Monte Cristo Ghost Town — Thursday, Aug. 21, 2025

Got to the trailhead at Barlow Pass about 2:45 PM on a Thursday.  While the lot was fairly fill, there was still parking available along the side of the road.  Hit the trail at 3 PM.  Followed the road for about 1.25 miles - after that the road ends and you follow the trail through the woods.  At about 1.5 miles the trail leads to the river and you have to cross the river from the west side to the east side.  Just follow the red tape / markers to stay on the right path.  The crossing itself it fairly easy - hopped over some rocks - did not get my feet wet.  Once you are on the east side of the river, you follow the road for another 3 miles to the bridge over the river that takes you into the town of Monte Cristo.  Note that there are a lot of large frogs on this section of road.  Fun to see them jump out of the way as you walk by.  From here, you can wander through the open area with old huts, cross 76 Creek to Dumas St. and wind up at the remnants of the Concentrator building.  It took me 1.5 hours to get to the town.  I wandered around for 15 minutes and looked at the historical signs that have been posted by the Association that maintains the town.  Since I had started later in the day, I hustled back to the trailhead and made it in 75 minutes.  Total time on the trail was 3.0 hours.  Distance was 9.8 miles.  Although the total elevation gain was 900', nothing was steep - just roller coaster hills along the way.  Great hike for families - wide trails.  The trail description indicates that you can take bikes on the trail.  I did not see any, but it's possible to right about 85% of the trail on a bike, but there will be sections where you have to walk the bike.