Chicken Creek Trail to Jackson Lake

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.

Rim Trail and Chicken Creek Trail Loop-Transfer Campground

The Transfer Campground in the San Juan Forest near Mancos in southwest Colorado is a hub for several trails exploring the area below the LaPlata Mountains. Segments of the Rim Trail and Chicken Creek Trails can be hiked as a five mile loop.

I started at the point where the Rim Trail crosses Forest Road 561, about one mile south of the Transfer Campground and followed the trail south, or clockwise around the loop. The trail cuts through groves of oak trees and meadows and then descends down into the canyon toward Chicken Creek.


The trail down appears to be part of an old ATV trail but now closed to motorized traffic. The forest begins to change to Aspen and Douglas Fir as the trail descends. Near the bottom of the canyon there was a point where I got confused. The old ATV trail continues south down to Chicken Creek while the Rim Trail moves north parallel to the creek.

I joined the Chicken Creek Trail somewhat to the south of the official junction after a short search. The route I took might would also be good if you wanted to hike south on Chicken Creek to the trail head at Jackson Lake.
The Chicken Creek Trail continues north mostly on the west side of the creek with a couple of creek crossings. The forest on the west side of the canyon has more Ponderosa Pines instead of the Douglas Fir and Spruce that dominate on the east side.

It appears there has been some work to stabilize some sections of the trail that may have been plagued with mud.

The Chicken Creek Trail merges with the Morrison Trail that has a trail head at Bear Creek along Highway 145 north of Dolores, only eight miles by trail but about 40 miles by road.
Climbing out of the canyon there is a great view of Mt. Hesperus and the LaPlatas looming above the campground area. There are more good views from the Rim Trail on the segment running south from the campground. It took me 3:00 hours to cover this five mile route.