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.

Lizard Head Pass July Wildflowers

The Lizard Head Pass, along Highway 145, south of Telluride, in southwest Colorado, is a popular area and has hiking trail heads leading in several directions. In summer, the moist meadow areas are rich in wildflowers. It is possible to hike between Lizard Head Pass and the Cross Mountain Trail Head area and view the wildflowers along with the several mountain peaks that are visible.

I started my hike on the east side of Highway 145 near the East Fork Trail Head, and started walking north through the grassy meadow. There isn’t a trail on the east side, but the walking is mostly easy. From where I started, there are good views west toward the Lizard Head, Cross Mountain and Black Face. The yellow rose blooms of the Shrubby Cinquefoil stand out all along the meadow area. There are also purpleish Daisies and Buttercups here.

One of the most eye catching of flowers in this area is the Elephant Head in the Snapdragon Family. These are in the moist spots and there are broad patches of them along the way.
 

False Hellebore often grows in dense patches but not all of them bloom. The Navajo Lake Trail on the west side of the Lizard Head Wilderness has large fields of these.

Monkshood is a tall blue flower in the Buttercup Family. At first glance it might be confused with Larkspurs. Cross Mountain is in the distance. The popular Cross Mountain Trail provides a good view on the way to the base of the Lizard Head.

Red patches of Indian Paintbrush are common and visible from a distance. I think there are many species of these in the genus Castelleja of the Snapdragon Family.

There is a creek crossing about half way to Lizard Head Pass and the Yellow Mountain group visible from the pass come into view. The north half of the east side has broad patches of Elephant Heads mixed with white Bistorts in the Buckwheat Family.

Also mixed in with the Elephant Heads are a few Rose Crowns from the Stonecrop Family. I didn’t see very many of these.

I think these are Bluebells in the Mertensia genus of the Borage Family. These are in the area close to the Lizard Head Pass interpretive area, close to where I saw the Rose Crowns.

The return hike on the west side of Highway 145 can follow a rough road that appears to be a buried power line route. The walking is easier and there are good views of the moist meadow area on the east side. Many of the same flowers are visible but more along the several creeks that flow across the trail. My total hike took about 2:30 hours for about 4 miles. The swcoloradowildflowers.com web site is an excellent source for identifying regional wildflowers.

Wilson Mesa Trail-Sunshine Trailhead

The Wilson Mesa Trail runs mostly east and west for about 13 miles on the northern edge of the Lizard Head Wilderness near Telluride in southwest Colorado. The east trailhead is at the south end of Sunshine Mesa Road. There are two other access points further west at Silver Pick Road and near Woods Lake.

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. 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 trailhead say Wilson Mesa Trail and 2 miles to the Lizard Head Trail and Bilk Creek. Practically speaking this is the trailhead for the north end of the Lizard Head Trail. The trailhead 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. The first 2 miles of trail are through thick Spruce, Fir and Aspen forest as the trail switchbacks down about 500 feet toward Bilk Creek and an open meadow and wetlands area. Near the bottom, there are some views of the mountains to the south.
 

The Bilk Creek crossing had a ramshackle bridge as recently as August 2009 but it appears to be gone in July 2011. The crossing was up to my knees and fairly swift in mid July, but not dangerous.
 

The segment along Bilk Creek and wetlands is the most scenic of the east end of the Wilson Mesa Trail. Looking upstream, the Wilson Peak group of mountains is on the right and the Sunshine Mountain group is on the left.
 

Looking downstream, the mountains to the north are the group on the north side of Highway 145 west of Telluride.

 About 3 miles down the trail there is a junction with the Lizard Head Trail. About 1 mile past this junction, the Wilson Mesa Trail leaves the meadow area along Bilk Creek and starts to climb towards the west. There was a herd of cows grazing comfortably near this point. After about 0.5 miles of climbing there is a large pond. I noticed a valve along the trail that makes this appear to be a constructed water management pond.

After 2:15 hours and about 5 miles, I turned around about 0.5 miles past the pond at a small creek near a fence that also appeared to be engineered for water management. On the return hike I noticed a good view up Bilk Creek that showed the Bilk Creek Falls and the Lizard Head Peak.

My return hike took 2:05 hours for a total hike of 4:20 hours for about 10 miles. I saw two motorcycle riders during my hike, but no other hikers or horse riders. At my 2:40 PM finish it was starting to cloud up, but I didn’t get caught in afternoon mid-summer rain. I carried and drank 3 liters of water on a 65 F degree day.

Lizard Head Pass in Winter

The Galloping Goose Trail is one of several that begin in the Lizard Head Pass area, south of Telluride in southwest Colorado. The 21 mile route mostly follows the old rail bed of the Galloping Goose line that served the mountain area until the early 1950s.

The 2.5 mile segment from the Lizard Head Pass to the Trout Lake Trestle has been groomed for easy cross country skiing and snow shoe hiking. There is a cleared space to park on the east side of Highway 145 across from the 10,222 feet elevation Lizard Head Pass rest area. At the trail head, there is a sign and map with information on the history of the trail.
 

