The Chuska Puma and Pumas on Parade

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”. I saw it 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

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

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 head waters 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. (Look at Four Corners Hikes-Telluride for these headwaters hikes.)


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 Priest Gulch Trail is also in the same area.

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 cemetery.

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 opportunities. 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. Hiking can continue into the Little Gypsum Valley across the bridge.

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-McPhee Reservoir

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

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.

After the last radio tower the road transitions into a trail and descends toward the southeast to the Road 211 trail head.

The views to the north are of the most interest toward the city center of Durango and the mountains just to the west. 

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.



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