Four Corners Hikes-Dolores River Valley Colorado

McPhee Reservoir Snowshoeing

2012-01-31T06:10:00.000-08:00

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

2012-01-07T11:45:00.000-08:00

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

2011-12-30T04:53:00.000-08:00

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

2011-12-08T10:33:00.000-08:00

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

2011-11-04T03:02:00.000-07:00

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

2011-08-19T03:48:00.000-07:00

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.

Animas River Trail (south)-Durango

2011-08-18T09:53:00.000-07:00

The Animas River Trail runs for about 6.75 miles connecting many riverside park and recreation areas in the Durango area in southwest Colorado. The trail continues to lengthen over the years with some of the newest extensions being on the south end.

Visitors to Durango can easily access the Animas River Trail near the midpoint at Santa Rita Park, about 0.5 miles south of the junction of Highways 550 and 160. In the summer, rafts and kayaks are often visible in this stretch of river near the Whitewater Park. From the park, there is a nearly equal distance of trail leading north or south.

The segment leading south to the Durango Mall is more in wooded riparian stream-side habitat than most of the trail segments. There is a short side trail at one point leading to some Flintstones style rock slab picnic tables. There is an interpretive sign describing the site of the Weidman Sawmill, which operated during the mining era and continued until the 1970s.

There are good river views from the new trail bridge that is a short distance south of the Durango Mall. The interpretive sign on the bridge describes the Gold Medal trout fishing on the Animas River.

The six stages of the life of a trout are briefly described. The life stage terms used include redds, alevins, fry, and parr before becoming mature. Fishermen are urged to give the hard working trout a break and avoid casting over the spawning areas, March for the Rainbow Trout and October for the Brown Trout.

Toward the south end of the trail, there are views across the stream toward the rock formation known as the Purple Cliffs. There is a road bridge with a pedestrian lane across the river leading to the small Dallabetta Park that is the current south end of the Animas River Trail.

It took me about 1:30 hours, one way, to walk the south trail segments from Santa Rita Park, about 3.5 miles. In August 2011, there is some trail reconstruction behind the Durango Mall that causes a detour.

Vallecito Lake Walk Path

2011-08-09T13:30:00.000-07:00

Vallecito Lake is located about 20 miles east of Durango in southwest Colorado. The Vallecito Dam on the Pine River was built in 1938-41 and created the 2720 acre Vallecito Lake.

The Vallecito Walk Path is a system of constructed trails and road side paths that allow a visitor to walk all around the lake. On the east side, along the Pine River, there are private campgrounds that appear to block vehicles from driving all the way around.

In 2011, the Bureau of Reclamation is charging a day use fee of $3 for use of lake facilities including the Walk Path, with self serve pay stations at convenient use points.

I started hiking at the west end of the dam. There is a small parking area with a restroom and the Walk Path is clearly marked. The top of the dam elevation is about 7673 feet. The normal depth of water is 121.5 feet.

This southwest segment trail follows closely along the shore for about 15 minutes, and then climbs up to the paved County Road to avoid private property. The road segment ends at the south Public Boat Ramp.

At the north end of the Boat Ramp parking area the Walk Path resumes as a trail and leads for about 2 miles to the north Boat Ramp. This segment is the most trail like though it is close to the County Road.

There are mostly unobstructed lake views with the mountains of the Weminuche Wilderness coming into view. There are a few markers along this segment identifying some of the trees and plants. The south end of Vallecito Lake is dominated by Ponderosa Pine forest with a Gambel Oak understory.

There are a few Douglas Firs visible with Cottonwoods close to the shore. In early August there were some, but not many wildflowers along the Path.

On northwest side of Vallecito Lake, the artistic carvings become apparent with signs mentioning the Carvings Tour. These are the work of a local artist and began following the 2002 Missionary Ridge Fire. There are at least 14 of these carvings a various points around the lake area. No. 6 is titled EMT and Eagle.

The Kaa-vi Nuu-ci Tuvu-pu Mountain Ute Park is also in this area. This park was developed in 2007-09 and includes a wetlands area valuable to waterfowl. There is also a Trailhead for a hike to Lake Eileen with an interpretive sign for the Weminuche Wilderness. It took me about 2:30 hours of walking to arrive at the northwest side after about 6 miles.

At the northwest end, there is a county road leading north to the Vallecito Creek Trail. Continuing around the north lake area there are three creeks feeding into the lake. On the northeast side, the Middle Mountain Road leads north into the forest and the Tuckerville Trail and Cave Basin Trail. The north end of the lake area is dominated by spruce trees.

Along the northeast side of Vallecito Lake, the commercial development is reduced and the paved road ends. Segments of the Walk Path resume where possible parallel to the Forest Road and there are good views across the lake. South of the Middle Mountain Campground, the road seems to be blocked by privately owned commercial campgrounds, but I continued walking. At the Middle Mountain campground area, a forest road leads north to the PIne River Trailhead.

The southeast lake side has three Forest Service Campgrounds in a row and views are mostly obscured by the Ponderosa Pine forest. As the road approaches the east side of the dam, the views open up.

There are two interpretive signs along the road that describe how Ospreys responded to the 2002 Missionary Ridge Fire and how the fire affected the fishing in the area. Despite flames licking at their nesting trees the Ospreys persevered and fledged their nests.

The fishing was much affected by mud slides following the fires. Several thousand Kokanee Salmon were forced toward the surface to find oxygen and died of heat stress.

It took me 5:40 hours to walk all the way around Vallecito Lake, about 13 miles. I carried and drank 3 liters of water on a sunny early August day.

Echo Basin Summer Wildflowers

2011-08-01T15:59:00.000-07:00

The Echo Basin area is about 3 miles east of Mancos, CO on Highway 160, then 7 miles north on Echo Basin Road. There is a meadow area near the junction of Forest Roads 566 and 331 that is rich in summer wildflowers. This is near the Ramparts Hill Loop Trail and is part of the area called T-Down Park, in the San Juan National Forest..

I started my hike about 0.5 miles past the Forest Road junction on Road 331 at a point where there is a cow trail leading uphill into the meadow. There isn’t a trail all the way to the top of the meadow. Mostly the walking is easy but there are a few brushy spots to push through.

The most common flowers in the lower part of the meadow appear to be Erigeron genus Daisies and blue Lupines in the Pea Family. My identifications are based on the Peterson Field Guide No. 14 and the swcoloradowildflowers.com web site, but I’m not an expert. Some of these flowers have many species that hybridize and are difficult to identify exactly.

I think this one is Yarrow, a member of the Composite Family and flowers from May to September. The elevation at my starting point is about 9200 feet and there is about 400 feet of climb to the top of the meadow.

There are some patches of False Hellebore in bloom in early August. This plant is also called Corn Lily. It needs sufficient moisture to produce a bloom.

I also saw this somewhat similar large Lily type plant but couldn’t find a name for it. Toward the upper part of the meadow I saw a few Geraniums and small patches of the bright red Indian Paintbrush.

Another red flower that occurred in small patches is this tubular one. I think this is a Penstemon in the Snapdragon Family. I also saw a few blue Penstemons.

Near the top of the meadow near Road 566 are many yellow Asters. My guess is that these are in the genus Packera.

Also near the road are many Balsamroots. These are visible filling whole fields near the Ramparts Hills.

At the top of the meadow is Road 566 which I followed back down hill for 0.5 miles to Road 331 and then 0.5 miles back to my starting point. Mesa Verde and Sleeping Ute Mt. are visible in the distance.

Box Canyon Spur Trail-Echo Basin

2011-07-24T04:35:00.000-07:00

The Box Canyon Trail has a west trailhead about 1 mile south of the Transfer Campground on Forest Road 561. The trail runs east for 6.5 miles to a junction with the West Mancos Trail in the vicinity of the old mountain town of Golconda. The Box Canyon Spur Trail provides an access to the eastern part of the main trail from the Echo Basin area.

The Echo Basin Road is a north turn off of Highway 160 about 3 miles east of Mancos in southwest Colorado. Forest Road 566 continues where the pavement ends. It is about 7 miles the junction of Forest Road 566 and Forest Road 331, in the area known as the T-Down Park and corral. The Box Canyon Spur Trail begins two miles north at the end of Forest Road 331.

The trail is a closed extension of Road 331. It is about 1.3 miles through Aspen and Spruce Fir forest to the unmarked junction with the main Box Canyon Trail. There is a small creek crossing along the way with some views to the west. I turned east toward the canyon rim that overlooks Deer Lick Creek. After a few minutes there are good views toward Mount Hesperus and the LaPlata Mountains.

At the canyon rim, there is a good view up the West Mancos River with the mountains in the background. The Golconda area is visible, old fences and trails, and trail signs. I had trouble with the next segment, both descending to and ascending from the Deer Lick Creek canyon bottom area.

The trail turns south and stays along the rim, passing some old fences. I was looking for a switchback that descended, but either I missed it, or the trail is very overgrown. I followed a trail that was descending, but it seemed to go too far to the south. Eventually, the trail I was following fizzled out, but I was close enough to the canyon bottom to see the canyon bottom trail, and I thought I was back on the right track.

There were several beaver dams along the Deer Lick Creek including beaver lodge. The wildflowers were also good along the creek segment. The flies and mosquitoes were a nuisance along here also.

At the junction of Deer Lick Creek and the West Mancos River, the Box Canyon Trail appears to cross and turn upstream toward Golconda. I didn’t cross, but in mid July the crossing looked easy. It took me 2:15 hours to arrive at the banks of the West Mancos.

On my return hike, I followed the trail back up the Deer Lick Creek until there was a muddy creek crossing and thought that I had gone past turnoff to the main trail that climbs out of the canyon. There appears to be an unofficial trail that follows Deer Lick Creek until it reaches Forest Road 566 near Lucy Halls Park.

I tried climbing to the canyon rim through the forest and found a closed road trail on the rim that also led to Lucy Halls Park. At Lucy Halls Park, there is a rock marked staging area that I think hunters use in the fall. There are also some good views toward the mountains.

From Lucy Halls Park I followed the Forest Roads 566 and 331 back to my starting point. The return hike on the accidental loop took 3:00 hours for a total hike of 5:15 hours for about 10 miles. On the return I cut through the wildflower rich T-Down Park.

Lower Hermosa Creek Trail

2011-07-08T16:09:00.000-07:00

The Hermosa Creek Trail System in the San Juan National Forest has 14 designated trails that offer multi use opportunities for hikers, bikers, horses, and motorized. The South Hermosa Trail Head is about 10 miles north of Durango in southwest Colorado. Turn west from Highway 550 at County Road 201 just north of the bridge across Hermosa Creek and just south of a railroad crossing.

It is a few miles of paved county road and gravel Forest Road 576 to the well developed trail head area. There are campsites associated with the trail head and there are facilities for horse trailer parking. Hikers starting here can follow the Hermosa Creek Trail or the Jones Creek Trail.

I followed the Hermosa Creek Trail which follows high along the shoulder of Hermosa Creek. The forest at the start is Ponderosa Pines and Gambel Oaks with Spruce and Fir visible along the creek. The Hermosa Creek Trail doesn’t get any ATV use as it is too narrow. Mountain bikes and horses pass along here with hikers.

An interpretive sign at the trail head says that these are old growth Ponderosa Pines and there are some particularly large examples along the trail. I didn’t see any large wildlife but elk and black bears live in this area along with elusive bobcats and coyotes.

After a couple of miles there are some views across the canyon toward some of the peaks to the west. Aspen trees also start to appear. There are several small creeks that cross the trail.

After about 3.7 miles there is a trail junction with the Dutch Creek Trail. The trail junction is clear but I didn’t see any trail signs. I stayed left on the Hermosa Creek Trail that descended about 500 feet of elevation in about 1 mile to a small bridge and a campsite area. It took me about 2:05 hours to arrive at the bridge and I turned around there.

My return hike took 2:15 hours for a total hike of 4:30 hours for about 9 miles. On the return there was a 15 minute sprinkle of summer rain. I carried and drank 3 liters of water on an 80 F degree day. During my hike I saw 4 bikers and 2 other hikers. There was a crew with 4 horses doing some spraying of noxious weeds.

Glade Guard Station Trail in Summer

2011-07-02T07:16:00.000-07:00

The Glade is a wide and long meadow area in the western part of the San Juan National Forest in southwest Colorado. The hiking access that I used is about 15 miles north along Forest Road 504 from the Bradfield Recreation area on the lower Dolores River. At 14 miles the Forest Road passes the 50 acres Glade Lake, a good waterfowl bird watching site.

The Glade extends east and west for about 2 miles between Forest Roads 504 and 514. I think the mountain in the distance is called Glade Mountain. In the spring, there is a lot of water flowing through the Glade, but in early July the streams were dry. Besides Glade Lake, there are some other wetlands ponds in the area. There are a fair amount of wildflowers throughout the meadow area.

Besides the waterfowl at Glade Lake, I had the luck to see a small herd of Elk resting among the Ponderosa Pines along the north edge of the Glade. Most of the group was lounging in the shade. I might have missed seeing them if two of the group hadn’t ventured out into the open.

They retreated back into the forest when I got to within about 200 yards. From the distance I thought there were about 15 animals in the herd. Besides the Ponderosa Pines, this section of forest has many Aspens and Gamble Oaks.

Toward the east end of the Glade there is a Forest Road Junction of roads 514 and 497. At this junction the historic Glade Guard Station is visible.

The station was established in 1905 and was very isolated at the time. The existing structures were built in 1916 and the station continued to operate until the 1970s when it fell into disuse. There is a current volunteer project to restore the structures and make them available for public rental.

The main thrust of the restoration is to preserve the past, with former forest workers providing the momentum. I just observed from a distance, as it appeared that work was going on during my visit to the area.

I explored into the forest in the area above the junction of 514 and 497. From here I could see one of the wetlands areas but didn’t go over to it. Along a cow trail that followed a fence line I had a Black Bear sighting.

The bear stepped out of the brush and stood up for about 5 seconds, seemingly very calm. It then ducked back into the brush in an unhurried manner. Elk herds and Black Bear on the same hike is a rare double.

Besides the Glade, I did some hiking in the forest area between Glade Lake and the Glade. I started my hike at Glade Lake. Compared to the spring, the water level is lower with a wider band of dark green wetlands vegetation. I just took a quick glance at Glade Lake, but I think I saw American Coots, Shovelers and Redhead ducks.

There are several fence lines in the area, usually with cow trails along them that a hiker can follow. My total hike was for 3:00 hours for about 6 miles. It was a 95 F degree day in the Cortez, CO area but comfortable in the forest. I carried and drank 2 liters of water.

Animas Mountain Trail-Durango

2011-06-14T12:10:00.000-07:00

The Animas Mountain Trail is one of the Durango, Colorado in town trails. The main loop is about 6.2 miles with a starting elevation of 6600 feet and a high point at about 8100 feet. This is a good trail system during the early summer when the higher mountain trails still have snow.

I used the West 4th Street trailhead that is west from Highway 550 at 32nd street, then north on narrow 4th Street to a rough gravel parking area. I didn’t see any street signs pointing out the trailhead. From the trailhead, the trail is a rough rocky road that climbs steeply at first.

