Potato Lake Trail

The Potato Lake Trail is a short 1.2 mile hike to a mountain lake in the Spruce Fir Aspen forest between the West Needles Mountains and Engineer Mountain in the San Juan National Forest in southwest Colorado.

The trail head is about 30 miles north of Durango on Highway 550, then 3 miles east on rocky and bumpy Forest Road 591. The turnoff is somewhat obscured by an ATV tour business at the intersection. Forest Road 591 is called the Old Lime Creek Road and continues along the west edge of the Weminuche Wilderness Area below the Twilight Peaks. Potato Lake is also called Spud Lake.

The trail starts next to a Lilly Pad covered small lake at about 9400 feet elevation and climbs gradually to about 9800 feet at Potato Lake. The lower part of the trail has some views toward Engineer Mountain to the northwest. The trail is smoother than the road leading to it and the walking is easy.

About half way to Potato Lake, a series of descending beaver ponds appears. The area along the beaver ponds is very rough with granite rock outcrops. Potato Hill comes into view at 11,871 feet.

Despite its jagged appearance, this peak seems to only have hill status in an area that features many peaks over 12,000 feet. The fir trees along the way here look like the white barked Subalpine Fir rather than Douglas Fir. I saw some very large mushrooms with reddish caps.

Potato Lake is several acres big and sits below Potato Hill. There is a path leading all the way around the lake, adding about another 0.5 miles for those wanting a longer hike. In late August, there were many golden asters and white daisies in bloom around the lake edges, a few Indian Paintbrushes also.

Reflections of the Twilight Peaks add to the scenic views. It took me 0:40 minutes to arrive and I spent another 0:30 minutes walking all the way around. My total hike took 2:00 hours for 3 miles on a 68 F degree late August day.


 

Colorado Trail at Little Molas Lake

The Colorado Trail is a 483 mile volunteer constructed route from Denver to Durango, Colorado, weaving through spectacular mountain terrain in six National Forests. A good access point for hikers is at Little Molas Lake.

A short distance north of Molas Pass on Highway 550 north of Durango, a dirt road leads west about one mile along the north side of Little Molas Lake to a well developed trail head area. This is segment 25 of 28 and goes in the direction toward Durango.

The lower part of this segment climbs through Lodgepole Pines and Spruce from a starting elevation of about 10,900 feet to 11,600 feet on a ridge that overlooks a wide basin at the head of Lime Creek. This basin area had quite a few large snags that look like the remains of a forest fire from many years ago. Otherwise, the area is mostly meadow area with scattered trees giving open views of many peaks over 12,000 feet.

On the ridge top the trail turns north toward the base of the group of peaks that Include Turk’s Head and Sultan Peak. To the south, Engineer Mountain is visible about 7 miles away. The Pass Creek Trail is a good trail up to Engineer Mountain Trail that connects to the Colorado Trail. From that area there are good views toward the peaks here. 

The trail surface is smooth and the curves are rounded making it easy walking and probably easy for bike riders also.

Turning west below the Turk’s Head area the trail rolls along a contour and goes around a creek drainage with views toward the Twin Sisters area. At one point there is a good view over a meadow that looks like it was once a lake, down a north flowing drainage.

 On a mid August day I saw about 15 other hikers and 4 mountain bikers using the trail. The trail head area has facilities for horse riders but I didn’t see any horses when I hiked.

Some of the boulders that have broken loose from above have the look of conglomerate type rocks, different sized stones cemented together. I saw two marmots lounging on one of these conglomerate boulders both coming and going. There were many chipmunks along the trail, scampering into the vegetation along the sides.

After about 4 miles a pair of small lakes is visible. There is another pair of small lakes visible in the distance. It took me about 2 hours to get to this south facing view point.

I turned around after 5 miles and 2:35 hours at one of the heads of Lime Creek. There were still small patches of snow feeding the stream flow. In this area there are several small easy creek crossings. In mid August, the wildflowers looked like their best days were finished. From here, the Colorado Trail turns southwest and threads its way another 6.5 miles toward the west side of Jura Knob to the junction with the Engineer Mountain Trail. 

My return hike took 2:25 hours for a total of 5:00 hours for about 10 miles. I carried and drank 3 liters of water on a 65 F mid August day. In the higher open areas it was slightly windy, cool enough to add a layer.

Engineer Mountain Trails

Engineer Mountain is one of the most scenic peaks in the San Juan Mountains in southwest Colorado. The easiest access is the Pass Creek Trail near the Coal Bank Pass, about 35 miles north of Durango on Highway 550. The trailhead is along a short road on the west side, a very short distance north of the Coal Bank Pass rest area.

The starting elevation at Coal Bank Pass is about 10,660 feet and it is 2.5 miles and about 1000 feet of elevation gain to a trail junction with the Engineer Mountain Trail. The lower part of the trail climbs through spruce and fir forest and there is a small lake about 1 mile along the way. The trail emerges from the forest into meadow areas with the first view of the pyramid shaped Engineer Mountain at 12,613 feet.

At the trail junction, there are also views of the peaks toward the north. Some of these are Jura Knob, Rolling Mountain and the Twin Sisters. It took me 1:20 hours to get to the trail junction.

From here I could see a couple of climbers going up the left side and ready to start the actual climbing. For more hiking there is a choice of heading south for several miles on the Engineer Mountain Trail, or north toward the Coal Creek and Deer Creek Trails. I continued north and after about 1 mile, the Coal and Deer Creek Trail splits off to the right. After another 0.4 miles, the Coal Creek Trail splits from the Deer Creek trail and begins to descend back toward highway 550, 2.8 miles away.

It took me 2:10 hours to get to this decision point. The advantage of continuing is a loop hike with new territory to see. The disadvantage is a 1.3 mile segment along Highway 550 to get back to the Pass Creek Trailhead. The distance is about 4 miles either way.

I continued down the Coal Creek Trail, with more good views of Engineer Mountain and the mountains to the north and east. The meadows in this area weren’t as lush with wildflowers as I was expecting, even though mid August should be a prime time. The elevation change descending along the Coal Creek Trail is about 1600 feet, more than the Pass Creek Trail.

The trail reenters the forest and I was surprised to pass through a thick grove of what I think are Lodgepole Pines. They have short needles in bundles of two, similar to the canyon area Pinyon Pines but are much taller. I hadn’t noticed Lodgepole Pines on the regional trails before, though they surely are common.

The Coal Creek Trail makes a very inconspicuous junction with Highway 550. There is a trail sign but you wouldn’t notice it driving past, even if you were looking for it. While there were many hikers on the Pass Creek Trail, I didn’t see anyone on the Coal Creek Trail. The loop hike was enjoyable, but it doesn’t look like very many take that option.

There is a parking area on the east side of the highway about 200 yards south of the trailhead. Hiking along Highway 550 makes one appreciate the clean air in the high mountains. There was mostly enough room to hike along the road except for two stretches where guard rail forced me to cross and walk with my back to traffic. My total hike took 4:00 hours for about 8 miles. The temperature was about 62 F degrees at 10:10 AM when I started and 73 F degrees at 2:10 PM when I finished. I carried and drank 3 liters of water on a clear blue sky mid August day.

The Coal Bank Pass rest area has several interpretive signs and a view point. One of the signs discusses how snow avalanches can reach 100 miles per hour and there are 100 avalanche routes along Highway 550, more than any major road in the country. Coal Bank Pass is the second highest on the San Juan Skyway, with only Red Mountain Pass higher.