Blixt Trail toward Oscar’s Pass-Ophir

The Blixt Trail starts as a side road off of the Ophir Pass Road in southwest Colorado. Ophir is a mountain hamlet in a scenic canyon south of Telluride and east off of Highway 145. The Ophir Pass Road is one of many spectacular high mountain 4WD routes in the Telluride area.

The Ophir Canyon has many obvious signs of past mining activity. I started my hike just past the last group of houses in Ophir where the Ophir Pass Road starts to get rough and the elevation is about 9800 feet. About 1.5 miles further along the road, the second of two side roads on the left leads uphill for 0.4 miles or so to a green gate. The gate ends all motorized travel.

There aren’t any signs that advertize the trail. A good map is advisable. The trail past the gate is the remains of an old road that leads steeply uphill to Oscar’s Pass and the Bridal Veil Basin. The trail is eroded in places and the surface is mostly large gravel. The steepness and the gravel combine to make the descent the type where my feet start to skid and slip out from under me. I hiked the first 1.5 miles to the turnoff but it is drivable in a high clearance vehicle.

As the trail climbs, there are higher and higher views up and down the Ophir Canyon, including high angle views of the Ophir Pass Road. The pass road is also a good hike, easier than this one. The road appears to be very narrow and the traffic I could see was moving very slowly. There seemed to always be a vehicle in sight, sometimes several.

Back to the west there were views down into Ophir and the mountains beyond. The Lizard Head was visible in the distance. On the way into Ophir, there are rock climbing opportunities. I saw a mountain school van stopped by the Ophir Needles, near the junction with Highway 145. There is also a somewhat comical closet sized Post Office along the way.

I didn’t make it to the top of Oscar’s Pass. I hiked for 2:20 hours and got to a point a couple of hundred yards short of the final switchbacks. I think I got as high as 12,500 feet but needed about another 1 mile of walking and 600 more feet of elevation to get to the top. There are two lakes in the basin above including Blue Lake that can also be reached from the top of Bridal Veil Falls east of Telluride.

There isn’t very much posted on-line about the Blixt Trail. I found a short report with some short videos posted by an Ultra-Marathoner. I suppose this was an easy hike for him, but the relentless steepness was too much for me. His hike was in early July and there were still large patches of snow in the highest area. I didn’t see any snow above in mid August.

About 0.5 miles below my turn around there was an apparent trail junction, with a westward leading trail crossing a scree area. The map I had made it appear that this route would loop back down to Ophir. I crossed the scree area, with good views to the area where I had just hiked, but this route started to climb again, and I didn’t want to do any more climbing. I returned by retracing the route up.

My total hike was 4:30 hours for about 7.5 miles. The temperature was about 60 F degrees at 10:00 AM. It felt cooler and there was some wind at my highest point 2 hours later. It was a blue sky day with no thunder clouds. I carried 3 liters of water.

On the way to Ophir I saw two moose with antlers cross Highway 145 from west to east a little south of the Matterhorn Campground. Several cars slowed to let them cross and they hurriedly and awkwardly dived into the brush. These were first moose I’ve spotted in this area.

Calico National Recreation Trail- North Trailhead

The Calico National Recreation Trail runs south from the south edge of the Lizard Head Wilderness for 19 miles high along the west side of the upper Dolores River in southwest Colorado. At the north end of this long trail there is a system of trails that offer several loop opportunities.

The Winter Trail starts at the same trail head, about 1 mile south of the very scenic “Meadows” area along the Eagle Creek Road, FR 471. The trail climbs steadily for 5 miles through  Spruce and Fir forest with a few aspens and scattered meadows. As the trail rises there are glimpses of Mt. Wilson, El Diente and the iconic Lizard Head back to the north.

The best views that I have found in this area south of Telluride are along the portion of the Calico Trail going over the top of Papoose Peak at 11,866 feet. The tall spruce trees give way to open rocky meadow and the views are unobstructed. All the mountains from Lone Cone to the west, across the Lizard Head Wilderness, over to the group at the Lizard Head pass are visible in one sweeping view.

I had to find a seat here and have lunch to prolong the experience. I was interested to spot the areas where other trails run. I could see the area below Lizard Head Peak where the Cross Mountain and Lizard Head Trails connect. The terrain that the Ground Hog Stock Trail covers could be easily viewed. Over to the west the Willow Divide and Black Mesa stood out.