The lower elevation south section of the trail system has several confusing options, but there are map signs at each junction. Even with the signs, it seemed like there were some unofficial trail options that can cause confusion. To the west of the Animas Mountain Trail System there is another trail system called the Dalla Mountain Park that connects. There is access to the Dalla system along Junction Creek Road.

The east side of the ascending loop has the best views. The early segment has views mostly south toward the town of Durango. In mid June the Animas River is running full.

The forest along the east side is dominated by Gambel Oaks with a mix of Pinon Pines and Utah Junipers, Ponderosa Pines, and a few Rocky Mountain Red Junipers. Toward the north end of the area there are some spruce trees. After about 1.5 hours and about 3 miles there is a small bench. From the bench there are views toward Missionary Ridge and north up the valley toward the nearby mountains. Below, the cut off meanders of the Animas River are visible.

The north high point of the Animas Mountain loop overlooks the Falls Creek Archaeological Area and the hidden valley. The Animas Overlook Interpretive Trail overlooks this same area from the west. There are also some views toward the LaPlata Mountains to the west. It took me about 2:00 hours to arrive at this overlook.

The return west side of the loop passes through mostly Ponderosa Pines without any more views. My total hike for about 6.2 miles took 3:15 hours on a 70 F degree mid June day. I saw about 5 other hikers and 3 mountain bikers while I was hiking. I carried and drank 2 liters of water.

Ramparts Hills Loop Trail-Echo Basin

2011-06-01T06:46:00.000-07:00

The Ramparts Hills Loop Trail circles around the south part of the Ramparts Hills, an igneous rock outcrop in the Echo Basin area of the San Juan National Forest in southwest Colorado.

The Echo Basin Road is a north turn off of Highway 160 about 3 miles east of Mancos. Forest Road 566 continues where the pavement ends. It is about 7 miles to the trailhead area near the junction of Forest Road 566 and Forest Road 331, known as the T-Down Park and corral.

The trailhead is marked in two places, on opposite sides of a primitive campsite area. The trailhead elevation is about 9200 feet. In late May, a lot of snow is visible on the mountains just to the east. The trailhead area is mostly Ponderosa Pine and Aspen forest.

I followed the trail counter clockwise. The first segment turns west and follows a creek downhill through a shady forest section with Aspens and Spruce Fir forest. In late May, there were still patches of snow in the shady spots. The Aspen trees were just starting to show green leaves.

I had a Black Bear sighting along this segment. The bear was following the trail heading straight for me, about 100 feet away. I pulled my camera out and made a noise at the same time, and the bear immediately turned into the Aspens and disappeared. I got a picture but not a good one.

The trail emerges between a gap in the Ramparts cliffs and winds downhill crossing the same creek three times.

There are some views to the southwest toward Mesa Verde and Sleeping Ute Mountain with several reservoirs visible. This lower area is good elk winter pasture.

After 1:20 hours of hiking through forest and along the creek, there is a segment of trail along a minor forest road. Along this segment there is the ruin of an old cabin.

The cabin is near a large meadow with good views back toward the cliffs. The trail junctions with the road segment are clearly marked. Lupines and Larkspurs were in bloom and Iris was almost in bloom.

The return segment climbs about 800 feet through Gambel Oak forest along another creek. At the base of the cliffs there is a large meadow and then a segment through Aspen forest back to the trailhead. My hike took 3:00 hours for about 6 miles. It was a 58 F degree end of May day. I carried and drank 2 liters of water. I didn’t see any other hikers during my visit.

Dolores River at Big Gypsum Valley

2011-05-22T18:35:00.000-07:00

The Big Gypsum Valley is 34 miles east of Dove Creek, CO along Colorado Route 141. It is a BLM area that is north of Disappointment Valley and south of the Paradox Valley.

Thirteen miles northwest along the gravel road there is an access to the Dolores River that is used by rafters. The Gypsum Valley site is 55 river miles downstream from the Bradfield access and 36 serpentine miles upstream of Bedrock. Like the Paradox Valley, the Dolores River flows across the Gypsum Valley rather than down it, exiting one deep canyon and entering another.

The floor of the Gypsum Valley is grassland and supports some grazing activity. Along the valley edges there is some Pinon and Juniper forest. On the north side the Wingate, Kayenta, and Navajo sandstone layers are visible sitting on the Chinle layer. There is mining activity on the south side. The last three miles of gravel road becomes more of a dirt road after passing the mining sites.

I stopped at about 12.5 miles below a pinnacle formation that I think is called the Psycho Tower. This is a formation that rock climbers know and there is a trail leading up toward it. There are more climbing sites in the next 2 miles along the dirt road that are similar to the Indian Creek climbing area that is on the way to the Needles District of Canyonlands National Park. I started hiking down river along the road below the Psycho Tower.

The road is level and smooth and provides easy walking. In the distance there are some views of the La Sal Mountains. From where I started it is 0.5 miles to the turnoff for the boat launch site. There are three covered picnic table camp sites at the launch site, but otherwise no facilities. The busy season for rafting on the Dolores River is May and June.

There wasn’t any activity here during my visit but the flow appears to be unusually low. I checked the web site info for flow at Bedrock for the time that I hiked and it was 200 cfs. This is too low for rafting and well below the median value of 1070 cfs for the day I visited. The discharge from the McPhee Reservoir has been 75 cfs for the previous week, after spending some time at 500 cfs. The historic average discharge for this time of year is about 1400 cfs.

The area where I started hiking had many cottonwood trees, but downstream from there Tamarisks had taken over. It looked like there has been work to remove the Tamarisks, but there is more work to do.

About 2 miles along the route, there is a bridge that crosses the river. After this bridge the Dolores swings around a bend to the left and enters the serpentine area of the Dolores River Canyon Wilderness Study Area. I turned around at the bridge, but the road continues into the Little Gypsum Valley and I could see side roads that visited the opposite side of the river across from the launch site.

While hiking, I was checking the large boulders for petroglyphs. The only panel I found was very close to where I started my hike.

My total hike took 2:15 hours for about 4 miles. It was a 74 F degree late May day and I carried and drank 2 liters of water. I only saw 2 other people during my visit to this area.

Falls Creek Archeological Area

2011-05-08T09:13:00.000-07:00

The Falls Creek Archaeological Area is a 1500 acre section of the San Juan National Forest in a hidden valley on the northwest side of Durango in southwest Colorado. The trail head is in the Junction Creek area, reached by a west turn at 25th Street off of Highway 550. After the road name changes to Junction St, there is a north turn on County Road 205. At the north turn, there is a sign pointing out Falls Creek.

This 1500 acre area of the forest preserves archaeological sites from the Ancestral Pueblo Basketmaker period of 1500 to 2500 years ago. The area is divided in half by County Road 205 with the western half closed to all activity including hiking. There is a network of trails open in the eastern half of the area. I started my hike at the interpretive sign, but there are other pullover places along road 205 where hiking or mountain biking could start.

The valley floor is very flat and grassy with impressive cliffs on both sides near the trailhead. After a short distance, there is an option to hike on the east shoulder above the valley floor. At the top of the east shoulder, there are some views into the main Animas Valley area that is north of Durango.

The most obvious feature of the closed area is a large alcove in the cliffs above the grassy fields. A sign along the road says there is the Basketmaker Trail going up, but it is only used during special tours. Brief information on the Forest Service web site says there are two rock shelters, but only one is obvious.

Many artifacts from the shelters were found during excavation, but it isn’t mentioned where these artifacts are now. It is mentioned that the rock shelters have pictographs on the back walls.

In the north segment of the trail, the route descends steeply from the shoulder down to Falls Creek. The forest along the early segment of trail is mostly Pinon Pines and Junipers with Gambel Oaks. There are a couple of small bridges to cross the creek. In the creek area, there are more Ponderosa Pines and I saw one spruce. I continued a short distance further north into Ponderosa Pine forest and turned around after 1:00 hour of hiking.

The north part of the valley floor area includes a wetlands area. The interpretive sign at the trail head mentions that the Basketmakers grew corn and squash in addition to hunting deer, rabbits, turkeys, and porcupine, and gathering.

While hiking, near the wetlands, I could hear the continuous croaking of frogs, but didn’t see any ducks. There would have been Pinon nuts and acorns to find here. Native grasses and Yucca fibers were used to manufacture baskets, rope, sandals and bags.

There is some additional information on the Falls Creek area at the Animas Historical Museum, located nearby at 31st Street and West 2nd Avenue. The Museum is itself an historical site, the old Animas City School built in 1904-05. The school served until 1967. Restoration began in 1978 and is ongoing.

The Museum information mentions that the shelters were discovered in 1937. In addition to the two rock shelters, there is a talus slope village site. From the hiking area, one of the shelters is clear, but the second shelter and the talus slope locations are vague.

The sites were excavated by Dr. Earl Morris in 1940. Dr. Morris is also known for work around Mesa Verde and the Ute Mountain Park area. One of the hikes offered at Ute Mountain visits the Morris 3 site.

The people here were identified as from the Basketmaker II era and evidence of house construction was uncovered. The house description sounds like the interpreted early pit houses that are on display on the Mesa Top Tour at Mesa Verde.

There are a few artifacts on display at the museum. The people manufactured tools from the local stone and bone resources that are mostly still visible. There were also materials, like obsidian, lignite and shells found that are not locally available and could only have been traded into the area.

These imported materials were often used in making beads and pendants for personal use. These personal artifacts were considered important as giving clues to the spiritual and emotional life of the residents.

My hike from the introductory sign to beyond Falls Creek lasted for 2:00 hours on a 70 F degree early May day. I saw one other hiker and several mountain bikers during my hike.

Dolores River at Bradfield

2011-04-21T06:15:00.000-07:00

The Bradfield Recreation Site is known as the upstream launch point for rafting trips on the lower Dolores River in southwest Colorado. It is located about 5 miles east of Pleasant View, CO and about 12 miles downstream of the McPhee Dolores River Dam.

At the entry point to the Bradfield site, there are some old ranch structures remaining from the big valley ranch era and some fading interpretive signs explaining the ranching history of the area and some facts relating to rafting on the Dolores River. Near the interpretive signs, there is a dirt road leading into the Lone Dome State Wildlife Area that heads upstream for about 2 miles, providing some scenic hiking in this area.

This route is probably mostly used by trout fishermen. The road stays close to the canyon side, cutting through the Pinon Pine and Juniper forest. From the dirt road, there are places to turn off and access the river bottom area and the bank. The main forest road that leads to the area below McPhee Dam is visible across the sparkling stream.

Besides trout, the Dolores River here provides habitat for River Otters, Beavers, Deer, Elk, Peregrine Falcons, and Turkeys. Bald Eagles can be sighted in the winter months After the construction of the McPhee Dam ensured year round flow in 1988-91, the Colorado Division of Wildlife transplanted 20 Otters to this area.

In mid April 2011, there are signs of a recent forest fire. It looked like most of the large trees survived, the branches showing spring buds despite the scorching on the trunks. About two weeks after the blaze, the burned area is starting to recover with some green grass poking through.

At the end of the dirt road, there are some large rocks placed to form a pool, raising the level and diverting some of the flow into a water management project. Along this last segment, there is a small ditch, a flow measuring flume, and some small water control structures. My total hike here took 1:50 hours for about 4 miles. It was a 56 F degree mid April day.

Dolores River Canyon at Bedrock

2011-04-07T03:36:00.000-07:00

The turnoff for the Bedrock landing site on the lower Dolores River is at the historic Bedrock Store. Bedrock is in the Paradox Valley along Route 90 in southwest Colorado, about 37 miles east of the LaSal Junction that is south of Moab, Utah. At the landing site, there is a 3 mile trail up into the Dolores River Canyon to the junction with LaSal Creek.

I had hoped to visit the Bedrock Store, but in April 2011, the store is closed and has For Sale signs posted. It is about 1 mile of gravel road from the store to the landing site. According to the interpretive sign at the Bradfield Bridge launch site near Pleasant View, CO, Bedrock is 97 river miles downstream.

The nearest upstream launch is in the Big Gypsum Valley, 36 miles through the Dolores River Canyon Wilderness Study Area. The hike follows the Dolores River upstream into the Wilderness Area.

At the launch point, there is an interpretive sign providing information on the Dolores River and some camp sites. At the south end of the camp sites, there are several rough roads leading south. It is confusing, but any of these roads can be used to start the hike. After about 20 minutes of hiking, these roads merge and change into a trail.

On the day I hiked, the USGS data for Bedrock indicates that flow was 200 cfs, about average for early April. The USGS water data web site also has information on water temperature and specific conductance. Flow of 200 cfs is the minimum recommended for canoes and is too low for rafts. The releases from the McPhee Reservoir, about 110 miles upstream were 50 cfs during March and early April as the reservoir is still filling for the irrigation season. The inflow to McPhee at Dolores, CO was 479 cfs on April 6, 2011.

After about 1 mile, the trail turns west. The geologic layers of sandstone that are pointed out in the National Parks are visible here. The massive cliffs of the Wingate are under the Kayenta, Navajo, and Entrada, and sitting on the Chinle layer. The vegetation features Pinon Pines and Junipers, with some large sagebrush fields. The river bottoms area has a lot of Tamarisk. About midway along the trail, I saw a rock wall that looks like a ranching artifact. There was a pile of old tin cans in the vicinity.

About 2.5 miles down the trail there is a petroglyph site on several large boulders. The largest panel is close to the trail and easily visible. The same large boulder has a second panel on the back side. I saw other images on two other boulders. I arrived at the petroglyph site after 1:40 hours of hiking.

There is a variety of images and inscriptions here. The oldest date that I could see says 7-25-1930. There are several sets of bear tracks among these images. There is a minor trail to follow to look at the several boulders in the area.

In the upper left corner of the main panel, there appears to be a Barrier style, broad shouldered figure, and an image that resembles the Birthing Scene that is well known near Moab, Utah.

At the junction with LaSal Creek, the trail seems to end. The confluence of the clear water of LaSal Creek with the silty Dolores River can be seen at the junction. It took me 2:30 hours to arrive at the junction and I turned around here. My return hike took 1:40 hours for a total hike of 4:10 hours for about 6 miles. I carried and drank 2 liters of water on an early April day. It was 48 F degrees at 10:40 AM and 68 F at 2:50 PM when I finished.

Another hiking opportunity in this area is the Paradox Trail. There is an alternate route of the Paradox Trail along the River Road, leading to the confluence of the Dolores River and the San Miguel River. The Hanging Flume is also in the area.

Gypsum Gap Rockshelter

2011-04-06T07:16:00.000-07:00

Gypsum Gap is a pass between the Disappointment Valley and Big Gypsum Valley along Route 141 in southwest Colorado. On the south side of the Gap is a natural rock overhang with several petroglyphs and other inscriptions from the past.

The turnoff isn’t marked but it is only a short walk to view the site. There is a good interpretive sign in front of the alcove that provides some information on possible meanings and the importance of these clues to the past. There is also information on how the visitor can help preserve these sites. This area is in the canyons and valleys to the east of the lower Dolores River. Despite the dry climate, the lower Dolores area is rich in rugged scenery and this type of site.

The evidence found here indicates that the earliest inhabitants may have been here as early as 5500 BC. Later, the Ancestral Pueblos, Utes and Navajo used this site. Each of these groups left images among the 11 panels that have been identified.

