Snowshoe Hiking on the Boggy Draw Trail

The Boggy Draw Trail system doesn’t receive any machine grooming for winter snowshoe hiking or cross country skiing, but the area provides a good winter experience in the tall Ponderosa Pine forest.

The Boggy Draw Trail System is in the San Juan National Forest about 3 miles west of Dolores in southwest Colorado. The trails are nested loops centered on Forest Road 527, an extension of County Road W. The central loop is known as the Boggy Draw Trail. The access road is cleared to a parking area at the trailhead and Forest Road 527 has a closed gate.

 I stayed on Forest Road 527 hiking with snow shoes. On the compacted route the walking relatively easy. Off of the compacted trail my steps were sinking in about 9 inches. The forest in this area is tall Ponderosa Pines with an understory of Gambel Oak. I noticed one tree close to the road that was marked with a small sign as a wildlife tree. I’ve noticed a few of these signs in the forest, usually on a dead snag.

I hiked along the Forest Road for about 0:45 minutes and turned around. This segment is mostly an alley through the tall pine forest with a couple of spots with views across meadows. My total hike took 1.5 hours for about 3 miles. It was a 35 F degree early February day. There were several other vehicles in the parking area and I saw several skiers while I was hiking.
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McPhee Reservoir Snowshoeing

The McPhee Reservoir on the Dolores River is the second largest lake in Colorado. During the winter season when the water level is low, the north facing west end offers a broad slightly sloping area with an easy to access area for snowshoe hiking.

The access is about 4 miles west of Dolores, CO on Route 184, then north on the paved McPhee Recreation Area Road to the west end of the lake and the south side of the Great Cut Dike. There is room to park and a dirt road trail that leads to the shore line. This spot gets some use from bank fishermen during the summer months. On the west side of the Great Cut Dike is the pump house that sends irrigation water to the canals in the Montezuma Valley area.

The west end of the reservoir tends to freeze over sooner than the main channel area of the Dolores River. In the distance the San Miguel Mountains near Lizard Head Pass are visible. This area had a good snow layer for snowshoe hiking despite modest snow so far in 2012.

I spent part of my hike looking for animal tracks in the snow. I thought most of what I saw were coyote tracks in the area close to the vegetation near the high water mark. I didn’t see any water birds or any deer tracks, though deer are common in this area.

My total hike was for about 1:30 hours on a 44 F degree late January day. I hiked for about 1 mile east along the lake shore and returned. There is room to go much further than I did.

Sage Hen to McPhee Dam

The area on the west end of McPhee Reservoir on the Dolores River in southwest Colorado is known as the Sage Hen area. Running straight north for 4.3 miles from Sage Hen is the very rutted and rough Forest Road 500, leading to the McPhee Dolores River Dam site. This Forest Road has been closed to motorized vehicles since 2008.

The trail climbs through a sagebrush plain area with scattered Pinon Pines and Junipers and gives good views of the McPhee Reservoir with Mesa Verde becoming visible the higher you go. The LaPlata Mountains with Mt. Hesperus are also visible to the east. This area gets some use from mountain bikers and horse riders in addition to hikers. There is also fishing and boating access in the side roads close to the McPhee Reservoir.

Descending into Lone Dome Canyon through a side canyon, the Dolores River discharging from the dam flows west. The Dolores River State Wildlife area protects the river through this area. The forest on the north facing canyon wall has Ponderosa Pines and Douglas Firs.

A service road bridge allows easy crossing into the developed Mataska Recreation Area below the dam. The posted historical information discusses how cattlemen were the first to settle this area and at the end of summer the cattle were driven through this area to the rail line in Dolores for shipment to Denver and Kansas City.
 

Near the Mataska picnic ground there is a service road that goes to the top of the dam. Interpretive information in the picnic area reports that the dam was built in 1984, is 270 feet above the river bed, and the water covers 4,470 acres. Irrigation water from McPhee Reservoir is distributed by canals through the area and keeps it greener than it would otherwise be.

It took me about 2:00 hours to get from Sage Hen to the river and I spent about an hour in the river area and up on top of the dam. The total time for about 10 miles was 5:10 hours.

For a shorter hike, there are some artifacts of the human history of the Sage Hen area to see but they take some searching away from the main trail. There are two side trails leading toward the east from Forest Road 500. The first side trail is about 1.5 miles north. A short distance along the side trail there is an old corral.

South of the side trail, but not on the trail there is some sort of old camp with a number of old metal artifacts. This camp is near an old constructed pond.

