Scotch Creek Trail

The Scotch Creek Trail is a 5.5 mile 4WD road connecting to the Colorado Trail and following a historic toll road route from the mining era. The trail head is east off of Highway 145 about 3 miles south of Rico in southwest Colorado.

At the trail head there is an interpretive sign explaining the history of the road. The mining riches of Rico needed a transportation connection with the Animas Valley on the east side of the mountains. The trail head elevation is about 8720 feet and the climb is about 1660 feet to 10,380 feet.
 

 The first segment of trail follows the Scotch Creek closely and passes through an area with many scree slopes below the eroding formations. The forest is thick with Aspen and Spruce and Fir. I heard the loud squeaks of the rabbit relative pikas in the scree slopes but didn’t see one.

There are a few sunny and rocky glades along the lower segment with wildflowers. In late June there were a few flowers but not spectacular. The walking surface was reasonably smooth and the grade is gradual and easy in the lower segment. There are two small creek crossings, one might get your feet wet.

After about 3 miles and 1:40 hours of hiking the trail switchbacks away from the Scotch Creek and becomes steeper. As the route climbs, there are glimpses through the thick forest of some of the peaks to the north.
 

There is a short segment where the views open up north to what I think are Dolores Mountain, Blackhawk Mountain and Whitecap Mountain, all over 12,000 feet.

A little further, some more distant mountain tops come into view. In late June the trail at the top was snow free with a few snow patches in shady spots off the trail.

It took me 2:45 hours to reach the junction with the Colorado Trail at Forest Roads 550 and 564. Looking at the map it looks like a descent to the east would arrive near the Durango Mountain Ski area.
 

The return hike took 2:30 hours for a total hike of 5:30 hours for 11 miles. It was 47 F degrees at the 8:40 AM start and 80 F degrees at my 2:10 PM finish. This was a 95 F degree day in Cortez, CO about 50 miles south. I carried and drank 3 liters of water. I saw two 4 WD vehicles during my hike but no other hikers or mountain bikers.

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.