Boggy Draw in Winter

2011-01-10T04:59:00.000-08:00

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 Boggy Draw Trails are open to bikes, horses, and hikers and cross country skiers and the special and very long Boggy Draw OHV Trail is open for motorized use. The access road is cleared to a parking area at the trailhead and Forest Road 527 has a closed gate. There are several options from the trail head area including both sides of the Boggy Draw Loop, the OHV Trail, Forest Road 527, and connections to the Bean Canyon Trail and Mavericks Trail not very far.

I stayed on Forest Road 527 hiking with snow shoes. A snowmobile track made 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. There aren’t many view points or specific points of interest that a snow shoe hiker could reach here, but on a blue sky day the green of the pines and the white of the deep snow make this a good outdoor experience.

I hiked for about 1.5 miles to the junction with Forest Road 527B in 0:45 minutes and turned around there. There is a small constructed pond at the junction. My total hike took 1.5 hours for about 3 miles. It was a 26 F degree early January day. There were five other vehicles in the parking area but I didn’t see any others while I was hiking.

Animas River Trail in Winter-Durango

2010-12-28T16:07:00.000-08:00

The Animas River Trail is about seven miles of paved all season trail along the scenic Animas River in Durango, Colorado. The route began to take shape in the 1970s and continues to lengthen as the years go by.

I started my hike at the Santa Rita Park and hiked north. The Santa Rita Park is a short distance south of the junction of Highway 550 and Highway 160 on the west side of 550. This is an easy access if you are arriving in Durango from the west. There is a visitor information center at Santa Rita Park and also a Whitewater Park. During the summer months kayaks and rafts are frequently visible in this area.

There are many interpretive signs along the trail. North of Santa Rita is a view of Smelter Mountain and the site of the San Juan and New York Smelter that opened in 1882. The smelter closed in 1930, only to reopen during World War II for Uranium and Vanadium processing. All the buildings and tailings were removed by 1992. It is possible to hike to the top of Smelter Mountain from trails a little further south.

In 2011, the historic Durango Power Plant has been restored and converted into the Discovery Museum. The emphasis of the displays is hands on science activity for children, but the historic boiler room and examples of the historic machinery are also on dislplay.

The segment near the historic Main Street Bridge and Rotary Park has several interesting features. The trail crosses a bridge that is parallel to a Durango to Silverton rail line bridge and the Colorado Division of Wildlife has a facility just north of the bridge.

There is a short nature trail leading into the Wildlife facility which includes a hatchery for Cutthroat Trout. The nature trail has interpretive signs explaining the importance of riparian, or stream side habitat. There is also a display on Elk with an interpretive sign explaining the activity for each season.

In winter, the elk descend from the high country to lower elevation pastures, where they sometimes find traditional areas now covered with houses.

The Colorado Cutthroat is a true native of Colorado while the Rainbow Trout is an import from the Pacific Northwest. This display is only a short distance off the main trail.

There are several examples of public art along the Animas River Trail. The sunflower is just south of the parallel trail and railroad bridges. There is also a colorful Trout Wall art work south of the Main Street Bridge.

It took me 1:30 hours to arrive at the Durango Recreation Center, the north end of the west side trail branch. It is possible to go a little further north on the east side branch. My total hike took 3:10 hours including a lunch stop near the Durango to Silverton Train Station. I hiked for 7 or 8 miles on a sunny and mild 36 F late December day. There were many joggers and dog walkers and a few bike riders also enjoying the trail during my hike.

Carpenter Natural Area Trail

2010-11-12T17:02:00.000-08:00

The Carpenter Natural Area is a 72 acre area on the north and west side of Cortez in southwest Colorado. The area features a broad paved trail with a network of primitive trails along a creek with rocky mesas on the north and south sides.

Officially, the sidewalk heading north along the west side of Mildred Road from Empire Street is the beginning of the east side trail access, but anywhere in the Parque de Vida could be used as a starting point. I started in the parking area for the Cortez Recreation Center and hiked past the pond on the west side. In mid November dozens of Canada Geese are grazing on the grassy lawn and floating in the pond.

I didn’t see a sign but the sidewalk route turns west at Hospital Drive and continues past the south side of the hospital complex downhill following a drainage. At the east end there is a small pond surrounded by cottonwood trees with cattails on the edges of the pond. Most of the natural area appears to be sagebrush fields with scattered Junipers and other desert grasses and shrubs.

At the entrance it is noted that the trail was made possible by the City of Cortez and the Colorado Dept. of Transportation. There is a plaque near the pond commemorating the donation of the land by the Chism Family.

Past the pond a mesa top area appears along the north side. Most of the primitive trails that branch off the paved trail explore the mesa top area. I followed the paved trail to the west end, where there is a parking area and followed a side trail that circled around the mesa top and climbed along the north side. It appeared that most visitors use the west side access that is along Lebanon Road north of Highway 491.

From the mesa top area there are good views toward the LaPlata Mountains and Mesa Verde. The mesa top area looked like a good location for an Ancestral Pueblo ruins site, but I didn’t see anything. My total round trip hike from Parque de Vida took 1:30 hours for about 3 miles. It was a 45 F degree sunny mid November day. In the fall of course, no flowers are in bloom and not many birds are active, but the paved trail probably makes this a good all season short hike.

Dolores River-Lone Dome in the Fall

2010-11-09T05:08:00.000-08:00

The Lone Dome Recreation Area is the 12 mile stretch of the Dolores River from below the McPhee Dam to the Bradfield Bridge, east of Pleasant View in southwest Colorado. Forest Road 504 provides easy access parallel to the river. In this area the Dolores River is changing from an alpine stream to a canyon stream. The flow is controlled at the dam.

There are two campgrounds in the area. I drove seven miles along the road and started hiking upstream at the Ferris Canyon campground, which has about seven camp sites and appears to be open all year. There is a short trail from the campground to the banks of the Dolores.

The campground has an interpretive sign discussing bald eagle sightings in the area. They can be best spotted in winter months hunting fish and birds from the cottonwood trees, and eagles also take advantage of winter killed deer and elk.

The easiest walking is along the gravel road. In fall, as well as spring there isn’t much traffic along here. The south side of the road close to the river is mostly open grassy fields that also provide easy walking. About 1.5 miles east of the Ferris Canyon campground are the ruins of two old log cabin structures.

The Forest Service map of the San Juan Forest shows a site for the Lone Dome Ranger Station, the first ranger station of the Montezuma National Forest in 1912. I looked for an interpretive sign to provide more information, but didn’t see one.

There is a pullover area along the gravel road with an old trail leading to these riverside structures. There are also some ranch related structures close to the road.

Along the north side are sandstone cliffs that look like they could support Ancestral Pueblo ruins sites. The well watered location with oak, Pinon Pine and Junipers, and Ponderosa Pines, and a broad canyon bottom looks like a favorable location, but I didn’t spot any ruins from the road in the south facing cliffs.

In the north facing cliffs there is a small alcove that looked interesting as an possible archaeology site, but it was a long distance away. My total hike from the campground to the cabin ruins took 1:40 hours for about 3 miles. It was a 55 F early November day.

Colorado Trail at Kennebec Pass & Taylor Lake

2010-09-22T05:08:00.000-07:00

The very scenic Kennebec Pass is 26 miles of trail from the Durango Trail head of the Colorado Trail in southwest Colorado. A trail access point in the vicinity is northwest along the Junction Creek Road, Forest Road 171. Drive past the Animas Overlook Interpretive Trail for 10.9 miles on the bumpy but drivable road to road 171N that makes a left turn. After 0.7 miles on 171N, the Colorado Trail crosses with space for parking. The trail head elevation is about 10,200 feet.

The first segment of trail climbs steeply with switchbacks through spruce and fir forest along the south flank of Olga Little Mountain. After the switchbacks the trail emerges from the forest and crosses a long scree slope with views south to 12,518 foot Snowstorm Peak and 12,388 foot Cumberland Mountain. Along the scree slope I heard and saw several of the rabbit relative pikas that mountain hikers like to see.

It is 3.1 miles from the road 171N starting point to the 11,680 foot Kennebec Pass. At the pass there is a side trail up to a small mining ruins site that sits on the northeast shoulder of Cumberland Mountain. Olga Little Mountain is on the north side of the pass. This segment of trail appears on the maps as the Slide Rock Trail, but all the signs that I saw only said Colorado Trail.

It is another 0.6 miles from the pass to the parking area that is at the top of LaPlata Canyon. The LaPlata Canyon road is rough at the top and not every vehicle can drive all the way. Along this stretch near the parking area some of the widest mountain views in the area. The San Miguel Mountains in the Lizard Head Wilderness stand out. In midsummer, this is also a very rich wildflower area, but in late September most of the color had faded. It took me 1:40 hours for the 3.7 miles to reach the Kennebec Pass parking area. Along the road just below, there are some artifacts from the LaPlata Canyon mining era visible.

The Colorado Trail continues west and after 1.4 miles reaches a trail junction with the Shark’s Tooth Trail near Taylor Lake. The moderate sized lake sits in the basin below a ridge of peaks. At the trail junction, there are two trail signs giving the mileages to other destinations in the LaPlata Mountains.

The Colorado Trail continues up the slope to the north of Taylor Lake and turns north where it is also known as the Indian Ridge Trail. The Sharks Tooth Trail circles around the south side of Taylor Lake, crosses the ridge, and continues to a trail head on Twin Lakes Road 6.25 miles away. My side hike from the Kennebec parking area to Taylor Lake took 1:20 hours for about 2.8 miles.

The return hike has good views down LaPlata Canyon and across to the west side of Cumberland Mountain and Snowstorm Peak. My return downhill hike took 1:30 hours for a total hike of 4:35 hours for about 10.2 miles. It was 52 F degrees at the start point at 10:30 AM and 62 F at 3:10 on a warmer than average late September day. I carried 3 liters of water and drank most of it.

Ramparts Hills-Echo Basin

2010-09-14T09:49:00.000-07:00

The Ramparts Hills are an igneous rock outcrop in the Echo Basin area of the San Juan National Forest in southwest Colorado. The Echo Basin Road is a north turn off of Highway 160 about 3 miles east of Mancos. Forest Road 566 continues where the pavement ends.

The area near the junction of Forest Road 566 and Forest Road 331 is known as the T-Down Park and there is a corral just west of the junction. The Echo Basin area is promoted as a winter sports area and there is an interpretive sign describing some of the species that winter in the area, including elk and the rare Lynx.

The Ramparts Loop Trail has a trail head near the T-Down corral and there is another trail head at the primitive campsite that is visible about 200 yards to the west. The Ramparts Loop appears to be a new trail as it doesn’t appear on any of the area maps and isn’t mentioned on the Forest Service website trail information page.

The trail is open to horses, bikes, hikers, and motorcycles. The first clockwise segment heads south and enters aspen forest and then passes through a meadow area with good views to the west. Turning west, the trail re-enters forest and descends along the drainages on the south side of the Ramparts Hills.

I only continued for 0:45 minutes and then turned around while still on the south side of the hills. I wasn’t sure how long the loop was, and my original hiking goal was to look for the views that might be on top of the Ramparts Hills.

Near the T-Down corral, Forest Road 331A is visible and leads along the south cliff of the rocky outcrop. There forest on top of the Ramparts is very mixed with Ponderosa Pines, Junipers, Gambel Oak, and maybe some Lodgepole Pines out at the west tip.

It took me about 0:30 minutes to hike out to the end of this segment of road with great views to the west. The road splits at about the halfway point and I stayed to the left. From the view point I could see the Ramparts Loop Trail curving around and heading north, but I couldn’t see where it goes from here.

There are at least four reservoirs visible as well as Mesa Verde and Sleeping Ute Mountain. In mid September, the Echo Basin area is open for Elk Hunting by archers. There were several groups in the campsites preparing for the hunt. I spent a total of 2:30 hours hiking in the Ramparts Hills area, and there are more roads and trail to explore.

Colorado Trail at Junction Creek

2010-08-22T10:17:00.000-07:00

The Durango Trail Head of the 483 mile Colorado Trail is in the Junction Creek area, reached by a west turn at 25th Street off of Highway 550. There are two trailhead choices, the first where the pavement ends and Forest Road 171 begins.

One mile further at the Junction Creek Campground area, there is a second parking area and another access point. From the campground trailhead it is 3.2 miles to the excellent lookout point called Gudy’s Rest. The starting elevation is about 7200 feet and it is about 8000 feet at Gudy’s Rest.

The first 1.6 miles from the campground trailhead follows high on the shoulder above Junction Creek through deep forest thick with Ponderosa Pines, Fir and Spruce, with some Narrowleaf Cottonwoods closer to the creek. In the morning it is shady and cool along this stretch. There are some views across the canyon to some cliff outcrops.

At 1.6 miles there is a small bridge across Junction Creek and the route gets somewhat steeper. The Colorado Trail appears to have been designed with mountain bikes in mind so the grades are moderate compared to other mountain hikes and the surface is mostly smooth and easy to walk on.

On a 70 F degree late August Saturday morning I saw 20 bikers, 12 hikers, and 1 horse rider during my 2:40 hours 6.4 mile hike. This segment is 28 of the 28 total for the whole Colorado Trail. A sign at the trail head shows a map of the 74 miles between Junction Creek and the Molas Lake area.

You don’t realize it but you can see the Gudy’s rest lookout point as you are hiking toward it. The obvious cliffs visible from below feature a comfortable log bench to sit and enjoy the view. It is 1.6 miles of switchbacks from the bridge to the viewpoint. It took me 1:20 hours of fairly easy hiking to arrive.

From the bench there are good views down Junction Creek and toward some of the mountains in the Durango Area. Gudy’s rest is named for Gudy Gaskill, named to the Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame in 2002, and the most influential person in making the Colorado Trail the national jewel hiking, biking, and horse trail that it is.

Animas Overlook Trail

2010-08-22T07:09:00.000-07:00

The Animas Overlook Trail is a 0.67 mile paved interpretive loop in the San Juan National Forest north of Durango in southwest Colorado. The trail head is about 6 miles past the Junction Creek Campground on Forest Road 171. Turn west at 25th Street from Highway 550 to find Junction Creek Road.

The Junction Creek area is the south trail head for the 483 mile Colorado Trail and also has other trail systems popular with mountain bikers.

There are nine interpretive signs along the trail. The overlook near the trail beginning faces the mountains to the north and there is a discussion of the deposition of the sedimentary rocks into layers, later volcanic activity that deposited the minerals that have been found here, and the glacier ice age of 15,000 years ago that carved out valleys and left the jagged peaks where we enjoy hiking. Engineer Mountain and Sultan Mountain can be spotted from here.

Views to the south are toward Durango. The interpretive signs discuss the town’s beginnings as a rail depot for the mining, timber and tourist industry. The wildlife in the forest here features deer and elk, coyotes along with smaller animals like the Abert’s and Red Squirrel.

Black Bears aren’t mentioned but I saw one crossing the road on the return drive. The Animas Overlook is at 8700 feet of elevation and is a transition area from Ponderosa Pine and Gambel Oak mix to a Fir and Aspen mix. Some of the Ponderosa Pines along the trail show scorch marks from a Prescribed Burn, a technique to renew the forest growth.