Continuing on, the Calico Trail skirts high along the west side of Elliott Mountain. This section of trail felt a little exposed as the slope is steep on the downhill side. Below, there are glimpses of Eagle Creek Road and the East Falls Creek Trail. Up ahead is Sockrider Peak.

There are several options at the north end of Sockrider Peak. There is a loop route that circles Sockrider, and another loop option further on, but the distance will get much longer for a hiker. The trail signs direct horses and dirt bikes to stay on the west side of Sockrider while hikers can take the east side.

 I stayed to the west and continued downhill to the nearby junction with the East Fall Creek Trail. The East Fall Creek Trail descends rapidly down through the forest and turns back north with a few views to the west.

It is 1.5 miles along the East Fall Creek Trail to the Eagle Creek Road. At the junction with the road I turned back toward the trail head, another 5.5 miles. This is the shortest loop option. It took me 3:00 hours to cover the 5 miles to the East Fall Creek Trail junction and another 1:00 hour to get to the Eagle Creek Road.

The walking along Eagle Creek Road is easy and the road is lined with tall spruce. There are a few views but not as spectacular as above. My total hike was 6:00 hours for about 12 miles. It was about 60 F degrees at 10:00 AM and windy enough at the high elevations that I needed a second layer. At 2:00 PM along the forest road it was about 75 F degrees. I carried 3 liters of water.

Bilk Creek Falls Loop Trail

The Bilk Creek Falls Loop Trail uses segments of the Lizard Head Trail and the Wilson Mesa Trail and an old mining road on the northern edge of the Lizard Head Wilderness near Telluride in southwest Colorado. The trail head is at the south end of Sunshine Mesa Road.

Sunshine Mesa Road connects to the South Fork of the San Miguel Road and starts out straight, wide and smooth as it climbs. This lower road segment is a part of the Galloping Goose Trail that runs about 21 miles north from Lizard Head Pass and connects to the Telluride Valley Floor Bike Trail. After the point where the Galloping Goose Trail branches off and becomes a single track trail, the Sunshine Mesa Road becomes narrow, rough and twisty with a few mud holes before arriving at the trail head.

The signs at the trail head say Wilson Mesa Trail and 2 miles to the Lizard Head Trail and Bilk Creek, though practically speaking this is the trail head for the Lizard Head Trail also. The trail head elevation is about 9760 feet. About 0.8 miles along this wide and smooth segment, the Wilson Mesa Trail turns west and the old mining road continues south. I continued south on the old mining road as it is the shorter route to the Bilk Creek Falls, but a hiker can choose either route.

The old mining road stays on the east side of Bilk Creek and is mostly in deep Engelmann Spruce and Aspen forest with a few views to the flanks of Wilson Peak. Just before the mining site the trail crosses Bilk Creek. When I hiked there was a hiker arranged log and plank bridge to aid the crossing.

The mining ruins site is notable in that somehow a large red tractor trailer had been pulled in there. Quite a bit of old hardware is inside the trailer and scattered around the site. About 0.5 miles past the mining ruins site, the Bilk Creek Falls start to come into view.

The falls is a series of falls and cascades. The forest is thick and the falls has carved a steep rocky chute I didn’t see an easy way to get close for a good view. The trail switch backs up the slope and there are higher views but no close ones.

I climbed the trail until I was near the same elevation as the top of the falls, about 10,400 feet. The trail continues up into Bilk Basin and then continues on toward the base of Lizard Head Peak. I hiked for 1:50 hours before turning around.

On the return hike I took the longer Lizard Head Trail segment to complete the loop. The trail junction is at the old mining site and the Lizard Head route is clearly marked. If you took this longer route first the old mining road on the other side of the creek might not be noticed and there isn’t a sign pointing it out.

The Lizard Head part of the loop stays on the west side of Bilk Creek for about 2 miles and passes through meadow areas offering some views to the north. There is another small falls a short distance below the main falls. The Lizard Head Trail officially ends at a trail junction with the Wilson Mesa Trail and it is another 3 miles back to the Sunshine Mesa Trail Head, climbing through forest back to the old mining road.

The return crosses a level section of Bilk Creek over a foot bridge that is falling into disrepair but is still useable (but missing by 2011). There might be some beaver ponds along this section of Bilk Creek. My total hike took 4:30 hours for about 9 miles using the loop route. The minimum hike to see the Bilk Creek Falls would be about 5 miles. It was about 60 F degrees at the trail head at 10:00 AM on an early August partly cloudy day. I carried 3 liters of water but only drank 2.