Hiking Trails of Southwestern Colorado, Fifth Edition

Paul Pixler, John Peel

Description

Now with a fresh design, this fifth edition of the bestselling authoritative guide for hikers in Southwestern Colorado features new and updated trails, clear maps, and beautiful color photographs.

Used by beginner and seasoned hikers alike for years now, Hiking Trails of Southwestern Colorado shares the best nature-walking excursions around Durango, Silverton, Vallecito, and the Colorado Trail areas. Taking you everywhere from the refreshing waters of Ice Lakes Basin to the glorious views of Engineer Mountain, this new edition of the guidebook includes:

• More than 60 trails and climbs plus 12 new hikes, accompanied by corresponding maps and color photographs
• Distance, elevation, difficulty rating, and duration for each hike
• General overview of the trail as well as quick but important details on the route
• Options to other paths and trails for the wandering adventurer

Enjoy the natural landscape and wild beauty of Southwestern Colorado with this comprehensive guide to Southwestern Colorado’s favorite trails.

Preface to the Fifth Edition
Introduction
General Information
Technology

HIKES IN AND NEAR DURANGO
City Trails
Hogsback
Perins Peak
Dry Gulch to Durango
Barnroof Point
Colorado Trail: Junction to Gudy's
Dry Fork-Hoffheins Loop
Animas City Mountain
Log Chutes
Raider Ridge
Meadow Loop-Telegraph Trail
Carbon Junction Trail
Sale Barn-Cowboy Loop
Skyline

LA PLATA MOUNTAIN CLIMBS
Sliderock Trail to Kennebec Pass
Tomahawk Basin-Diorite Peak
Centennial Peak and Sharkstooth
Hesperus Mountain
Transfer Trail
Madden and Parrott Peaks
Gibbs Peak
Silver Mountain

HIKES UP AND ON MISSIONARY RIDGE
Haflin Creek
Stevens Creek
Mountain View Crest
Red Creek-First Fork
Shearer Creek
Burnt Timber

HIKES BETWEEN DURANGO AND SILVERTON
Hermosa Creek
Jones Creek
Goulding Creek
Chris Park
Forebay Lake
Elbert Creek-Castle Rock
Purgatory Flats
Cascade Creek
Potato (Spud) Lake
Potato Hill (Spud Mountain)
Engineer Mountain
Grizzly Peak
Grayrock Peak
Hermosa Peak
Jura Knob (Coal Creek-Deer Creek)
Crater Lake-North Twilight
Snowdon Peak
Molas Trail
Sultain-Grand Turk
Colorado Trail-Molas Pass

HIKES OUT OF SILVERTON
Hope Lake
Ice Lakes
US Grant Peak
Columbine Trail
Kendall Mountain
Whitehead Peak
Silver Lake
Hematite Basin
Highland Mary Lakes
Continental Divide

VALLECITO AREA HIKES
Lake Eileen
Vallecito Creek
Cave Basin
Pine River

THE AREA FOURTEENERS
Mount Sneffels
Handies Peak
Redcloud and Sunshine Peaks
Uncompahgre Peak
Wetterhorn Peak

Ethics
Resources
Index
About the Authors

Sujets

• Sport
• Autres sports
• Sports de plein air
• Denver
• Durango
• La Plata
• Boulder
• US
• Telluride
• Mountain
• West
• United States
• Silverton
• San Juan Mountains
• Travel

Informations

• Publié par: Turner Publishing Company
• Date de parution: 23 juin 2020
• Nombre de lectures: 1
• EAN13: 9781513262987
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 13 Mo

Extrait

HIKING TRAILS OF
SOUTHWESTERN
COLORADO
FIFTH EDITION
JOHN PEEL
PAUL PIXLER
2020 by John Peel
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission of the publisher.
Library of Congress
Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Peel, John, author. | Pixler, Paul, 1920- author.
Title: Hiking trails of Southwestern Colorado / John Peel and Paul Pixler.
Description: Fifth edition. | Berkeley: West Margin Press, 2020. | Includes index. | Summary: A trail guidebook to hikes and climbs in Southwestern Colorado, including areas around Durango, Silverton, Missionary Ridge, and Vallecito -Provided by publisher.
Identifiers: LCCN 2020004215 (print) | LCCN 2020004216 (ebook) | ISBN 9781513262963 (paperback) | ISBN 9781513262970 (hardback) | ISBN 9781513262987 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Hiking-Colorado-San Juan National Forest-Guidebooks. | Hiking-Colorado-Uncompahgre National Forest-Guidebooks. | San Juan National Forest (Colo.)-Guidebooks. | Uncompahgre National Forest (Colo.)-Guidebooks. | Colorado Trail (Colo.)-Guidebooks.
Classification: LCC GV199.42.C62 S265 2020 (print) | LCC GV199.42.C62 (ebook) | DDC 796.5109788--dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020004215
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020004216
Printed in China
24 23 22 21 20 1 2 3 4 5
Edited by Barbara Schultz
Indexed by Sheila Ryan
Cover image: Looking up through a profusion of wildflowers to the summit of Hesperus Mountain.
West Margin Press is an imprint of