One of the trees pointed out along the trail is the White Fir. I haven’t seen the White Fir pointed out before in the regional forests. Usually the Douglas Fir is the one that gets pointed out in the Spruce and Fir forest mix, or in the moist canyon areas in Mesa Verde. The Southwest Colorado Wildflower web site mentions Subalpine Fir but not White Fir, so perhaps these are different names for the same tree.

The Douglas Fir isn’t a true fir but more related to hemlocks. The Subalpine Fir has silvery bark with cones that point up from the tops of branches rather than dangle like pine and spruce cones. Douglas Fir has brown bark with some orange tint in the crevices. Douglas Fir cones have distinctive little mouse tails sticking out from the cone scales.

One of the interpretive signs mentions the Falls Creek Archaeological Area in the hidden valley below the overlook. This 1500 acre area of the forest preserves archaeological sites from the Ancestral Pueblo Basketmaker period of 1500 to 2500 years ago. The area is divided in half by County Road 205 with the western half closed to all activity including hiking.

There is a network of trails open in the eastern half of the area. The most obvious feature of the closed area is a large alcove in the cliffs above the grassy fields.

Trimble Point Trail

2010-07-29T19:39:00.000-07:00

Trimble Point is a triangular mesa top area overlooking the McPhee Dolores River Dam in southwest Colorado. It sits to the north of the Beaver Creek Arm of the McPhee Reservoir. The access for hiking is Forest Road 523, which makes a junction with Forest Road 514 about 1.5 miles east of the Salter Y. This area can be reached from both Dolores, CO and from the Bradfield Bridge near Pleasant View, CO. I started my hike 3.6 miles south of the junction next to the small Campbell Reservoir to make the hike about 8 miles. The one lane Road 523 is drivable for about another 2 miles past where I started.

The 2 miles to the end of Road 523 is a very pleasant forest walk, dominated by tall Ponderosa Pines, Gambel Oaks, with Aspens in some spots. At the end of the road I continued south through the forest, slowly for 20 minutes, looking for the canyon rim overlooking the Beaver Creek arm of the reservoir.

To continue west toward Trimble Point I had to backtrack north to get around a side canyon. Moving west, there is another forest road that doesn’t appear on the maps I have. This road is parallel to Road 523 to the south and makes a junction with 523 about 1.2 miles south of where I started hiking. I walked past it on the outbound hike but used it on the return.

There are well developed, fairly easy to follow cow or horse trails that head west across Trimble Point all the way to the end view point. The habitat along here gets a little drier and there are some open grassy areas. I saw several groups of cows grazing in this area and my hiking caused some minor stampedes.

At the trail end point, the best views are toward the junction of the Beaver Creek arm and the main channel. The views toward the McPhee Dam are mostly obscured by the forest. There are also views north toward the Dry Canyon fishing access road that switchbacks down the slope.

Out at the point, the Ponderosa Pines are replaced by the Pinon Pines and Junipers. On the return hike, I followed the cow trail to the small Trimble Reservoir. From the reservoir I navigated north and east until I came to the unmapped side road, and followed it north to the junction with Road 523. It took me 2:30 hours to arrive at the view point and my return hike, using the unmapped side road took 1:40 hours. My total hike was 4:30 hours and I carried and drank 3 liters of water on a 70 F degree late July day.

The River of Sorrows: The History of the Lower Dolores River Valley

Box Canyon Trail-Transfer Campground

2010-07-05T19:18:00.000-07:00

The Box Canyon Trail is part of the San Juan National Forest Transfer Campground network of trails near Mancos in southwest Colorado. The trailhead is about one mile south of the campground along Forest Road 561. The first segment of trail that descends into the West Mancos canyon is also part of the Rim Trail and Transfer Trail loop hike.

The 1 mile descent into the West Mancos canyon is about 500 feet of elevation change through a lush forest of Gambel Oak, Ponderosa Pines, Aspens, and a few Douglas firs. The roar of the West Mancos River can be heard all the way down. Follow the trail signs downstream at the bottom, including the one that sends horses to one river crossing and hikers to another.

The hiker crossing is large log with some upturned branches that provide some help with balancing on the rounded surface. In the middle of the primitive bridge there is a gap between the helpful branches that made me nervous for two steps. Not so bad in July but probably harder during the roaring spring runoff. The horse crossing looked to be shallower water but without a bridge.

Just past the bridge, the trail splits providing an option. I stayed to the left, staying north of Box Canyon Creek and heading for Gray Beal Springs, another 1.25 miles according to the trail sign. The climb to the mesa top has some views down the West Mancos Canyon with some glimpses of Mesa Verde.

This shady climbing segment has more Douglas Firs with some spruce visible deep in the Box Canyon. The other trail option leads toward Coyote Park on the south side of Box Canyon.

The mesa top area has a series of wildflower rich meadows with views toward Mt. Hesperus and the LaPlata Mountains. In early July, I didn’t see any flowing water in the area of Gray Beal Springs, just a dry creek bed. After these lush meadows, the trail looks like an old road and continues east.

The Box Canyon Trail is more or less parallel with the West Mancos Trail, but on the mesa top south of the West Mancos River. Both trails eventually arrive at the old mountain town of Golconda.

I went about 4 miles to the small Box Canyon Reservoir at 9280 feet elevation, about 1000 feet above the West Mancos River. There was another view of the LaPlatas, and very long distance views back to the west. I could see the Bears Ears way out in southeast Utah. I also saw a coyote near the reservoir, scampering along the edge of edge of the patch of Aspens.

It took me 2:15 hours to reach the small reservoir and 2:00 hours to return for a total hike of 4:15 hours for about 8 miles. In early July, it was about 62 F degrees at 9:30 AM when I started and about 80 F degrees at the 1:45 PM finish. I carried and drank 3 liters of water.

It is possible to access the distant end of the Box Canyon Trail using the Box Canyn Spur Trail that begins in Echo Basin, east of Mancos, CO

Weber Canyon Trail

2010-06-25T05:21:00.000-07:00

The Weber Canyon Trail is the dirt road segment of County Road 41 between Weber Mountain and Menefee Mountain south of Mancos in southwest Colorado. County Road 41 is an extension of South Main Street. The route changes from paved to gravel to dirt as it goes south.

I started my hike 5.6 miles south of the intersection of South Main and Highway 160 at a point a little beyond the start of the dirt road segment. This whole route can be easily driven and a hike could start anywhere.

Both Weber Mountain and Menefee Mountain are BLM land areas but seem to have few public access points. They both look like detached islands of Mesa Verde, with the sandstone cliffs and Pinon Pine and Juniper forests. Weber Mountain on the west is 6303 acres and Menefee Mountain to the east is 7089 acres.

Both areas rise 1500 to 2000 feet and are supposed to be rich in wildlife. The Pinon Pines here don't seem to have suffered from bark beetles like other nearby forest areas. There is about 3.5 miles of hiking along the dirt road before a gate that says private property.

About 1 mile before the gate there is a vaguely marked section where both Weber and Menefee can be accessed from the same point on the road. This section is about 0.25 miles long and is just south of a series of three ponds. At the end of the access segment there is a BLM sign that says no access to public lands beyond this point.

The access west to Weber Mountain has a fence around it and there is a deep eroded wash to cross before reaching the mountain slopes. This might be the only access to Weber and there are several obstacles. Menefee Mountain to the east has several points where it can be accessed including across from the fence. The hike along the road was scenic and there was no traffic.

I didn’t see any trails but I tried hiking uphill on the Menefee side. The lower part of the slope was open enough to climb without much trouble and there is a shelf area that isn’t very hard to reach. I went a little above the shelf but there are layers of steep cliffs above and I stopped about halfway to the apparent top.

There are some good views up above but mostly the forest is thick and the views are blocked. I haven’t seen any information that there are ruins sites on Menefee or Weber Mountain. I didn’t see any sign of ruins in the limited area where I hiked. I scanned the cliffs that I could see from the road but didn’t spot anything.

It took me 1:20 hours to hike the road segment and I spent about 1:30 hours climbing up the Menefee slope. My total hike was 4:30 hours on a warm late June day. I started at 8:30 when the temperature was 70 F degrees and it was 85 F at 1:00 PM when I finished. I carried and drank 3 liters of water.

There is a similar hiking opportunity on the west side of Weber Mountain. County Road 38 runs between Mesa Verde on the west and Weber Mountain but access to the public lands is blocked by private property, only the views are available. A highlight of the alternate hike is that the Mancos River flows close to County Road 38.

Aspen Loop Trail

2010-06-10T17:15:00.000-07:00

The Aspen Loop Trail is a 40 mile route in the San Juan National Forest near Mancos in southwest Colorado. For a hiker the easy access is at the Transfer Campground, a hub for trails in the West Mancos River area.

I started at the parking area just outside the Transfer Campground entrance but you can drive an additional mile along Forest Road 565 to the official ATV Trailhead. The Aspen Loop was developed mostly for ATVs, but is also open to mountain bikes, horses, hikers, everything but full sized vehicles.

The route is a narrow forest road that starts east along the north rim of the West Mancos Canyon. The walking is easy on the relatively smooth surface. There is a parallel West Mancos hiking trail that descends into the canyon and follows close to the stream. Most of the two trails, above and below, passes through thick Aspen forest.

There are a few places where there are views across the West Mancos Canyon but mostly the views are blocked by forest. In early June there are many wildflowers in bloom, blue and yellow Lupines, Larkspurs, and Irises stand out. I saw a few bear tracks in the dusty parts of the trail but no bear sightings. There are two creeks along the segment I hiked. In the moist creek areas some spruce trees appear.

From the Transfer Campground I walked about 3.7 miles to a meadow that is part of the area called Beef Pasture. Climbing up to the top of the meadow, there are some views toward Mt. Hesperus and the LaPlata Mountains. The elevation change from Transfer to the Beef Pasture area is about 870 feet up. My total hike took 3:30 hours for about 7.5 miles on a 65 F degree early June day.

Lost Canyon Exploring

2010-06-01T12:57:00.000-07:00

Lost Canyon is a tributary to the Dolores River, making a junction near the town of Dolores in southwest Colorado. The canyon head area is about 17 miles to the east near the Transfer Campground area in the San Juan National Forest. There is a canyon access to the middle part of Lost Canyon north of Joe Moore Reservoir along Forest Road 559.

I accessed the National Forest from the Millwood access road, County Road 40, a north turn from Highway 184. From the small Sellers and McClane Reservoir at the end of County Road 40 it is 2.9 miles to my starting point, an obscure pullover point along Forest Road 559.

At the pullover there is a two track trail that runs northwest through the Ponderosa Pine forest to a canyon rim. The walking is easy up to the rim but there the trail seems to end. I found a way down through the cliffs and continued north to the bottom of Lost Canyon.

At the canyon bottom I was surprised to find an irrigation canal flowing along the south side. The canal had a rough service road that would provide an easy trail but it was on the other side of the waist deep flowing water. I tried to continue downstream along the canyon slope, but the forest was too thick and I turned back. I noticed a cow path that went upstream and followed it to see if there was a way to cross the canal. The cow trail followed the slope about 100 feet above the canal. After about 0.3 miles I was ready to give up when I spotted the water control structure that is the beginning of the canal. It provides a convenient bridge across.

I continued west on the maintenance trail for about 1.2 miles to a point where there are some cliffs exposed at the junction with a side canyon. There is a short side road off the canal road that leads down into a meadow at the base of the slope below the cliffs. The forest along the canyon bottom appears very lush with some Colorado Blue Spruce, Douglas Firs, and Narrow Leaf Cottonwoods along with the Ponderosa Pines and Aspens. The canal doesn’t capture all of the Lost Canyon flow, some remains in the natural creek. After checking the maps, it appears that this canal provides water to Summit Reservoir.

Climbing the slope above the meadow is similar to the climbs in the Canyons of the Ancients. There isn’t a trail but it can be walked up if you pick your route. The main obstacle is the thickets of scratchy Gambel Oak. I climbed starting at the left end and angling to the right toward the canyon junction point.

On the mesa top it looks like there is a ruins site. There is a large oval of rocks with a smaller room on one end. This is an unusual site compared to the canyon sites further west. The rim location is not unusual, and the water supply below is normal, but the Ponderosa Pine forest is not typical.

There may be other rubble pile structures to find but the area is overgrown with the small oaks and it is both hard to maneuver and hard to see anything. I wanted to explore more under the canyon rim but couldn’t find a painless way to get there.

The views are very good from the rim area. All the local mountains are visible and there is a direct line of sight to Lookout Point at Mesa Verde.

My return hike took 1:50 hours. The slowest part was descending the canyon side back down to the meadow. The walking along the canal road goes fast and the return along the cow path went faster knowing where I was going. The total hike took 4:50 hours on a 70 F degree late May day. This is a moderately hard hike with the climbing and there is some route finding required in the sections without an obvious trail.

Chicken Creek Nordic Trails

2010-05-28T02:45:00.000-07:00

The Little Bauer Loop Trail and Upper Little Bauer is the 4.2 mile southwest portion of the Chicken Creek Cross Country Ski network of trails. This 32 mile system of trails can be accessed from County Roads 40 and 41 north of Highway 184 between Dolores and Mancos in southwest Colorado. In summer this loop system provides easy hiking and biking in the San Juan National Forest.

I started my hike at the end of County Road 40 in the parking area by the small Sellers and McClane Reservoir. From Highway 184, the turn off is marked as the Millwood National Forest access. I didn’t see a sign identifying the reservoir but there is a sign that says cross country ski parking. I started along the road that is marked as Forest Road 236 that starts to the north. The road that bends east after about 150 yards is marked 385D. The 385D road leads east and runs along the north side of Little Bauer Reservoir. In spring the channels carrying water to the reservoirs are flowing with a lot of water.

I detoured around the north side of Sellers Reservoir along a west leading minor ATV trail toward Joe Moore Reservoir. Fishing at Joe Moore Reservoir includes Rainbow Trout, Largemouth Bass, and Green Sunfish. There is a road that follows the east side of Joe Moore Reservoir but it reaches a dead end at private property. There may have been a group of Loons diving in the middle of Joe Moore in late May. From Joe Moore I cut back east and returned to the Bauer Trail walking through the open forest. After rejoining the trail I followed it clockwise.

I didn’t realize I was on the Chicken Creek Ski Trail system until I saw the signs at the junction of the Upper Little Bauer Loop and the Rush Connecter. At that point there are trail signs and a map. The route is marked with blue diamonds posted on the trees.

Along the trail segment south there is an open meadow area with a single picnic table and a fire ring. The trail otherwise mostly passes through Ponderosa Pine forest with and understory of Gambel Oak and a few scattered Rocky Mountian Junipers. Snowmelt water from higher elevations flows under and alongside the trails for part of the way. In late May I didn’t see any wildflowers in bloom here.

The southeast corner of the loop passes very close to County Road 41 and then passes along the north side of Little Bauer Reservoir. The overall route is nearly level and the walking is easy and there are a lot of loop options in this area. I spent 2:10 hours on the Upper Little Bauer and Little Bauer loop on an 80 F windy late May day.

Mud Springs Trail

2010-05-23T09:08:00.000-07:00

The Mud Springs Trail is in a 1.5 square mile BLM area on the southwest side of Cortez in southwest Colorado. This area includes a side canyon of McElmo Canyon and the parking area is along County Road 21 just west of the Cortez Airport. There is a network of trails in the Mud Springs area, some for vehicles and some for hikers, horse riders, and mountain bikers. In 2010 the area is temporarily closed to vehicles as a new management plan is being developed. The parking area appears to be recently built but there aren’t any other facilities and there isn’t any information on the Travel Information sign.

