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.

Jud Wiebe Trail

The Jud Wiebe Trail is a 2.7 mile loop in Telluride town in southwest Colorado. The west trailhead is at the north end of Aspen Street. I parked in the free parking that is on the southwest side of town and it was a 20 minute walk through the scenic town streets to the trailhead.

The west trailhead is also the beginning of the short trail to Cornet Falls and to the east ends of the Deep Creek Trail and Sneffels Highline Trail. At the trailhead there is a bridge across Cornet Creek.
 

The first segment climbs steeply to the west through spruce, fir and aspens. There are increasingly higher views to the west down the Telluride Valley and across the town. It took me 0:35 minutes to climb to the trail junctions.

The Jud Wiebe Trail switches back toward the east and continues to climb. 

The views get better as the elevation increases. In early June there was still a lot of snow at the higher elevations.

At the high point there is a small bench with more spectacular views. It looks like the high point elevation is at about 9680 feet with the trailhead about 8800 feet.

 I thought the bench view point was higher than the top of the Bridal Veil Falls to the east. From the trail junctions it took 0:20 minutes more of climbing to arrive at the bench.

From the bench the trail begins to descend and winds around the Cornet Creek. This segment of trail still had some patches of snow. There is a bridge across the Cornet Creek and a trail junction with the Liberty Bell Trail.

The switchbacks down the final segment come very close to the area above the Cornet Falls but I didn’t see a good view of the falls from there. The east trailhead connects to Tomboy Road, which leads 5 miles to the Tomboy Mine site.
 

The Telluride Historical Museum on Gregory Street is very close to the east trailhead. The museum has interpretive displays on the mining and social history of Telluride and also has the Telluride Blanket, a rare Ancestral Pueblo woven blanket that is more than 700 years old.

My total hike from the parking area to the Museum took 2:30 hours for the 2.7 mile trail plus about 1 mile of town walking. It was a 58 F degree sunny day. I carried 2 liters of water and drank 1 of them.

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.

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.