WestMarginPress.com
Proudly distributed by Ingram Publisher Services
WEST MARGIN PRESS
Publishing Director: Jennifer Newens
Marketing Manager: Angela Zbornik
Editor: Olivia Ngai
Design Production:Rachel Lopez Metzger
Design Intern: Gloria Boadwee
CONTENTS
Preface to the Fifth Edition
Introduction
General Information
Technology
HIKES IN NEAR DURANGO
City Trails
Hogsback
Perins Peak
Dry Gulch to Durango
Barnroof Point
Colorado Trail: Junction to Gudy s
Dry Fork-Hoffheins Loop
Animas City Mountain
Log Chutes
Raider Ridge
Meadow Loop-Telegraph Trail
Carbon Junction
Sale Barn-Cowboy Loop
Skyline
LA PLATA MOUNTAIN CLIMBS
Sliderock Trail to Kennebec Pass
Tomahawk Basin-Diorite Peak
Centennial Peak Sharkstooth
Hesperus Mountain
Transfer Trail
Madden Parrott Peaks
Gibbs Peak
Silver Mountain
HIKES UP ON MISSIONARY RIDGE
Haflin Creek
Stevens Creek
Mountain View Crest
Red Creek-First Fork
Shearer Creek
Burnt Timber
HIKES BETWEEN DURANGO SILVERTON
Hermosa Creek
Jones Creek
Goulding Creek
Chris Park
Forebay Lake
Elbert Creek-Castle Rock
Purgatory Flats
Cascade Creek
Potato (Spud) Lake
Potato Hill (Spud Mountain)
Engineer Mountain
Grizzly Peak
Grayrock Peak
Hermosa Peak
Jura Knob (Coal Creek-Deer Creek)
Crater Lake-North Twilight
Snowdon Peak
Molas Trail
Sultan-Grand Turk
Colorado Trail-Molas Pass
HIKES OUT OF SILVERTON
Hope Lake
Ice Lakes
US Grant Peak
Columbine Lake
Kendall Mountain
Whitehead Peak
Silver Lake
Hematite Basin
Highland Mary Lakes
Continental Divide
VALLECITO AREA HIKES
Lake Eileen
Vallecito Creek
Cave Basin
Pine River
THE AREA FOURTEENERS
Mount Sneffels
Handies Peak
Redcloud Sunshine Peaks
Uncompahgre Peak
Wetterhorn Peak
Ethics
Resources
Index
Can you find this spectacular waterfall, located near one of the hikes in this book?