I followed the hiking trail that branches right off the dirt road about 100 yards from the parking area, The trail passes through a sagebrush area and climbs slightly through scattered Junipers and Pinions toward a canyon rim. This side canyon of McElmo is probably the main feature of the Mud Springs area.

There are a few historic inscriptions on the south facing canyon wall from the 1920s. Further down canyon there is an odd cave. It looks like it was partially excavated and might have been used for storage. In the vicinity of the cave it is possible to climb to the canyon rim. On the rim I found a trail that mountain bikers and horse riders are using. This trail leads along the McElmo Canyon rim and has some good views over County Road G.

The horse and bike trail leads west and merges with the vehicle trails at the head of the side canyon. Some of the old vehicle trails have dead branches over them and there are signs saying the area is closed to open vehicle travel. I walked back down canyon to the trail that leads back to the parking area. My total hike in Mud Springs was about 3:00 hours. There are more trails to find here than I covered. I was the only visitor on a windy late May 70 F degree day.

Big Water Spring Trail

2010-05-10T05:55:00.000-07:00

Big Water Spring is located 22 miles north of Bradfield Bridge along Forest Road 504 in the San Juan National Forest in southwest Colorado. The Bradfield Bridge area is a popular boat launch area on the lower Dolores River below the McPhee Dam and Reservoir. The Bradfield Bridge can be accessed from Highway 491 near Pleasant View, Colorado.

Big Water Spring is at the end of the drivable Forest Road and is in an area of wide meadows surrounded by Ponderosa Pines and scattered patches of Aspens. The spring appears to now be in a well box and surrounded by a rail fence. There isn’t any other apparent development in this area. The Canyon of the Dolores River is about 1.5 miles directly west of Big Water Springs and makes a good hiking destination.

A short distance west of Big Water Spring is the Big Water Study Plot. The antique sign says that the plot was established in 1933 and that the plot was grazed in 1944 and 1945. Past the study plot there is a small constructed pond. A horse or cow trail leads west from the pond and can be followed through the forest. After about 0:45 minutes there are views into the wide Dolores River Canyon. Walking through the forest, there are a couple of old roads crossing the trail and perhaps signs of old logging campsites.

This section of the Dolores River Canyon is a little north of Dove Creek, Colorado. There is an old road at the canyon bottom that is good for hiking and biking. This is the part of the canyon that is visible from the publicized overlook that is near Dove Creek. It is possible to walk north and south along the canyon rim here to get different views. I didn’t go further than the rim, but to the south is Mountain Sheep Point which probably has great canyon views. The north facing slopes here support Ponderosa Pines while the south facing slopes are covered with Pinon Pines and Utah Junipers. There are a couple of ranch houses visible on the western rim. My hike here took about 2:10 hours for about 4 miles on a 56 F degree windy early May day.

Glade Lake Trail

2010-05-07T04:42:00.000-07:00

Glade Lake is a 50 acre wetlands area in the western part of San Juan National Forest in southwest Colorado. From the Bradfield Bridge Recreation Area on the Dolores River it is 14 miles north on Forest Road 504. Glade Lake is clearly visible on the east side of the Forest Road.

On the southwest edge there is the remains of an old corral and there is a fence around the site to exclude cattle that is easy to step through. The surrounding forest is Ponderosa Pines with patches of Aspens. There isn’t as much cattail and bulrush here as I was expecting. There is a current multiyear wetlands restoration project that features Glade Lake. The fence that excludes cattle encloses 280 acres around the lake and good vegetation responses have been observed. This project has already received an award from the Forest Service Program Wings Across the Americas, a program focused on birds, bats and butterflies. There are four other wetlands in "The Glade" area that are part of the project.

At the north end of Glade Lake there is what looks like an historic berm with an antique flow control structure, constructed using locally available rocks. It reminded me of the 800 year old water management efforts at Mummy Lake at Mesa Verde National Park.

I spent 0:50 minutes walking completely around the lake clockwise, on a windy 56 F degree early May day. The most common bird I saw was the American Coot, mostly congregating in the center of the lake. Near the edges I saw several Mallards and Northern Shovelers, plus one Eared Grebe and one Canada Goose. A fight of Yellow Headed Blackbirds passed through and there were groups of Swallows. Around the edges were Killdeers. About 1.5 miles north of Glade Lake the Forest Road crosses the area called “The Glade.” This wide level area between forested hillsides had some flowing water and looks like a good area for hiking and apparently has four wetlands areas associated with it.

Can Do Trail

2010-04-18T16:43:00.000-07:00

The Can Do Trail leads 0.5 miles from the McPhee Recreation Complex mesa top campground to the Ridge Point Lookout then continues another 0.5 miles down the cliff face to the boat ramp area.

McPhee Reservoir is centered on the Big Bend of the Dolores River in southwest Colorado. I started at the Ridge Point Lookout and descended most of the way, stopping to avoid the mud from the last of the melting snow. The area to the right of the boat ramp is the site of the former busy lumber town of McPhee which from 1924 to 1948 was the busiest lumber town in Colorado. The best views on the Can Do Trail are along the segment that descends toward the boat ramp.

The mesa top segment was designed as a no barriers trail and has benches every 300 yards. The trail segment leading to the campground area has a bench that is close to the cliffs. This area of forest is mostly Pinon Pines and Utah Junipers. I noticed that most of the rocks along the trail are rounded, as if this area was once a stream bed. There are small patches of sagebrush interspersed among the forested areas.

Among the highlights of the Can Do Trail is a small Ancestral Pueblo ruins site. This site is in the trail segment between the campground and Ridge Point. There is an interpretive sign indicating that this site has a circular tower and several room blocks and dates from around 970 AD. The circular tower is clear but the room blocks are mostly unexposed. The sign also says this site was visited by pot hunters before it was studied by archaeologists. I spent about 1:00 hour for about 2 miles on a 60 F degree mid April day.

Dolores River Big Bend Trail

2010-04-17T16:18:00.000-07:00

The Dolores River Big Bend Trail starts at the interpretive plaque at the east end of the Dolores Cemetery that is on the north side of the river a little downstream of the town of Dolores in southwest Colorado.

The plaque mentions that in 1776 the Escalante Dominguez Spanish exploration party camped at the meadow site that became the community of Big Bend in 1881. When the narrow gauge railroad arrived in Dolores in 1891, the small but colorful town was abandoned.

In 1926 the logging town of McPhee was established nearby. McPhee was one of the busiest logging towns in Colorado until a disastrous fire in 1948 led it to be abandoned also. In recent years the McPhee Reservoir has flooded both sites, leaving the town of Dolores as the survivor of the early era.

The concrete base of the plaque has several historic artifacts embedded, including horseshoes, large spikes, a large key, an odd wrench and some cover plates. The trail to the mesa top to overlook the old sites starts at the back of the cemetery and climbs toward the very large boulder. At the mesa top are two large grassy fields separated by a side canyon. These two grassy areas are clearly visible from the lookout point at the top of the Anasazi Heritage Center Interpretive Trail high on the south side of the Big Bend.

Arriving at the mesa top the walking is easy along the rim to view the McPhee Reservoir or across the grassy field. The eastern grassy field has more sage brush mixed in with grass than the western field.

At the far end, look for old roads that lead down into the short but deep canyon at up the other side to the western field. The same road also leads higher but dead ends at a private ranch. This small side canyon and the cliffs facing the main river have some alcoves that look like possible ruins sites. I checked some of them, but didn’t see anything. There are good views over the Big Bend area, but only near the canyon rim.

The western grassy field had three rubble mounds that looked like small Indian Ruins sites to me. This seemed to be a favorable area with sunny exposure, wide fields for farming and the Dolores River down below. The moderately large Escalante Pueblo is directly across the river on the high hill and some of the shade structures on the hill top are visible. There is a lone Utah Juniper growing on a rubble mound that also looks like a small ruins site.

The three sites form a triangle and are about 250 yards apart. I didn’t see any pottery near the small sites, but saw quite a few shards on the eastern grassy mesa top where I didn’t see anything that looked like a ruins site. The western mesa also had the remains of an old corral and some sort of an old wheeled trailer.

Continuing west, there is an old road that descends west off the mesa down toward the banks of the reservoir. There is a sagebrush field area at the end of the road, and out toward a point there may also be a ruins site. All these sites are somewhat vague, but there are some small mounds and depressions and some brick shaped stones that don’t appear in other areas. My total hike overlooking the Big Bend area was 3:45 hours on a 55 F mid April day.

Pottery Artifacts Close Up

2010-02-10T07:01:00.001-08:00

Hikers on the ruins trails near the Dolores River and the nearby canyons are usually cautioned to leave pottery shards and other artifacts where they are found. A place to examine pottery shards at your leisure is the Anasazi Heritage Center near Dolores, Colorado.

A station in the museum has four dissecting microscopes set up with samples of pottery and other artifacts for a close examination. There are several boxes of samples to look at with interpretive information built into the samples. Very small signs are embedded in the sample cases to explain what you are looking at. It is a very creative exhibit and I haven’t seen anything similar at the other regional museums at Mesa Verde, Aztec Ruins, or Edge of the Cedars.

Some of the features pointed out are the type of temper material added to the clay to prevent cracking. Studying these tiny grains provides clues to when and where the pottery piece was manufactured. The types of paint used can be distinguished under the microscopes also. The subtle differences between vegetal and mineral based black paints are among the examples.

Another of the microscope stations points out how scrapes and residue on a pot or artifact can be useful. One example of a grinding stone showed that the stone was used for grinding shale to use as a pottery material. Usually we think of the grinding stones as mostly used for corn and seeds but closer examination shows other uses.

There is also a station to examine a collection of seeds. The seeds found at the ruins sites show what local plants were used and what might have been obtained by trade with other areas. Among the seeds to be examined were Prickly Pear Cactus and Cattails. Prickly Pear grows nearly everywhere in the nearby canyon areas and Cattails can be found in shallow water at the canyon bottoms. The somewhat famous Woods Canyon Pueblo has Cattail growing in the creek at the base of the site.

Another exhibit where pottery pieces can be handled is an unnoticed drawer below one of the cases of whole pots. The display shows some of the regional styles represented as broken pieces as a hiker might find them. These different styles could be found anywhere due to trade. One of the questions posed is was it the pottery that was traded or was it the contents of the pot.

Before now, a hand lens isn’t on the list of gear most hikers carry except for those with special interest in wildflowers. Some time spent in the Anasazi Heritage Center might inspire the desire to examine these pieces in the field and leave them there for others to do the same.

Datura Pottery

2010-02-08T06:20:00.001-08:00

The Anasazi Heritage Center in Dolores, Colorado has an unusual spiky ancient pottery piece that resembles the seed pod of the toxic Datura plant.

The Datura plant, or Jimson Weed, grows in sandy washes and along roadsides in the Four Corners area. It features a long white tubular flower and every part of the plant is toxic. The flower relies on Sphinx Moths (or Hawkmoths) for pollination. Most parts of the plant contain alkaloid poisons that inhibit the neurotransmitter used by the parasympathetic nervous system.

These drugs relax the muscles and glands controlled by the nervous system and find use as anesthetics and anti spasmodics, but if overdosed can cause delusions and paralysis. The http://www.swcoloradowildflowers.com web site has several good pictures of this plant that were taken in McElmo Canyon west of Cortez.

The Aztec Ruins Museum in Aztec, New Mexico also has a spiky pottery piece. I hadn’t noticed these pieces in my previous visits to these museums, but then noticed them both in the same week.

Many North American groups steeped the leaves to make a tea or chewed the seeds presumably for the hallucinogenic effects. A pottery image has been found showing a human figure with a Datura seed pod body and Sphinx Moth images have been found. Researcher Paul T. Kay has a web site that explores Datura related images in depth and has examples of Datura related images from across the southwest.

The Chuska Puma and Pumas on Parade

2010-01-28T06:55:00.001-08:00

The "Chuska Puma" is a life size mountain lion sculpture in a life like pose painted with Four Corners black on white pottery and rock art designs.

The Puma was on display in the meeting room of the Anasazi Heritage Center near Dolores, CO. In spring 2011 it was moved outdoors to the wildflower bed area. It is part of Pumas On Parade, a public art for public land awareness project by the San Juan Mountains Association. The designs seem to be based on a particular large pot and three petroglyphs. Mountain sheep designs on the lion’s side are relatively common.

The humanoid figure on the back of the neck appears to be the one at the Moab Golf Course panel that is known as ”Moab Man”. The lion figure on the chest seems like a rare one to find. The place to look for it is at Petrified Forest National Park. Ask the ranger at the Painted Desert Inn at the north end of the park. The sculpture was donated to the Heritage Center by the Kinder Morgan CO2 gas company. Hikers in the Canyons of the Ancients area will recognize their contributions to road maintenance in the wilder areas.

There was a Mountain Lion exhibit showing at the Center for Southwest Studies on the campus of Ft. Lewis College from fall 2009 to fall 2010. One of the Pumas on Parade is on display near the exhibit. It appears that there are about 17 Pumas as part of the project.

The next closest to the Chuska Puma is the brilliant blue “Sky Prowler” at the Colorado Welcome Center in Cortez, CO. In 2011 this puma might have changed location to the Southwest Memorial Hospital in Cortez.

There are three Pumas in Mancos, CO. Start at the Mancos Town Hall 117 North Main and find “Leave No Footprints”. This puma is positioned to be best viewed through the large picture window from the sidewalk. On each side the Mesa Verde Cliff Palace is depicted and Lookout Point is on the chest. The painting features a sandy texture.

A short walk to the Mancos Community Center at 130 Grand Avenue finds the puma named “Paradise Found”. This puma is also positioned to be best viewed from the sidewalk through a large window. The theme is the plight of modern wildlife, with a pristine Ute Mountain Park on the sidewalk side and an industrial and traffic scene on the other side.

“La Diosa de las Flores” is decorated with Colorado wildflowers and was displayed at the Valley Inn Nursing Home at 211 3rd Avenue on the north side of Highway 160. In 2011 it might be re-located to the Mancos Welcome Center that is visible on Highway 160.

One of the Pumas is in Moab, Utah. “Puma Ranch Estates” is located at 217 East Center in an outdoors setting that makes viewing all sides easy. This location is across the street from the Moab Museum which features displays on the natural and human history of the Moab area. The Puma design appears to show a land subdivision plan surrounded by some artistic designs.

The “Radiant Cat” is one of the most colorful of the Pumas on Parade. It is outside of the Durango Herald Building at 1275 Main Avenue in Durango, CO. This site is a short walk from the Animas River Trail near the Durango Discovery Museum. In 2011, the puma that was nearby at the Alpine Bank on Main has been relocated.

“Soaring Raven Cat” sits outside the For the Birds store at 2560 East 2nd Avenue in Durango, CO. Keeping with the For the Birds location; two Ravens are positioned on or flying near the blue cat. This puma is across the street from the Animas River Trail as it passes through Rotary Park.

“San Puma de Las Animas y La Plata” is in the small lobby of the Tech Center Plaza building. The turn off from Highway 160 onto Tech Center Drive is a short distance west of the junction of Highways 160 and 550 in the Durango, CO. area. The address of the Tech Center Plaza is 10 Burnett Court. There is a right turn then a left turn from Tech Center Drive.

