Eugenia Mine Trail

Eugenia Mine Trail is a 2.8-mile out-and-back from Longs Peak Trailhead to a historic mine site beside Inn Brook. The destination is the reward: a creekside boiler and homestead remains, not a summit panorama. Allow about 1 to 1.5 hours and roughly 500 feet of climbing. It is a short, moderately steep walk: most of the climb comes in the first half-mile, and the trail starts above 9,000 feet. The Longs Peak lot is limited and can fill early on peak-season weekends. Pets are prohibited on all Rocky Mountain National Park trails.

Follow East Longs Peak Trail through lodgepole pine, spruce and fir. After about half a mile, turn right at the signed Eugenia Mine junction; you will already have climbed roughly 275 feet. The grade eases on the traverse across Battle Mountain's wooded slope. Estes Cone appears through the trees now and then, but this is mainly a forest walk.

The mine site is about 1.4 miles from the trailhead. The crossing is described as either a footbridge or a shallow brook negotiated on logs, so expect wet or uneven footing and assess it when you arrive. Near the creek are remains of a log homestead, a ten-foot steam boiler and mine tailings upstream. The mine shaft has been sealed; stay outside the workings. The named trail continues beyond the mine, but this outing turns around at the site.

Accounts differ on when the mine operated, so the exact dates are unsettled. What remains is easier to recognize: the boiler stands beside the creek and the homestead remains sit nearby. A cleanup study found that removing the tailings risked sending more sediment into Inn Brook, so they were left in place. For a photo, frame the boiler with the creek and the old homestead remains.