 

The mountains along this segment of trail are Vermillion Peak, Yellow Mountain, and Sheep Mountain. The footing in late January was very firm for easy walking in snow shoes. During my hike I saw 5 cross country skiers using the wide groomed trail.

There are many artifacts of the rail era along the Galloping Goose Trail. The only trestle still standing is the Trout Lake Trestle, at the end of the groomed segment. It took me 1:00 hour of hiking to arrive at the trestle where I turned around.

At the end of my hike I looked around the historic sheep corrals that are visible in the pass area, the snow nearly covering them. The wide meadow areas in the pass area are also being used by snowmobiles and I could see that the first segment of the Lizard head Trail was getting some use from snow shoe hikers.

There were also a few vehicles parked near the Cross Mountain trail head where there is a better view of the iconic Lizard Head formation. My total hike was 2:10 hours for about 5 miles on a 25 F degree late January day.

Lizard Head Trail to Wilson Meadows

The Lizard Head Trail crosses through the eastern part of the mountainous Lizard Head Wilderness Area in southwest Colorado south of Telluride along Highway 145.

From the trail head at Lizard Head Pass, at 10,250 feet, the route starts north, cuts west behind Black Face Mountain and then north again. About 1.5 miles along the trail, a side trail descends into a basin area called Wilson Meadows. It is about a 6 mile round trip to visit this scenic spot.

The Wilson Meadows Trail runs more or less parallel with the Lizard head Trail. In late June there was still too much snow in the spruce forest to follow the Lizard head Trail to its junction with the Cross Mountain Trail and make a loop hike. The Lizard Head Peak is 13,113 feet.

The first mile of the Lizard Head Trail heads north to a point that overlooks Trout Lake through the aspen, spruce and fir forest. The trail then has several switchbacks giving higher and better views. There are several scree slopes on the west side of the trail. The road that runs along the north side of Trout Lake is part of the Galloping Goose Trail, a 21 mile route from Lizard Head Pass to Telluride that follows the old railroad grade.

At about the 2 mile point there is a trail sign pointing left and down and unlikely clay hill. From above it doesn’t appear that the trail could possibly go this way, but it does. This is about 20 minutes of hiking before arriving at Wilson Meadows. I’ve followed what appears to be the more likely trail straight ahead and it leads to a sloping meadow area that is scenic but not as good as Wilson Meadows.

Wilson Meadows receives snowmelt from many directions and is soggy in the bottoms area, and rich with wildflowers. The area is a basin surrounded by peaks on all sides. The peaks to the immediate northwest of Lizards Head aren’t named on the map I had but are about 12,000 to 13,000 feet high. Wilsons Creek drains the meadows, flowing to the north.

This might be San Bernardo Mountain on the north side at 11,861 feet. It took me about 2:00 hours to arrive at Wilson Meadows where I lingered for about 1:00 hour.

My return hike took 1:30 hours for a total hike of 4:30 hours. I carried two liters of water on a June day that was about 55 F when I started at 9:00 AM and 68 F at 1:30 PM. It was a clear day with some wind gusts in the exposed spots.

Cross Mountain Trail to Lizard Head Peak

The Cross Mountain Trail is in the Lizard Head Wilderness in the San Juan National Forest in southwest Colorado.  The starting elevation at the trail head is about 10,080 feet. The elevation at the junction with the Lizard Head Trail, below the peak, is about 12,000 feet.

The trail directly approaches the signature Lizard Head Peak and connects to a network of trails that visit this area of high peaks including Colorado 14ers Mt. Wilson and El Diente.

The Cross Mountain Trail Head is about two miles south of the Lizard Head Pass on the west side of Highway 145. There are other trail heads at the Lizard Head pass also, including the Wilson Meadows Trail and the Galloping Goose Trail. This trail head also provides access to the Groundhog Stock Trail,  and the East Fork Trail begins directly across the highway on the east side.

After passing the junction leading left with the Groundhog Stock Trail that travels to The Meadows area, the trail cuts through a thick forest of Fir and Spruce, and then it opens on to a high meadow giving spectacular mountain views.

To the south is Cross Mountain, 12,703 ft, showing off an orange color. The group of mountains to the east of the Lizard Head Pass show some similar colors.

Lizard head is an odd formation, a spike that sticks up, in an area with a mostly normally shaped mountain peaks. The elevation is given at 13,113 feet. From this angle it doesn't look like the head of a lizard, but it does stand out and is visible in the Cortez, CO area more than 60 miles away.

It took me about 2:15 hours to go about 3 miles to the base of the Lizard Head, where there is a T junction with the Lizard Head Trail. I turned right and continued east along the trail, along the base of the Head for a few more minutes to a point where is a saddle giving views of all the peaks to the east.

The trail leading to the left goes into the Bilk Basin where there is a large waterfall. Try viewing from the different angle there before deciding if the Lizard Head is mis-named

The Lizard Head Trail going east connects to the Wilson Meadows Trail that starts at the Lizard Head Pass allowing for a loop hike. This segment stays snowy longer into the season than other segments of the trail. The Lizard Head is very difficult to climb due to the rotten nature of the rock and is only for extreme experts.

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.