Escalante Pueblo Trail in Winter

2010-01-10T17:14:00.000-08:00

The Escalante Ruins Trail is the paved Interpretive Trail at the Anasazi Heritage Center near Dolores in southwest Colorado. In winter the1.0 mile round trip trail has been cleared of the heavy snow that makes most of the area trails difficult for normal hiking.

The Escalante Ruins site sits up on a hill overlooking the Big Bend of the Dolores River and the McPhee Reservoir. The Escalante Pueblo is thought to have been built in 1129 and is thought to reflect the building style of Chaco Canyon in New Mexico, even though Mesa Verde is clearly in view.

The Far View Sites Trail in Mesa Verde has pueblo sites that are similar in appearance to Escalante. The T shaped doorways in the surface rooms are found in both sites. The Escalante site is thought to have been remodeled three times, based on the ages of the wood used in the construction.

In winter conditions, the circular Kiva is of interest as this room would have offered the best shelter from the weeks of below freezing temperatures and several feet of snow such as we observe in mid winter now. At Escalante, the Kiva is surrounded by rectangular room blocks, similar to the arrangement at Far View.

In this region, water pipes are buried about 3.5 feet to prevent freezing, so the depth of the Kiva would offer similar protection. The ventilation system and arrangement for smoke to escape make it appear that warmth could be maintained. The interpretive information here indicates that the pottery found here was of the local Northern San Juan style rather than Chaco Canyon style and there are quite a few examples in the museum at the base of the hill. The smaller Dominguez Ruin near the museum entrance was completely covered with snow following a snowy December.

Dolores River Hikes From End to End

2009-12-25T10:25:00.001-08:00

The head waters of the Dolores River are in the Lizard Head Pass area along Highway 145, south of Telluride in southwest Colorado. There are many trails in the headwarters area including a main trail head a little south of the Pass.

The Groundhog Stock Trail starts at the Cross Mountain Trail Head, about two miles south of the Lizard Head Pass in the San Juan National Forest in southwest Colorado.

The Groundhog trail ends at the east end of The Meadows along Forest Road 535, and the south flanks of Mount Wilson come into view. Just west of the Meadows another headwater flows out of Navajo Lake and becomes the West Fork of the Dolores River. Look for the Navajo Lake Trail and the Kilpacker Trail there. There is a network of trails to find in the Lizard Head area and more along the West Fork of the Dolores River. The Geyser Springs Trail leads to the only true geyser in Colorado.

The Bear Creek Trail is just off the 145 highway in the Dolores River Valley, about halfway between Dolores and Telluride, and goes up into the National Forest toward the La Plata Range of the San Juan Mountains in southwest Colorado. The trail alternates between being high on the valley side above the fast running creek or right down along the bank. The Morrison Trail begins at the same trailhead.

The big bend of the Dolores River in southwest Colorado is now flooded under McPhee Reservoir, the second largest lake in the state. There is a little known Big Bend Trail that begins near the Dolores cemetary.

The McPhee Stock Trail starts at the Mataska Recreation Site just below the McPhee Dolores River Dam and climbs out of the Lone Dome Dolores River Canyon to the north rim. A trail from the south rim, also accesses the dam area coming from the Sage Hen area.

On the south bank of the McPhee Reservoir, on the site of the Anasazi Heritage Center, there is a 0.5 mile Interpretive Lookout Trail that describes some of the plants and natural history of the area. This is a good botany trail with many of the key trees and shrubs identified with comments on their possible uses.

In 1776 the first European Explorers, led by two Spanish friars, Escalante and Dominguez, came through this area, searching for a new route to California. They stopped on this hill overlooking the River of Our Lady of Sorrows, the name they just gave it, and examined the ruins, reporting that they looked like the ones they had seen over closer to Sante Fe, NM. There are two excavated ruins sites here named for the two Spanish Explorers.

The Dolores River Canyon is downstream of the McPhee Reservoir and is close to Dove Creek, CO, the pinto bean capital. Driving there you go past rolling bean fields and then turn on to a gravel road and are suddenly descending hundreds of feet into a deep narrow canyon. There is a rocky road along the river for about 12 miles north and a rougher trail afterwards. The Dolores Canyon is deep and very scenic, a clear stream and tall Ponderosa Pines.

The other boat launch sites on the lower Dolores all have hiking opportuities. Bradfield near Pleasant View has 2 miles of old ranch road along the south side of the river as well as the main forest road on the north side that leads to the Lone Dome Recreation area.

The Big Gypsum Valley boat launch has a 2 mile stretch of road along the river where there are rock climbing sites before the stream enters another long section of wilderness canyon.

At Bedrock, there is a 3 mile trail that leads to a good petroglyph site and to the junction with LaSal Creek.

The Paradox Trail is a 105 mile mountain bike trail in western Montrose County, just to the east of the La Sal Mountains. Between Bedrock and Uravan, an alternate section of trail, called the River Road, follows the Dolores River downstream to the confluence with the San Miguel River. The Paradox Trail is named for the odd situation where the Dolores River flows perpendicular across the valley, entering and exiting through steep canyons.

The Dolores and San Miguel start in the same area. The water flowing south from Lizard head Pass near Telluride, flows about 50 miles south in the Dolores River before turning back to the north. Water flowing north from the same pass enters the San Miguel system and flows west. After long journeys apart, the waters rejoin in this remote canyon.

Ridge Point Lookout Trail

2009-11-18T18:14:00.000-08:00

The Ridge Point Lookout Trail is the road in the McPhee Reservoir Recreation Area that leads to the campground, boat ramp and a lookout point. The McPhee Reservoir is Dolores River water in southwest Colorado, a little downstream of the town of Dolores.

In winter, when the normal trails are muddy or snow covered, the paved road provides a hard surface to hike on. The road may be closed to vehicles or it will have very little traffic. It is a 4.2 mile round trip to the lookout point, with the option to continue down to the lake by the boat ramp.

At the lookout point there is a concrete compass with interpretive signs identifying the geographical features around the 360 degree views. This is one of three easy to get to view points in this area. Nearby, the Anasazi Cultural Center Interpretive Trail ends at a good view point. The best view point in the area is at Park Point, the highest point in Mesa Verde National Park.

The views to the north and east include two of the nearby mountain ranges, the LaPlatas and the San Miguels with the reservoir in the foreground. The LaPlata Mountains had a lot of gold mining activity, mostly in LaPlata Canyon a little west of Durango.

Many of the trails in the San Miguels near Telluride still have ruins sites and ghost towns along the way. To the west the Abajo Mountains in Utah are visible. Below the view point is the site of the timber town of McPhee, which prospered in the early 1900s, but is now flooded. McPhee processed the Ponderosa Pines which dominate this part of the San Juan National Forest.

There is the short Can Do Trail running 0.5 miles from the nearby campground to the Lookout Point and then another 0.5 miles down the hillside to the boat ramp area. In winter, the trail will often be snow covered and muddy. The information sign says there is an Anasazi site about half way from Ridge Point to the campground.

This area had one of the largest archaeology projects in history, associated with the reservoir project. There are two excavated sites at the nearby Anasazi Heritage Center and several more on the same hill. This hike takes about 2:00 hours for 4.2 miles. I hiked it on a 45 F degree mid November day, a few days after an early winter storm.

Smelter Mountain Trail in Durango

2009-09-05T06:01:00.000-07:00

Smelter Mountain is the area south west of the intersection of Highways 550 and 160 in Durango in southwest Colorado. It is part of the Bodo State Wildlife Area. Traveling past this relatively dry looking mountain you might notice the many radio antennae on top.

The most popular trail head for hikers is near the junction of Highway 550 and County Road 211. There is a small parking area designated for hikers but no other signs at the trail head. From the trail head the route climbs steeply for about 1 mile with about 1200 feet of elevation gain and provides wide views up and down the Animas River Valley.

I started my hike at a more obscure trailhead about 1 mile south of Road 211 at the west side of the Bodo Park business area. There is a short dirt road that seems to provide service access for the large power line. This southern trail head might be favored by hikers that want to climb the 7844 foot Carbon Mountain.

After the dirt service road ends there is a vague trail that continues up the ridge and swings south toward Carbon Mountain. I didn’t see a clear trail leading to the peak. The Pinon Pine and Utah Juniper terrain gave way to a thicket of Gambel Oak. There may be a peak route that I didn’t see, but at the thicket I turned toward the north and worked my way down to Road 211. The Carbon Mountain climb could be a separate hike from Smelter Mountain, but I did them both as a loop.

County Road 212 makes a nearby junction with 211 and leads to the top of Smelter Mountain and the many radio towers there. The Road 211/212 route is a way to the top for mountain bikers. There is some industrial activity in the Bodo Wildlife Area. Large power lines and gas lines pass through and there is a large stabilized tailings pile that looks like a dam.

In September 2009 there is also construction work for Lake Nighthorse, a new reservoir that is primarily for water supply for several of the Indian Reservations in the Four Corners and also for the cities of Durango and Farmington, NM. A new 280 cfs pump station has been installed on the Animas River near Santa Rita Park. Pumping began May 4, 2009 and as of September 2009 the reservoir is about 20% full. It is estimated that the lake will take 18 months to 3 years to fill. The planned volume is 120,000 acre feet.

Road 212 extends for about 3 miles past numerous towers. There are good views on both sides of the road. The views to the north are of the most interest toward the city center of Durango and the mountains just to the west. After the last radio tower the road transitions into a trail and descends toward the southeast to the Road 211 trail head.

My total hike took 4:45 hours for about 7 miles including my lunch stop in the developed area in the Bodo Park commercial area. Most hikers will probably choose either the Carbon Mountain route or the Smelter Mountain trail and not do both on the same hike. I carried two liters of water on an 80 F day in early September, and drank another two liters at lunch near the finish.

Geyser Springs Trail

2009-08-16T05:28:00.001-07:00

The Geyser Springs Trail is a 1.25 mile each way trip to the only true geyser in Colorado. The trail head is about 23 miles north along the West Fork of the Dolores River Road from the junction with Highway 145 which is about 15 miles north of the town of Dolores. There is also access coming south from Telluride along the Dunton Road south of Lizard Head Pass

The trail head parking area appears to be newly constructed for 2009. The trail immediately crosses the West Fork of the Dolores using some large placed stones. As these stones might be underwater during the spring runoff, late summer and fall are the best times to visit here. The trail head area is about 2 miles south of the Dunton Hot Springs site.

When driving past Dunton, it appears to be a well preserved privately owned mining ghost town. It has a low key appearance but is actually a somewhat fancy resort. Among the attractions of Dunton are the hot springs from the same underground thermal source as Geyser Springs.

The trail climbs from about 8500 feet to 9100 feet through aspen and spruce forest with a few views across the canyon. About 100 yards before the geyser there is a small sign that advises foot travel only into the sensitive geyser area. Well before arriving at the site there are whiffs of sulfur and maybe small puddle hot springs along the trail.

The geyser itself is a small pool and looks like the back wall has been constructed. When I arrived there was a boiling appearance. Warm water overflowing the pool drips down a slope into the creek flowing on the backside.

Viewing from the creek side, there is an old inscription that says J Luther 1901. I suppose this is old enough to consider historic and has an interesting story. The Forest Service information on the Geyser says the water is 82.4 F degrees. I dipped my hand in and the turbid water was warm but not hot. I was interested to see if unusual plants would be growing in the warm micro-climate here. There were ferns lining the pool, but they also grow along the creek, so I didn’t detect anything unusual.

I watched the geyser for about 45 minutes. There was good boiling activity as I arrived and it gradually slowed down to more of a simmer, but the water was never calm. About 40 minutes after I arrived the intensity increased again. The water level at the maximum intensity during my visit was about 1 or 1.5 feet higher than at low intensity. There wasn’t any spurting or jets shooting high in the air. Not spectacular but certainly interesting.

It took me about 30 minutes to arrive at the site and 30 minutes back and I lingered and chatted with other hikers for another hour for a 2:00 hour total visit. It was about 65 F degrees in mid August. I carried 1 liter of water but didn’t need to drink until the end of the hike.

Gold Run Trail

2009-07-31T05:04:00.000-07:00

The Gold Run Trail is a 2.5 mile multi-use route that provides access from Haycamp Mesa to the middle part of the Bear Creek Trail in the San Juan Forest near Mancos in southwest Colorado.

The trail head is about 7 miles north of the Transfer Campground along Forest Road 561. It can also be reached from Forest Road 556 leading east from Dolores, CO The elevation at the trail head is about 10,700 feet and the forest is mostly Engelmann Spruce and Aspens. This trail appears to be popular with horse riders and the trail head area has some extra facilities for managing the horses. The trail switchbacks down the hillside mostly through deep forest with an elevation change of about 1700 feet.

There are a few open meadows spots giving views across the Bear Creek canyon. The Bear Creek Trail has a trail head along Highway 145 about 24 miles north of Dolores, CO. The Gold Run Trail junctions with the Bear Creek Trail at the Bear Creek 6 mile mark. After the junction, the Bear Creek Trail pushes further east toward the LaPlata Mountains and connects with other mountain trails.

There is a bridge crossing Bear Creek at the trail junction and some interpretive signs discussing trout and stream habitat. The life cycle of trout is summarized and the importance of pools and streamside plants is discussed. There was a project here to improve the trout habitat. Logs and rocks were placed in the stream to increase the number of pools and plants were added along the banks. The water here looked crystal clear. The spruce trees along the creek might be called the Colorado Blue Spruce.

I stopped my hike at the trail junction and returned back to the top. I saw one group of horse riders and one group of motorcycles during my hike. Mid-summer wildflowers were good along the trail with a lot of the colorful Indian Paintbrush. Probably due to the use by horses, there were a lot of flies in the meadow at the bottom near the Bear Creek.

The interpretive signs indicated that cattle grazing along Bear Creek was halted in 1987. It took me about 1:00 hour to descend to Bear Creek and 1:20 to climb back to the trail head and my total hike was 2:40 hours for the 5.0 mile round trip. It was about 60 F degrees in late July, partly cloudy and there was a brief shower while hiking back up.

Visitors to the Gold Run Trail area approaching from the Transfer Campground will go past the Jersey Jim Lookout Tower. An interpretive sign indicates that the tower has mostly been retired, with airplanes and satellites now providing the fire lookout coverage.

Old Railroad Grade Trail

2009-07-24T05:11:00.001-07:00

The Old Railroad Grade Trail is a 5.7 miles section of the old Durango and Rio Grande route between Madden Peak Road and Cherry Creek Road east of Mancos in southwest Colorado. Madden Peak Road turns north off of Highway 160 and is signed about 5.6 miles east of Mancos. The Old Railroad Grade is an east turn 1.2 miles along Madden Peak Road and is marked as Forest Road 568.The walking is easy and the road is relatively smooth as you might expect on an old rail grade. This section of trail is advertised locally as an easy mountain bike route. This area is on the southern flank of the LaPlata Mountains. The views from an elevation of 8250 ft. are toward the agricultural area in the valley along Highway 160 and to Menefee Mountain and Maggie Rock, formations with the last of the Mesa Verde sandstone layers. The views are obscured somewhat by two sets of high voltage power lines that parallel the trail.