PREFACE TO THE FIFTH EDITION
Welcome to what is a surprisingly hefty rewrite of this classic trail guidebook. It s been more than a decade since the fourth edition of this guide was published, and a lot has changed: Trailheads have moved; trails were built, modified, and made permanent by increased wear; roads deteriorated or were blocked off; private and public land-use restrictions were tweaked; avalanche debris forced detours; and fires altered the landscape. And that s just a start.
This edition adds a bundle of trails (including a new Vallecito section) and leaves out a few that aren t all that conducive to hikers anymore. Also, several hikes and sections are reorganized, plus new photos and maps have been added that we believe are much easier to use.
This update has certainly been a labor of love. Everything in here was painstakingly researched. Yep, it s a tough job wandering around in the wilderness, but someone has to do it.
The first person to create this marvelous compendium was Fort Lewis College philosophy professor Paul Pixler, whose first version came out in 1980. Paul wrote two more editions before deciding to find a successor. Through a mutual friend, Scott Graham, Paul invited me to carry on his work, and I wrote the fourth edition of this book, printed in 2006. Paul died in 2011 at the age of ninety, but a lot of his words remain in this book. This fifth edition started with me scribbling of notes in the margins of the fourth edition, but the bulk of the research was done in the summer of 2019.
There are always people who lend a hand in the creation of a guidebook such as this. Here are a few:
My father, Donald Peel, finished climbing all the state s fourteeners back in 1951, and was something like the thirty-seventh person that the Colorado Mountain Club recognized for doing so. He, and to some extent my mother, introduced me and my sister, Amy, to hiking. All those Life Savers candies he used to goad me from trail stop to trail stop in those early years paid off in the end.
Eventually, I started exploring the mountains with high school buddies Steve Chapman and Jim Wadge. We all survived our scrapes (usually it was me doing something like desperately clinging to a rope while stuck horizontally on a bridge, or needing dire help from above when stuck on a cliff), and we remain friends today.
More recently, my wife, Judy, and dog, Buda, have shared my adventures. Thanks, Judy, for your constant help, guidance, and editing on this time-consuming project. Friends David Buck and Peter Schertz joined me on several trails and challenging mountains. Leo Lloyd, search and rescue expert, helped to craft some of the gear essentials, safety tips, and first-aid information. One of Leo s first of countless wilderness rescues, incidentally, was catching Paul Pixler when Paul slipped on El Diente; that incident remains in the ensuing Introduction.
Thanks also to the great team at West Margin Press: editor Olivia Ngai, designer Rachel Metzger, and marketing manager Angie Zbornik. Also, thanks to Jed Botsford with the Forest Service and Joe Lewandowski with Parks and Wildlife for lending their expertise; and to Mary Monroe Brown of Durango Trails 2000 for her consultation.
So pick a trail and refresh your wilderness IQ with the information in the Introduction and Ethics chapter. Use this book as it suits you, and go try to have as much fun as I did.
John Peel
Durango, Colorado
The shale-rock ridge leading to the Engineer summit . (Photo by Steve Chapman)

The top of Pioneer Trail reaches Nusbaum Road, the junction shown here .

INTRODUCTION
It s pretty basic, really: Stuff a few things in a small pack, arrive at a trailhead, don your chosen footwear, and start walking. The goal of this book is merely to add quality to that outdoor experience. It s to help match your mood and energy with the appropriate trail. It s to keep you on the right track.
This chapter will explain how the book is structured and the best ways to use it, with an explanation of the headings before each hike description. The next chapters have general information on coexisting with other trail users, facing potential hazards, proper gear and first-aid equipment, and preparation tips.
Many trails await. This book isn t designed to tell you exactly where to go, but it makes a good launching pad.
WHAT S INCLUDED
The goal in creating this guide was to find the most enjoyable day-use trails in the Durango-Silverton corridor. It branches out a bit to include hikes out of Mancos and Vallecito as well. Most of these hikes are within an hour s drive of Durango or Silverton. Backpacking routes are not featured here, although you ll find several great ideas for backpacking trips, and some multiday routes are specifically pointed out within the day hike descriptions. Technical climbs are not featured, but a couple of the mountains in here will test your ability to rock-scramble.
Almost all of these hikes are on public land. Several cross private land, however, and that s noted. A few trails on public land are subject to seasonal closures and that s noted too; these are all near Durango.
The fourteeners of southwestern Colorado posed a bit of a dilemma for me. These overclimbed peaks get their own chapter, but not all twelve made the cut. Handies Peak via Grouse Gulch or American Basin is a 1-day route from as far as Durango with a reasonably early start. Mount Sneffels can be done in a day from Durango too, but it s a good idea to get a really early start. Wetterhorn, Uncompahgre, Redcloud, and Sunshine aren t so achievable in 1 day from Durango or even Silverton, but they are day hikes from nearby camping areas or from Lake City. The Needles and Wilsons didn t make the cut. The Needles are best climbed either by hiking down Purgatory Flats, up the Animas River to near Needleton, and up to Chicago Basin, or by taking the train to Needleton; plan to spend 2 or 3 days. Mount Wilson and El Diente are about as difficult as Colorado s fourteeners get and really are better to incorporate into a backpacking trip. Wilson Peak as a day hike is best from the north, but that s a long drive and still a long hike.
HEADINGS
Distance is relatively straightforward. The more often you hike, the better you will know your capabilities. One caveat is that miles where you ll make a big elevation gain