Dolores River at Salter Canyon-Lone Dome

Salter Canyon is a north side canyon of the Dolores River in the Lone Dome Recreation Area in the San Juan National Forest in southwest Colorado. The Lone Dome Recreation Area is located 6 miles east of Pleasant View and includes the first 12 miles of Dolores River below the McPhee Dam.

I parked at the Ferris Canyon Campground which is open in the off season and is about 7 miles east along the Lone Dome Forest Road. Salter Canyon is about 0.4 miles further east. From the campground you can hike along the gravel Forest Road or along the banks of the Dolores River. There is a fence along the road with an easy gate near the mouth of Salter Canyon.

There is a wide creek bed with a bridge at the mouth of Salter Canyon. On the west side there is an unmarked trail that follows up the canyon. It looks like this trail was once a road but is now abandoned. The lower canyon has Ponderosa Pines and with thickets of Gambel Oak. There are also Rocky Mountain Junipers and Narrowleaf Cottonwoods along the creek.

The west side of the canyon has steep sandstone walls. I scanned the canyon walls for signs of ruins sites but didn't notice anything. The thickets of oak made it difficult to approach the canyon walls.

The trail was easy to follow for about 0:30 minutes or about 1 mile and then the forest became very thick and the trail overgrown. I saw one very large Ponderosa Pine near the upper end of my hike.

My hike in Salter Canyon was for about 1:00 hour with some additional time looking along the Dolores River. My total hike was for about 2:30 hours on a 70 F degree early October day. Other points of interest a little further east in this area include the old cabins that were the Lone Dome Ranger Station in 1912. There are also some old ranching structures in the same area.

Dolores River at Bradfield-Lone Dome Recreation Area

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-Lone Dome Historic Ranger Station

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 a 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.

Dolores River at Cabin Canyon and the Bradfield Bridge

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.

McPhee Stock Trail-McPhee Dam and Lone Dome

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.