The forest in the first few miles is mostly Gambel Oak with scattered Ponderosa Pines, with the pines getting more dominant toward the east. About 1 mile along the trail there is a side trail leading 0.75 miles to the Target Tree Campground that is along Highway 160. Another 0.5 miles leads to Aspen Pond, a small pond surrounded by a grove of Aspens.

I hiked about 4.3 miles to the curiously named Starvation Creek that flows right across the road. There are also Aspens growing along the creek and I noticed Douglas Firs and Narrow Leaf Cottonwoods in this moister area.

On the return hike, about 0.5 miles back west of Starvation Creek I saw a Black Bear on the north side of the trail, from about 150 yards away. After a lifetime of never seeing bears on any hike, this was my second bear sighting in the same month. The bear was running up the slope, stopped to look back at me, then climbed over a new looking fence and disappeared over the ridge. For the second time I wasn’t quick enough to get a picture.

The area near Maggie Rock on the south side of Highway 160 is the site of a ranch that was owned by western writer Louis L’Amour. L’Amour would often spend summer vacations at the Strater Hotel in nearby Durango and also had this ranch as a retreat. He considered building a replica old western town on the ranch site to be named Shalako after one of his characters, but this project was never realized.

It took me 1:50 hours to arrive at Starvation Creek and 1:40 to return for a total hike of 3:30 hours for about 8.5 miles. An afternoon thundershower was building and chasing me back. I carried 2 liters of water on a late July day.

Italian Canyon Trail

2009-07-03T05:18:00.001-07:00

The Italian Canyon Trail is an 11 mile outer loop on the east side of the Boggy Draw Trail System in the San Juan National Forest in southwest Colorado.

The Main Trail Head is just west of the town of Dolores at the point where County Road W changes to Forest Road 527. The Boggy Draw Trail System is multi user for mountain bikes, hiking, and horse riding and doesn’t allow motorized except on the separate ATV Trail.

The Boggy Draw Trail is the central loop of the system. The Mavericks Trail is an additional inner loop to the east, and the Italian Canyon Trail connects at two points to the Mavericks Trail. To travel the Italian Canyon Trail you end up covering at least half of the Mavericks Trail also.

I started my hike at the main Boggy Draw Trail Head. It is not obvious, but the south end of the Mavericks Trail is directly across the Forest Road from the Trail Head signs. Hiking counter clockwise on the Mavericks Trail, the south connection of the Italian Canyon Trail is about 2 miles along the trail.

It took me about 0:40 minutes to arrive there. This terrain here is slightly rolling through Ponderosa Pine forest with an understory of Gambel Oak. There are a few open meadow areas and some constructed ponds, with a moderate amount of wildflowers. This system is easy to moderate for mountain biking.

The middle part of the hike emerges from the Ponderosa Pine forest and has some good views overlooking the Dolores River Valley. To the east the LaPlata Mountains and Mount Hesperus stand out. To the north up the valley the San Miguel Mountains are visible.

After the view points, the trail re-enters the Ponderosa forest and cuts back toward the Mavericks Trail. The northern connection with the Mavericks Trail doesn’t have a good sign like the south connection does and could be easily missed when traveling on the Mavericks Trail in the clockwise direction. This is a good hot day hike as most of the route is shaded, but there aren’t many view points or other points of interest in the Boggy Draw system.

I saw a Black Bear on this hike, the first time I have ever seen one on any trail. The bear was lumbering along, about to cross the trail just as I came up over a small rise. We were only about 30 feet apart and both of us stopped abruptly, both startled. The brown colored bear made a quick pivot and sprinted about 100 yards back the way it came and stopped, looking back. By its size I took it for an adult and I didn’t see any cubs. As I stepped forward to look, it turned again and continued to jog off into the forest. The entire encounter only lasted about 20 seconds, and was over before I could take a picture.

My brief research finds that in Colorado, a Black Bears range can be 10 to 250 square miles and they prefer areas with Gambel Oak and Aspens. The Italian Canyon Trail is dense with Gambel Oak but I didn’t see any Aspens. They also like Serviceberries. I wasn’t carrying any food on this hike. Much later in the hike I saw some bear tracks for a few feet on a dusty part of the trail, but no further sightings. My total hike for about 11 miles took 4:30 hours and I carried two liters of water on a partly cloudy day in early July.

Morrison Trail-Transfer Campgound to Lost Canyon

2009-05-31T05:16:00.000-07:00

The Morrison Trail runs for 8 miles from the Transfer Campground to the Bear Creek Trailhead that is along the Dolores River in the San Juan National Forest in southwest Colorado.

I started my hike at the Chicken Creek Trailhead, slightly north of Transfer Campground and hiked 4 miles out to the rim of Lost Canyon and 4 miles back. The Transfer Campground near Mancos, CO is a hub for the network of trails in this part of the forest.
The Morrison Trail at the Transfer Campground end is a continuation of the Chicken Creek Trail that runs about 8 miles south to Jackson Lake in Mancos State Park. I followed the trail north from the trail junction and traveled further up Chicken Creek.

After a short distance the Morrison Trail climbs out of the west side of the Chicken Creek canyon and then descends into the Turkey Creek drainage. The forest in this area is mostly Aspens and Engelmann Spruce.

The trail crosses several Forest Roads. At one of the roads there is a stream on each side of the road with small pedestrian bridges. Looking at the maps, this water appears to be channeled to some of the local reservoirs, maybe the Joe Moore Reservoir.

Climbing out of the Turkey Creek drainage the trail becomes available to motorized users except trucks and is mostly a two track narrow road for a couple of miles. In some places the trail crosses the Aspen Loop Trail, a long ATV route centered on the Transfer Campground area.

There aren’t any mountain views along this section and only a few meadows. There are some wildflowers along the way, Larkspurs, yellow lupines, a few dogtooth violets, white violets, asters, and Iris, but mostly dandelions.

I arrived at the edge of Lost Canyon after about 2:10 hours of hiking. There were some glimpses of the other side of this fairly wide canyon but the forest is very thick here. The good views on the Morrison Trail are at each end, but not in the middle. I turned around at the Lost Canyon rim and returned in about 2:00 hours for a total hike of 4:10 for 8 miles.

Chicken Creek Trail to Jackson Lake

2009-05-16T04:56:00.000-07:00

The Chicken Creek Trail has a Trail Head in Mancos State Park in southwest Colorado near the north shore of Jackson Gulch Reservoir. It runs north for about 8 miles before merging with the Morrison Trail.

It can also be accessed from the Rim Trail near the Transfer Campground in the San Juan National Forest near the town of Mancos. I started my hike at the point where the Rim Trail crosses Forest Road 561, about 1 mile south of Transfer campground. This point can also be used to start two other loop hikes on the network of trails in this area.

Following the Rim Trail southwest for about 1 mile down into the Chicken Creek Canyon, I connected with the Chicken Creek Trail and continued south toward Jackson Gulch Reservoir. From where I started it is about 5.3 miles to the lake.

The trail mostly follows the creek, crossing several times and providing opportunities to get your feet wet. In this valley, the west side is dominated by Ponderosa Pines and the east side by Engelmann Spruce and Douglas Firs, with Aspens and Gambel Oaks mixed in.

There appear to be two historic sites along the trail. About 2 miles along the route a small creek joins from the west. In the area of the creek junction there are some old timbers and some sandstone brick remains of some sort of structure.

There isn’t any information at the site but it looks like some kind of mining operation was here.

About a mile further, there is a small wooden sign that says “Deans Sawmill Site”. There is a collection of metal artifacts still laying here.

I suppose in 700 years these artifacts will be sought after like pottery shards from the Ancestral Pueblo sites.

About 2 miles before Jackson Gulch Reservoir, the trail climbs out of the Chicken Creek Canyon and winds southwest to the north shore of the lake. Up to this point the trail doesn’t offer any views, instead it is a deep forest hike. This reservoir is the water supply for the town of Mancos and maybe for Mesa Verde National Park.

There are some good views across the lake to the nearby LaPlata Mountains. Instead of retracing my steps on the Chicken Creek Trail, I followed the Mancos State Park Road east around the north shore and then cut through a short section of open Ponderosa Pine forest north and east to Forest Road 561. This was a quicker route back to my starting point. It took me 3:15 hours to cover the 5.3 miles to Jackson Lake and 1:45 hours to return. My total hike on this looped route was 5:00 hours for about 9.6 miles.

Paradox Trail Dolores River Road

2009-05-12T09:33:00.000-07:00

The Paradox Trail is a 105 mile mountain bike trail in western Montrose County in southwest Colorado, just to the east of the La Sal Mountains.

Between Bedrock and Uravan an alternate section of trail, called the River Road, travels downstream along the lower Dolores River to the confluence with the San Miguel River.

I started my hike about 1 mile down the River Road, past a couple of small buildings, well before the road exits the Paradox Valley and enters a deep canyon of Wingate Sandstone cliffs sitting on the shale of the Chinle layer. The Paradox Trail is named for the odd situation where the Dolores River flows perpendicular across the valley, entering and exiting through steep canyons.

The Dolores River flow is controlled at the McPhee Dam near the town of Dolores and the flow was low during my hike even though mid May is a peak runoff period. The stream appeared to be carrying a lot of sediment.

The walking is easy along the gravel road and only three cars came by during the time I was hiking. I kept an eye out for signs of Indian ruins and petroglyphs but didn’t see any. There wasn’t much riparian habitat along the Dolores River here. The canyon sides were covered with sagebrush and Utah Junipers.

It took me 2:15 hours to cover the 6.3 miles to the confluence of the Dolores and San Miguel Rivers. The San Miguel is one of the few western rivers to not have a dam on it, and its flow dominated the joined flows.

There was a small party of rafters getting ready to get underway here at the confluence. They were setting out on a 100 mile trip to Moab, following the Dolores/San Miguel to the Colorado.

I retraced the 6.3 miles back to my car, completing about 12.6 miles in 5:00 hours. It was about an 85 F. degree day in mid May and there isn’t much shade along this route. After hiking, I drove the route that I had hiked and then followed the River Road upstream toward Uravan.

Along this section there are remains of the Hanging Flume. This water structure was built in 1888-1891 and moved 23 million gallons per day 17 miles to the Bancroft Placer site to wash gold from the gravel. In that era, the technology to pump water at the volume and pressure needed wasn’t available.

Uravan, at the end of the road is the site of a Uranium and Vanadium processing plant that operated from 1936 to 1984. There is an ongoing cleanup project to restore the canyon area to its pre-milling condition. Uravan and the Hanging Flume are among the points of interest in the middle of the Unaweep-Tabequache Scenic and Historic Byway on highways 145 and 141.

In the Paradox Valley area, there is also a good hike starting at the Bedrock boat launch site upstream into the Dolores River Canyon Wilderness Study Area.

Shark's Tooth Trail and Sacred Mount Hesperus

2009-01-07T06:15:00.000-08:00

The Shark's Tooth trail is in the LaPlata range of the San Juan Mountains in southwest Colorado and is a continuation of the West Mancos trail that starts at the Transfer Campground near Mancos. It gets its name from the jagged mountain called Shark's tooth just north of the famous and sacred Mt. Hesperus.

I parked at the scenic Twin Lakes, about a half mile before the official trail head. The forest here is mostly Engelmann spruce trees. The road up here is a narrow gravel Forest Service road, with lots of twist and turns.

Mt. Hesperus at 13,232 ft. is the highest mountain in this range and is one of the four sacred peaks, the sacred peak of the north, that the Navajo use to mark their traditional territory.

This is a trail where I have seen a population of pikas, a small rabbit relative that is noted for its industrious activity of gathering hay during the late summer for food and warm bedding during the cold winters.

The small mammals hide and burrow under the broken rocks in the scree fields here. The pikas are thought to be endangered by global warming disruption of the snow fields that provide them some insulation from the cold high elevation temperatures.

The trail climbs steeply above the tree line to a tundra area, mostly grasses and flowers and some short shrubs. The Shark's Tooth pass is at 11,396 ft and is very rocky with scree. The trail continues over the saddle and hooks up to the Bear Creek Trail that comes up from the Dolores River to the west.

It always seems to be windy up at this pass, even when it seems calm everywhere else. I went over the saddle and found a seat sheltered from the wind, enjoyed the view, with the ominous Shark's Tooth looking over my shoulder.

From where I started it was 2.2 miles to the pass and took me about 1.5 hours going up. There is an historic mining loop along the way, but there was some snow in the way and I skipped that part. My hike was in June when there were still patches of snow on the trail and too early for many wildflowers.

Goble Trail

2008-08-20T06:06:00.000-07:00

The Goble Trail is a 3.5 mile loop trail that climbs out of the West Fork of the Dolores River Valley up toward Nipple Mountain in the San Juan National Forest in southwest Colorado.

The trail head is about 10 miles north along paved West Fork forest road 535 and about 22 miles total north of the town of Dolores. There are a lot of trout fishing spots along the road here.

The lower part of the trail climbs along a small creek for about 15 minutes before reaching the loop. The forest along the creek is thick and mixed with Aspens, Engelmann Spruce, Douglas Fir, and Narrow Leaf Cottonwoods.

. This trail appears to get some use by horse riders, probably not very much from mountain bikers.

I took about 50 minutes of fairly steep climbing to get to the high point of the trail where the forest opened up into a meadow area and there were views of Nipple Mountain to the west topping out at 9763 feet. There is an old corral up on top along the trail and signs of cattle.

There are also views across the West Fork Valley to Stoner Mesa but no views to the mountains in the nearby Lizard Head Wilderness. The trail is a little confusing in this area as cow trails lead off in different directions.

There are signs to help keep hikers on the trail but you have to keep an eye out for them and keep in mind that you want to loop back down to the east.

The south loop as I descended is a little more open and drier forest than the north side of the loop. There were ponderosa Pines in the higher area of this route. In mid August 2008 there were a few wildflowers along the trail but nothing spectacular. The lush mix of trees along the creek was more interesting than the flowers. It took about 1:40 hours to walk this loop trail.

Lower Stoner Mesa Trail

2008-08-12T18:53:00.000-07:00

The Lower Stoner Mesa Trail starts at the Emerson Trail Head along the West Fork of the Dolores River in the San Juan National Forest in southwest Colorado.

The West Fork enters the Dolores River about 15 miles north of the town of Dolores. This trail is part of a 25 mile loop trail for mountain bikers that includes the paved road.

Dirt bikes and horses can also use this trail. The Emerson Trail Head area used to be a campground, but has been retired for camping for the last 10 years or so.

For hikers, the first part of the hike is along the bank of the West Fork River, then crossing a small bridge. Along the clear running stream are some tall Engelmann Spruce trees.
This is a good aerobic trail, climbing steeply with switchbacks through a mostly Aspen forest. The under story of vegetation is very thick and has a lot of waist high wildflowers. This route is like a narrow alley with chest high vegetation with shady Aspens overhead.

The views through the thick forest are across the narrow West Fork canyon with glimpses of the paved road below and a little up the canyon to the north. After the first 75 percent of the climb, the trail levels out for about 10 minutes. There are scattered Douglas Firs and Gambel Oaks high up.

The trail climbs more than 1200 feet and enters a high meadow area. A short distance across the meadow is a small constructed reservoir.

