Lone Cone Trail and Woods Lake Loop

The Woods Lake area is a Trailhead for the Woods Lake, Wilson Mesa, and Lone Cone Trails. Woods Lake is about 10 miles west of Telluride, Colorado on Highway 145, then 8 miles south on Fall Creek Road. There are several connecting tie trails near the campground and lake area that allow a 5 mile loop hike using the Lone Cone and Woods Lake Trails.

I started on the Woods Lake Trail and after about 10 minutes of walking turned right on the trail called the Woods Lake Tie. This segment climbs somewhat and heads west high above the south side of Woods Lake. The terrain here is thick Spruce and Fir forest. There are some glimpses of the lake but no clear views. I saw two Red Squirrels along this segment, sometimes called Pine Squirrels or Chickarees in Colorado. They scampered very close to me but were too quick for a picture.

There are two small creek crossings before arriving at a log bridge and a clearing in the forest. Across the bridge there is a trail junction with the Lone Cone Tie Trail. A right turn leads back toward the campground area. I turned left and continued on toward the longer loop options. It took me about 0:45 minutes to arrive at this junction.

This segment has some views over a meadow with Dolores Peak, Middle Peak and Dunn Peak visible. In late August many of the wildflowers looked finished for the season but there were several still in bloom.

About 10 minutes and a short distance further there is another trail junction that doesn’t appear on the trailhead map. There is a constructed water management channel with a service road along the side. The official trail continues west along the service road, but a hiker could turn back east and follow the road back to the campground. I continued west along the channel. The wildflowers were best along this watery segment.

I saw a porcupine along the channel segment. It was on the ground rather than in a tree and it didn’t run into the brush but instead turned its tail toward me and held its position, counting on its 15,000 to 30,000 quills as a deterrent. The service road segment ends at a flume and diversion structure. It is confusing at this point, but the trail crosses over some boards that are laying across the flume, and heads uphill following switchbacks.

After 1:30 hours total of hiking I arrived at the junction of the Lone Cone Trail and the Lone Cone Tie. I turned back at this junction and followed the Lone Cone Trail back to the trailhead area. The trail sign says 2 miles from the Woods Lake Trail to here but it felt more like 3 miles.

From the junction, the Lone Cone Trail looked like it was going to continue to climb through Aspen forest without any immediate good mountain views. Lone Cone Peak, the western most of the Colorado peaks over 12,000 feet isn’t visible from this loop route.

The return segment is gradually downhill through mostly Aspen forest with a park like understory. I saw a pair of Gray Jays along here. This return segment took about 0:50 minutes for a total hike of 2:20 hours for about 5 miles. It was a 72 F degree day with clouds starting to form rain showers in the late afternoon. I carried and drank 3 liters of water.

Calico Winter Trail Short Loop

The Calico Winter Trail begins at the Calico Trailhead, a short distance south of the Meadows area of the Lizard Head Wilderness in southwest Colorado. Eagle Creek Road, Forest Road 471, makes a junction with the Dunton Road, Forest Road 535, and leads south to the trailhead area.

The main Calico Trail leads south and climbs to some spectacular views of the Lizard Head area mountains. The Winter Trail leads southwest and stays relatively level. There is a short loop option that doesn’t seem to appear on all the maps. The starting elevation here is about 10,200 feet.

The first mile of trail follows along a wide meadow area. At one point there is a good view of the Colorado 14ers Mt. Wilson and El Diente to the north across a rich wildflower meadow. The Winter Trail is overshadowed in this immediate area by the Navajo Lake Trail, but wildflower enthusiasts might want to at least visit this first mile of trail.

The trail continues across more meadow and the Lizard Head formation comes into view. At this oversized rock cairn there is an easy crossing of Morrison Creek.

After the creek crossing, the creek drops into a rocky canyon and the trail enters deep spruce forest with only one spot where there is a view, toward Dolores Peak.

After about 2 miles of hiking, there is a trail junction with a sign saying that Eagle Creek Road is 0.25 miles away. I chose to follow this short cut back to the road where it is 1.75 miles back to the trailhead. The trail junction with the forest road is well marked with a sign so a hike of the more distant loop could start along the road.

The Winter Trail continues on through the forest and there are several loop options possible in this area using the Calico Trail and Fall Creek Trail and the Eagle Peak forest road. My total hike took 1:40 hours for about 4 miles. It was about 65 F degrees in early August while I hiked and I carried 2 liters of water.

Kilpacker Wildflowers

Near the turnoff to the Kilpacker Trail, there is a particularly lush August wildflower meadow. This area is along Forest Road 535 on the south edge of the Lizard Head Wilderness in southwest Colorado. On the maps this area is identified as “The Meadows.”

Besides the Kilpacker Trail, the other hiking trails near the Meadows include the Navajo Lake Trail, the Groundhog Stock Trail, and the Calico and Winter Trails. This area can be approached from the south along the West Fork Dolores Road that is 12 miles north of the town of Dolores, or from the Dunton Road that connects with Highway 145 south of the Lizard Head Pass area.

Two of the Colorado 14ers visible from the Meadows area, Mt. Wilson at 14,246 feet to the right and the tooth shaped El Diente at 14,159 feet to the left. The white Yarrows and yellow Asters are lush here along with purplish Daisies (all Composits). The elevation here is about 10,200 feet.

The blue Monkshoods (Buttercup) seemed particularly tall and thick here. Most of the Evergreen forest appeared to be Engelmann spruce, not many Aspens visible here.

The bright red Indian Paintbrush (Snapdragon) adds a lot of color. In this vicinity there are also yellpw Shrubby Cinquefoils (Rose) and a few pink Elephant Heads (Snapdragon).

This Prairie Smoke in the Rose Family is one that I haven’t noticed before. I noticed these both here and along part of the nearby Winter Trail.