The Phantom Terrace

Christy Mahon at the Phantom Terrace — Christy on the Phantom Terrace traverse.

In the Sangre de Cristos, north of the sand dunes and the popular 14ers, there is a snake-like ridge of 13,000 foot peaks with countless side valleys and alpine lakes. Over the past ten years we’ve made it a goal to explore as much of this area as possible. We’ve found great campsites, seen tons of wildlife, and managed to stand atop nearly every ranked 13er in the range. And when people ask for advice as to a good intro to the area— a route with camping, trails, and easily-accessed peaks— we recommend our favorite linkup, the Comanche/Venable loop and the Phantom Terrace.

Use the map above to see the route, the Venable Creek trail is in red, Comanche Creek trail in blue, and the Phantom Terrace is indicated in green.

Comanche Creek and Venable Creek are adjacent valleys with good trails. They both have pretty lakes up near tree line, with some nearby camp sites that are great backpacking destinations. And they can be connected by an interesting high route along a hidden ledge that can be hard to see from afar, hence the name Phantom Terrance.

The two valleys share a common trailhead just outside of the town of Westcliffe. It is conveniently located right next to the Alvarado Campground, which serves as a good camping spot if you’re getting a late start and need to camp for the night beforehand.

You can complete this loop in either direction. We opted to go counter-clockwise, starting up Venable Creek, where we set up camp at the lakes, and descending the Comanche Creek trail the following day.

Christy Mahon hiking to Venable Peak. — On the ridge to the summit of Venable Peak.

The route to Venable Lakes is about 4-5 miles on a good trail. Once we made it to the pair of lakes setup camp, we hiked up to the ridge and summited Venable Peak, 13,173 ft., for a little sunset happy hour. It’s pretty nice to be up on a summit late in the day.

northern sangres — Looking north from the summit of Venable in the late afternoon light.

One of the locals came by to see what we were up to.

Christy Mahon on Venable Peak — And the view to south, with the well known Sangre de Cristo 14ers.

Eventually it was time to head down. Once off the summit we followed the Phantom Terrace trail back to camp.

Christy Mahon on the phantom terrace — On the Phantom Terrace traverse, descending from Venable Peak. Venable Creek is in the valley below.

Ted Mahon on the Phantom terrace — Walking along the somewhat hidden ledge.

The Phantom Terrace — A view of the route the trail follows from the nearby summit of Spring Mountain. You can see part of one of the Venable Lakes to the right.

Ted Mahon at venable lakes — Sunset at Venable Lakes.

Camping at Venable Lakes — And the scene after the sun went down.

The next day we packed up camp and hiked back up along the Phantom Terrace to Comanche Pass. We dropped our packs near the pass and went up to the summit of Spring Mountain, 13,255 ft., and Comanche Peak, 13,245 ft., which are both easy 13ers to tag if you’re nearby.

Hiking the ridge to Spring Mountain the following morning.

Ted Mahon in the Sangre de Cristos — On one of the summits.

Once back down at the pass we began the 5 mile hike out Comanche Creek.

Phantom Terrace and Comanche Creek — This is the view of the trail down the Comanche Creek Valley. That’s Comanche Lake down there.

It was a great loop on good trails with lots of options for camping and summits. And with such a cool name, the Phantom Terrace should be on every Colorado backpackers bucket list. Check it out!

For a list of our other adventures in the Sangre de Cristos, click here

Ben C

September 28, 2021 at 4:31 PM

Love that particular spot and the whole of the Sangres as well. IMO once you get away from the 14ers, much of the rest of the range takes on a different character. Phantom Terrace was snow-covered when I was there so I think a return trip to check it out someday is in the cards. Happy Fall, Ted!