The second side trail is about 2.3 miles north along the main trail. In the Sage Hen area some of the hilltops  appear to be archaeology sites. With some careful looking, there are some pottery shards visible. I thought the pottery shards I saw were thinner and mostly plain compared to the Black on White styles that are found in nearby canyons.

There are also a number of rubble piles that could be ruins sites. These rubble piles aren’t as distinct as the ones in the nearby Canyons of the Ancients. In a couple of places there are lines of large stones that seem to be turned on edge.

Discovery Museum on the Animas River Trail

One of the historic sites along the Animas River Trail, in Durango, Colorado, is the Durango Power Plant. In 2011, the historic plant has been restored and re-opened as the Durango Discovery Museum.

I started my hike on the Animas River Trail at the Santa Rita Park. Following the trail north, it is about 2 miles to the Discovery Museum. The Santa Rita Park is about 1 mile south of the junction of Highways 160 and 550.

In 2011, there is a $9.50 charge for adults. Much of the interior space is devoted to hands on activity for children, with an emphasis on electricity. The displays are still in development but there was a lot of activity on the day I visited.

I thought the most interesting area for adult visitors was the old boiler room area and the adjacent turbine and generator. This large room also has a screen for video displays and some chairs for viewers. The manufacturing information attached to the boilers says Heine Safety Tube Boiler, and Risdon Iron Works Builders, SF CAL. 1908, and also Utah Copper Company 1906. There are also antique valves, pumps, and gauges in the boiler room.

One of the boiler doors is open for a view of the boiling tubes. Originally the power plant used coal, and converted to gas in the 1940s. In the mid 1970s the plant was shut down and sat idle until 2002 when the renovation activity began. The exterior was completed in 2006.

 Sitting just outside of the boiler room is one of the turbine engines and an attached generator. The manufacturing inscription says General Electric Company. The Durango Power Plant was one of the first on the western slope of Colorado to use AC power.

The Durango Power Plant used California Mission style architecture with two twin towers on the north end. The east side tower has an unusual way for visitors to climb up to the top of the tower for the roof top views both outside and inside. There is a circular series of steps, but the climber has to twist from side to side to make the climb. This unusual climb can start at the floor level or about halfway up after climbing normal stairs.

From Santa Rita Park it took me about 0:45 minutes to arrive at the Discovery Museum. My total hike with the museum visit and some searching for the Durango Pumas on Parade took about 3:30 hours on a 40 F degree late December day.

Hohokam Puzzle Exhibit at the Anasazi Heritage Center

Beginning in the winter season of 2011 to October 2012 the Anasazi Heritage Center near Dolores, Colorado is hosting the Pieces of the Puzzle – Hohokam Exhibit displaying new ideas on the Hohokam Culture.

The Hohokam culture is known for the extensive irrigation works on the Salt River in the Phoenix, Arizona area. An easy to visit Hohokam site is the Pueblo Grande site located at 4619 East Washington Street, near the northeast side of the Sky Harbor Airport. One of the large pictures of the exhibit is an artist rendition of the Pueblo Grande site.

The format of the exhibit emphasizes the concept of a puzzle, the interpretive signs in the form of jig saw puzzle pieces. There are four puzzle pieces: Who are the Hohokam, How do we know how old things are, How do we know if people migrated, and How do we count ancient people?

The Hohokam name refers to a specific culture that is part of a larger group referred to as the Huhugam. The Huhugam are the ancestors of the current tribal group known as the O’Odham. Recent analysis of pottery pieces has allowed researchers to break the period from 1300 to 1450 AD into small time segments. This allows the dating of the occupation of different sites. One of the newly identified styles is called Phoenix Polychrome and is dated from 1375 to 1450 AD.

A clue to whether the population was influenced by immigrants is found in the way pottery was manufactured. The Ancestral Pueblo people of the Mesa Verde area used a coil and scrape method, while the Hohokam used the paddle and anvil method. One of the displays shows this technique along with the associated tools.

It is assumed that potters will change their style of decoration more readily than their traditional method of manufacture. In 1275 AD, new styles of pottery began to appear in the Hohokam region. Were these traded in, were the ideas transferred from the Ancestral Pueblo area, or were Ancestral Pueblo people moving into the area? Although these pieces looked and were manufactured like Ancestral Pueblo pieces, the sand used as temper was from the Hohokam region, so immigrants to the area were responsible.

