privy but unfortunately it is locked. The trail surface is mostly dirt or gravel, but some areas with large rocks made it helpful to have a trekking pole for balance today. The townsite has some interesting historical information and exhibits. Today our group took in most of the old townsite and had lunch there before returning to the parking area. 

Our group left the parking area around 9 and returned around 3. Strava measured the round trip hike to be about 10.5 miles, which included some extra walking around in the townsite area.