From the high meadow area there are views to Lone Cone Peak to the north and Mt. Hesperus back to the southeast. The trail continues on through a forested and meadow area.

It took me about 1:20 hours to get to the reservoir and I turned around there. My total hike was 2:30 hours.

Cabin Canyon Riverside Trail and the Bradfield Bridge

2008-08-10T07:10:00.000-07:00

The Riverside Trail is a short paved no barriers trail in the Cabin Canyon Campground in the Lone Dome Recreation Area of the Dolores River. This is about eight miles below the McPhee Dam in the San Juan National Forest in southwest Colorado, and four miles above the Bradfield Bridge.

The Dolores River below the McPhee Dam is a good trout fishing area with very little development. The gravel road has numerous turnoffs with river access and there are two campgrounds. The Cabin Canyon campground has the unusual feature of a paved 2200 foot trail with benches, picnic tables and a fishing deck suitable for handicap use.

The trail runs close to the bank of the Dolores River through the lush riparian habitat of willows and cottonwoods. This is the kind of trail that is usually seen in the middle of river towns like Durango and nearby Dolores.
The gateway to the Dolores River downstream of the McPhee Dam is the Bradfield Bridge. The bridge is on the site of the Bradfield Homestead which operated as a big valley cattle ranch from 1900 until about 1978. In this area cattle herds would cross the Dolores River and head up to summer pasture in the high country of what is now the San Juan National Forest.

This area is a transition from the mountains to the east to the canyon country in the west. The main scenic values of the Dolores River area downstream are geologic, steep canyons with layers of exposed rock.

From this put in site there are about 97 miles of river to float, through the Snaggletooth Rapids, past the Gypsum Valley, to a spot named Bedrock. The first section from Bradfield, to the Dove Creek Pump Station is suitable for canoes.

Near the Bradfield Campground area, there are two odd looking structures. There is an interpretive sign that describes these as derricks, or cable stackers. Using horses and cables, these were used to lift bales of hay into stacks. These devices were used until about 1940, when they gave way to mechanized hay balers.

Besides the Recreation Site there is the Lone Dome Wildlife Area where there is 2 miles of hiking up and down the river on a dirt road, giving some views of the river, the Dolores Canyon and the old Bradfield Ranch site.

West Mancos Trail-Transfer Campground

2008-07-25T06:10:00.000-07:00

The West Mancos Trail begins at the Transfer Campground in the San Juan National Forest in southwest Colorado near the town of Mancos. The Transfer Campground is a hub for the trail system in this part of the forest.
Mt. Hesperus is one of the four mountains considered sacred by the Navajo Indians and marks the north boundary of their traditional area. It's not on the Reservation though, it's in the San Juan National Forest and is the signature peak of the mountain range called the La Platas.
The trail descends into the canyon and heads upstream towards the LaPlatas after splitting from the Transfer Trail that goes downstream. The forest down in the canyon was surprisingly lush with wildflowers up to my chest in some places. A lot of the time the forest areas in the region seem dry, but not here.
The trail mostly stays well above the West Mancos River and goes through stands of Aspens and oaks with a few Douglas Fir, Spruce, and Ponderosa Pine mixed in. The Aspens in this valley are particularly big in some places.

I went 4.25 miles to a place called Galconda, an abandoned small mountain town. There was a rail fence holding together pretty well there, but the old shack was just a pile of boards.

The trail continues on to the Shark's Tooth pass trailhead and ties in to a system a trails winding around this alpine area.
Near the trail head for the West Mancos Trail is the Big Al Trail, a 0.33 mile no barriers interpretive trail that leads to a lookout platform. Big Al was a local Forest Service worker who was injured fighting the 1988 forest fires at Yellowstone.

Big Al's Trail is a wide graveled trail with an easy grade and frequent benches along with signs interpreting some of the local wildlife and a spectacular view of the West Mancos Canyon.

Fort Narraguinnep & Narraguinnep Canyon Trail

2008-07-23T05:33:00.000-07:00

During the second week of August 2009 a forest fire broke out in the area near Narraguinnep Canyon east of Cahone, Colorado. A report I saw mentioned that a forest lookout tower had to be evacuated.

The forest tower that I know of in that area is the Benchmark Lookout Tower. The road up to the tower overlooks Narraguinnep Canyon from the north. I visited the tower in July 2008 while looking for hiking opportunities in the area. I and my dogs were invited to climb up and I had an opportunity to talk to the lady working in the tower. I was startled to learn that she had spent every summer in this remote elevated room for nearly 20 years.

I had previously noted that the interpretive sign at the Jersey Jim Tower near Mancos, CO said that towers had largely been replaced by satellites and airplanes, but she said that Benchmark was still in full operation. The road leading to Benchmark Tower is about 4 miles and would make a nice walk but the views are blocked by the forest bordering the road and the reward would only come at the end of the hike.

The Narraguinnep Canyon Trail starts near Fort Narraguinnep Historic Site along Forest Road 514 in the San Juan National Forest in southwest Colorado. This route follows Forest Road 575 for about three miles down the Narraguinnep Canyon.
The first section of trail passes through an open meadow area with good wildflowers. The hill sides along the creek have Ponderosa Pine and Gambel Oak. Road 514 continues to the north and climbs up toward the Benchmark Lookout Tower and overlooks the Narraguinnep Canyon.

This area is about 11 miles north of the McPhee Dolores River Dam. There aren't any official hiking trails in this part of the forest, but many side roads that make good hiking routes.

The Fort Narraguinnep Historic Site marks the place where cattlemen in 1885 built protective structures fearing reprisals from Ute Indians following the Beaver Creek Massacre, the last Indian battle in Colorado.The Fort site is west of the junction through a gate. There isn't a sign close to the main road. I hiked the wrong way at first, looking for the Fort up the valley to the east.

There appear to be the remains of two old structures made from the local Ponderosa Pine. The Fort was constructed in June 1885 following fears that the Ute Indians would retaliate following the Beaver Creek Massacre. The Beaver Creek Massacre was on June 19, 1885 and the massacre site is about 15 miles to the southeast. The Fort Site is at the base of a Ponderosa Pine and Oak forested hill on the north side of a creek.
Deeper into the canyon the Ponderosa Pines start to dominate along the route. Some of the Ponderosas show scorch marks from a forest fire that didn't kill them. Aspens and Oaks are mixed in.
After about 1:00 hour and three miles I reached the Narraguinnep Reservoir, a pond and wetlands area. There was at least one brood of this years ducks on the pond. Mid-summer wildflowers were good in the open areas near the pond. I turned around at the pond and returned for a 2:00 hour total hike.

McPhee Stock Trail

2008-07-17T05:21:00.000-07:00

The McPhee Stock Trail starts at the Mataska Recreation Site just below the McPhee Dolores River Dam in the San Juan National Forest in southwest Colorado, and climbs out of the Lone Dome Dolores River Canyon to the north rim. A trail from the south rim also accesses the dam area coming from the Sage Hen area.
The first part of the route climbs the service road toward the top of the dam and then switches back along a steep trail. There are good views down the canyon of the lower Dolores River, a good trout fishing area. The water flow in the Dolores is controlled release from the dam.

The trail is steep for the first 30 minutes and then flattens out for about 15 minutes. With the elevation gain Ponderosa Pines start to dominate and there are a lot of Rocky Mountain Red Juniper, with softer blue green foliage than the similar Utah Juniper.

As the trail climbs, the main channel of the McPhee Reservoir comes into view along with the Beaver Creek arm. In the distance Mesa Verde is visible. The lower part of the trail is Pinon Pine and Utah Juniper with Gambel Oak forest.
There is another 15 minutes of climbing to the top of the mesa. Near the top the McPhee Dam comes into view. Both the reservoir and the river below are visible. Sleeping Ute Mountain is visible to the south.
After about 1:05 of mostly uphill hiking the trail veers through a corral area. I walked through the corrals to the forest road on the other side. I stopped at the corral and returned to the canyon bottom for a total hike of 2:00 hours.

The forest road in the corral area is 511B and is 6 miles south of the Salter Y junction, Road 511B makes an obscure junction with road 510/511 just before the 2 mile descent down to the Dry Canyon fishing access point on the McPhee Reservoir. In Dry Canyon the sandstone layer that forms the foundation for the dam is exposed.

On a different hike I started at the 511 and 511B junction and walked the short distance to the corral. Road 511B continues west through the forest to Hoppe Point overlooking Salter Canyon. I hiked about 1.5 miles west but kept close to the Dolores Canyon Rim, rather than follow the road. The views of McPhee Reservoir and the Dolores River are similar to those along the McPhee Stock Trail but a little higher. I kept an eye out for Indian Ruins along the rim but didn’t see any. This second hike was 2:30 hours, walking mostly slowly through the open forest and scanning with binoculars.

Bald Hill Trail

2008-06-28T04:55:00.000-07:00

The Bald Hill Trail is an unofficial segment of the Beaver Creek Winter Sports Trail in the San Juan National Forest near Dolores in southwest Colorado.

The trailhead for the Beaver Creek Winter Sports Trail is at the junction of Forest Road 526 and 532 near the gas compression facility, about 10 miles past the turnoff for House Creek Recreation Area on McPhee Reservoir.

The Beaver Creek Massacre Trail is not far from the same junction. There are interpretive signs at the 526/532 junction showing a map and information on wildlife in the area.

I walked the segment that starts about 2 miles east along Forest Road 532 at the Road marked 532A.

This rough road heads generally southeast and climbs through forest of Ponderosa Pine and Gambel Oak before reaching a meadow area with Long Draw Reservoir, a small wetlands area.
As the trail climbs there are more groves of Aspens and there are several large crags of dead Ponderosa Pines. One of the large crags was marked with a small sign designating it as a wildlife tree.
Another large wildflower filled meadow arrives after about 2 miles and Bald Hill becomes visible. The road continues on toward Oak Knolls Reservoir and the connects with the Boggy Draw Road and Trail System.
There is another small wetlands reservoir at the base of Bald Hill. I turned around here and returned to the start point. It took about 1:00 hour uphill to Bald Hill and 0:45 back down for a total hike of 1:45.

McPhee Park Ponderosa Pine Trail

2008-06-19T18:06:00.000-07:00

The McPhee Park Old Growth Ponderosa Trail is an unofficial route in the San Juan National Forest just west of Dolores in southwest Colorado. The route starts at the junction of Forest Roads 531 and 526 about seven miles past the turnoff for the House Creek Recreation Area on McPhee Reservoir.

According to the antique sign, in 1925 a sample of virgin Ponderosa Pine was set aside. This point is only about 10 minutes of walking down road 531.

The road is well graded and this park like spot can be easily driven to. There is not a sign along the main road 526, so you have to be alert and know to turn on 531.

Some of the Ponderosa are noticeably bigger around and taller here than in other parts of the forest. There are also some very tall dead trees that are important habitat for woodpeckers and other birds. These large crags are often missing in managed forests.

Ponderosa pine has a long clear trunk and a high short open crown. It averages 42 inches in diameter and 165 feet tall at maturity. Ponderosa pine reaches maturity in 300 to 400 years.

As the trees reach maturity, the bark thickens to as much as 4 inches and breaks into large, flat, yellow-brown, scaly-topped plates separated by deep furrows. Old trees have a characteristic yellow bark and are locally named Yellow Pine.

The wood is highly desirable, light in weight, rather hard, strong, and relatively fine-grained. The road past these huge trees gets rougher as you continue south and swings around back north to make an easy loop trail that takes about 45 minutes to walk.

The route follows along the rim of a creek valley thick with Ponderosa and a few Aspens. Ponderosa pine is common in mountain and plateau areas at elevations between 5,700 and 8,900 feet.

It develops a taproot early in life, which helps it to survive extended drought periods, especially long, dry summers.

Near the end of the loop there is a small constructed pond and an open meadow. The Ponderosa have male and female cones on the same tree. The male cones are small, yellowish, and in clusters. Female cones average 4 inches in length when mature.

The tips of the cone scales are armed with short, sharp, out curved prickles. The female cones, like all pines, require two growing seasons to mature.

The road gets a little better and climbs back up to Road 531 very near the junction with Road 526. I walked the loop twice in 1:30.

Beaver Creek Massacre Trail

2008-06-17T05:19:00.000-07:00

The Beaver Creek Massacre Trail is an unofficial hiking route in the San Juan National Forest on Roads 525 and 238 west of Dolores in southwest Colorado.

I started at the junction of Roads 525 and 526 which is about 9 miles past the turnoff for the House Creek Recreation Area on McPhee Reservoir. This junction is a spot where industry intersects with forest as major power lines and a gas compression station are in sight, not to mention cattle grazing and log trucks rolling through this multi-use area.

This is an area of Ponderosa Pine, Aspens and some wide meadows. I walked south about 0:50 minutes to the junction with Forest Road 238 which entered a large meadow. There were a some wildflowers in the meadow and good views back north towards the San Miguel Mountains.

The Beaver Creek Massacre site is at about the first mile point along this route. It commemorates a low point in settler-Ute Indian relations where on June 19, 1885 a group of cowboys ambushed a peaceful Ute camp. "The Utes must go!" had been white settlers’ rallying cry. The 6-10 Utes murdered that morning had official permission to hunt in this area in order to supplement their meager government rations.

There were Ute reprisals which caused considerable panic in the region and led to the building of Fort Narranguinnep nearby. Apparently the names of the cattlemen involved were kept secret until fairly recently even though the event was more than 100 years ago. There is a commorative marker at the Fort Narranguinnep site, with a few remains of the structure, and also room to hike in the forest.

The commemorative sign for the Beaver Creek Massacre was dedicated in 1983 but has fallen into disrepair. I spent 2:00 hours hiking out and back along this route. The Forest Roads continue much further than I hiked. The Historic site is only 15 minutes of hiking from the junction and can be driven to.

Rusts Sawmill LoopTrail

2008-06-12T06:24:00.000-07:00

The Rusts Sawmill Loop is an unofficial route that uses segments of the Boggy Draw Trail System in the San Juan National Forest just west of Dolores in southwest Colorado. It goes past the Rusts Sawmill Historic Site.I started at Forest Road 257 which is at the Bean Canyon hairpin turn on paved Forest Road 526. The lengthy Bean Canyon Trail crosses Forest Road 257 about 100 yards down the road.

I turned right or south and followed the Bean Canyon Trail up the scenic side canyon for about 20 minutes until the junction with the Boggy Draw ATV Trail, then left or north.

The forest up the side canyon has a lot of aspens at the bottom with Ponderosa Pine on the canyon sides.

The Boggy Draw ATV Trail follows a main power line in this area. I followed this route north, climbing out of the side canyon and looping back toward Bean Canyon.
The ATV Trail seems to split at the rim of Bean Canyon. The more heavily traveled choice seems to plunge roughly straight over the side. The alternate to the right is more of an easy switchback route that veers away from the power line, then turns back towards it.

The forest here is Ponderosa with Gambel Oak. The alternates rejoin near the junction with Road 257.

Turning left or west on Forest Road 257 leads back to the start of the loop, about a mile away. On the left is the Rusts Sawmill Site.
The interpretive sign is in ruins as is the old sawmill site. This was the first major sawmill and railroad to the western part of the forest and operated in 1905-06. Rust had his own four mile rail line connecting to the main line in Dolores.

It took me about 1:10 to walk this loop of about 3 miles.