The 1275 AD date is also the time that the Four Corners area was beginning to lose population. The main gallery of the Anasazi Heritage Center has dissecting microscope displays on how pottery is analyzed. There are also many examples of the Black on White and Corrugated styles that can be compared with the Hohokam styles.

There are two computer displays with different video programs that describe the population changes that occurred in detail. Using the analyzed pottery pieces as clues, it is thought that there were movements from the core communities close to the Salt River to the peripheral sites at the ends of the irrigation canals.

As immigrants arrived in the Hohokam region, the existing communities experienced ecological and social stress. Communities coalesced into larger and more defensive sites and there was more emphasis on crops rather than wild foods. These stresses led to gradual reduction of the population over several generations from 1300 to 1450 AD. Eventually the Hohokam disappeared as a separate culture, but remain as ancestors.

Hawkins Preserve in Cortez

The Hawkins Preserve is a 122 acre site on the southwest side of Cortez in southwest Colorado. It was donated by Jack Hawkins in the 1990s to the Cortez Cultural Center, and though private is open to the public. The parking area can be found with a west turn on to Verde Vu off of South Oak Street and then following the signs along a gravel drive. There is a small sign at the turnoff.

In the parking area there is an information kiosk with a map showing the network of trails. A paved trail runs west along the north edge of the preserve. I followed the Slickrock Trail that starts at the northeast corner and travels southwest.

The Slickrock Trail is listed as 0.33 miles and then transitions to the Rim Route that is listed as 0.52 miles.
At the start of the Slickrock Trail there is an outdoor work of art that is the logo of the Hawkins Preserve.

These short trails visit several habitat areas including sagebrush fields, Pinon Pine and Juniper forest, and sandstone outcrops with potholes, before arriving at the canyon rim overlooking McElmo Creek.

At the rim, there are views toward Mesa Verde and the LaPlata Mountains in addition to the riparian habitat along McElmo Creek. Hiking is restricted below the rim except with a special permit. There are two log benches at the spot along the rim rock named Patrick’s Point.

Looping back away from the canyon rim back to the north, the Hawkins Pueblo is protected under a large roof. This site is described as from the Pueblo II period and was occupied for 350 years from 900 to 1250 AD.

A visitor can view the outlines of several room blocks. There are other small archaeology sites on the preserve, but I didn’t notice any of these during my hike.

 There are some unexcavated rubble piles nearby that are not under the protective roof. There may be some small alcove sites below the rim that can’t be viewed without the special permit.

On the return hike along the paved segment of trail there is another trail side work of art representing a buried and decorated pottery bowl. My hike at the Hawkins Preserve was for about 1.8 miles in 1:20 hours on a 56 F degree early November day. I didn’t see any other visitors during my hike.

Big Canyon Trail-Durango

The Big Canyon Trail is part of an extensive network of trails in the Telegraph Trail System on the south side of Durango in southwest Colorado.

The Big Canyon Trailhead is somewhat hidden behind an auto dealer on the northeast corner of Highway 550/160 and Dominguez Drive, across the highway from the Walmart. There is a marked parking area about 100 yards west of the trailhead. The Carbon Junction Trailhead and Sale Barn Trailhead are nearby alternate entry points into this system.

Many of the Durango City trails have good trail map signs at trail junctions that make it clear where you are and where the alternate trail choices lead. These trails are open to hikers, horses, and mountain bikes with most users probably riding bikes. At the Big Canyon Trailhead there is an interpretive sign explaining the importance of this wild area to Elk and Deer as winter range, depending on how severe the winter is.

At the trailhead there are two trails visible, the main trail leading into the canyon bottom and a thin trail descending from the mesa top. The main trail leads along a dry drainage through Gambel Oak, Pinon Pine, Utah Juniper and the lighter blue green Rocky Mountain Red Junipers. Bike riders describe this segment as swooping.

There are several large rock outcrops visible along the canyon bottom. After about 1.6 miles there is a trail junction with the South Rim Trail and a good map sign. I made a left turn onto the South Rim Trail.

This segment of the South Rim Trail returns toward the Big Canyon Trailhead along the mesa top, and overlooks the canyon bottom where I had just hiked. When it reaches the trailhead overlook, there is the thin side trail that was visible at the trailhead. I followed the steep side trail back to the trailhead to complete a 3.2 mile loop.

My short loop hike took 1:15 hours on an 85 F degree mid August day. I didn’t see anyone else while hiking but one mountain bike swooped past me just as I finished.