Groundhog Stock Trail-West Trailhead

The western segment of the Groundhog Stock Trail travels west from the Navajo Lake Trailhead for about 4.3 miles in the Lizard Head Wilderness in southwest Colorado. The west end trailhead is 2.3 miles west of the junction of the West Dolores Forest Road 535 and Forest Road 611. The trailhead elevation is about 9640 feet.

The west trailhead area is marked but there isn’t a developed parking area. There is an eastern segment of the Groundhog Stock Trail that has an eastern trailhead at the Cross Mountain Trailhead south of Lizard Head Pass. That 5 mile segment connects with Forest Road 535 at the scenic Meadows. 

The first segment of trail passes through meadows with view of 12,340 ft. Elliot Mountain to the left and 12, 308 ft Sockrider Peak to the right. With binoculars the Calico Trail is visible along the flank of Elliot Mountain. This western end of the Groundhog Trail is dominated by wide meadows with the trail being somewhat vague. After about 0.75 miles, there are signs marking the Lizard Head Wilderness boundary.

After crossing  more meadow there is a crossing of Cold Creek. In early August, this was an easy crossing. I saw many birds along this trail including a Red Tailed Hawk and a Golden Eagle. There were also many swallows and woodpeckers.

Climbing out of the Cold Creek valley, there are good views of 13,290 ft. Dolores Peak to the right, the creatively named Middle Peak at 13,261 ft. and Dunn Peak to the left at 12,595 feet.

The trail is very vague crossing this large meadow. The maps show that the trail runs north parallel to Cold Creek, so it is helpful to carry a map and compass. The route is directly toward Dolores Peak. At the end of the meadow, the trail becomes more distinct at it enters a forest segment. 

The forest segment climbs steeply and turns east, eventually arriving at more meadows with more spectacular views. Looking to the northeast, El Diente, the big tooth stands out at 14,159 feet. The route of the Navajo Lake Trail is visible along with a glance into the Navajo Lake Basin. The peaks behind El Diente don’t seem to have names but are about 12,800 feet.

I stopped after 2:00 hours and 2.7 miles at a hilltop that has a wooden marker with a cow skull attached.. The trail is vague through this meadow but continues on the north side of this hilltop and starts to descend down toward the junction with the Navajo Lake Trail. Before reaching the Navajo Lake Trail there is a junction with the Burro Bridge Trail that begins at the Burro Bridge Campground.

The Burro Bridge Trail is relatively new and doesn’t appear on all the maps. This hilltop is at about 10,500 feet and is one of the best view points in the Lizard Head area that is along a trail.

From the same hilltop, there are higher angle views back toward Dolores Peak and Dunn Peak. My return hike took 1:30 hours for a total hike of 3:30 hours for about 5.4 miles. I carried and drank 3 liters of water on a 65 F early August day. I didn’t see any other hikers or horse riders during my hike.

Groundhog Stock Trail-East

This east five mile segment of the Groundhog Stock Trail starts at the Cross Mountain Trail Head, about two miles south of the Lizard Head Pass in the San Juan National Forest in southwest Colorado. There is also a western segment near the Navajo Lake and Burro Bridge Trails.

After about ten minutes on the Cross Mountain Trail, the Groundhog Stock Trail branches off to the left and travels to the southwest along the edge of the Lizard Head Wilderness Area. This area has three of the Colorado 14ers, plus the unique Lizard Head formation.

The first mile of the trail passes through thick spruce and fir forest. There were some mud holes and some spots where the trail is a little vague through this area.

 After about 45 minutes the trail arrives at a flower filled moist meadow, then exits the thick forest.

After the forest meadow the route opens up giving good views and descends steeply down to Slate Creek where there is a footbridge.

 Slate Creek flows down and becomes an early contributor to the Dolores River near the Cayton Campground. There is the second smaller Coke Oven Creek a little further on.

After Slate Creek the trail grade is reasonably flat through a long area of meadows with islands of spruce and fir. There are good mountain views both ahead and behind and lots of summer wildflowers in the meadows.

The last segment of trail passes along the north side of a very wide and long meadow area. There was a confusing spot where an old road section of trail appears to dead end when entering the meadow. The inconspicuous single track trail continues to the right around the shoulder, avoiding the mushy spots below.

The trail ends at the east end of The Meadows along Forest Road 535, and the south flanks of Mount Wilson come into view. I took about 4:30 hours to walk this 10 mile out and back route.