Co: Picketwire Canyon Adventure

[ttora4runner]

A new year and new adventures. This past Saturday I headed out to Picketwire Canyon located south of La Junta, Colorado in Comanche National Grasslands for a little exploring.

The start of the road back to the trail head.


The trailhead for Picketwire Canyon starts in the campground area of Withers Canyon and descends down about 250 though a shade area that hasn’t seen the sun for a bit.


Down inside the canyon and the start of the hike.


A ruin site shortly after the descent down into the canyon.


Old well.








Continuing on down the trail.








Another ruin site and well.


One of the main structures/ruins in the area the Dolores Mission and Cemetery.

 

[ttora4runner]

One final photo of the mission and cemetery before starting the hike back.


Back at the trail head – time to head for home.


Sometime in the next few weeks I'll add some additional photo's to this thread as I plan to revisit the area and head back to the dinosaur tracks that are located just a couple miles past the mission. I would've made the visit on this trip but I'd been hiking through mud which wore me out and I didn't bring enough water with me to continue on (not typical of me).

 

[roverrocks]

Very interesting. Thanks.

 

[ttora4runner]

Part 2: Dinosaur Tracks ard Rourke Ranch

I made a return trip to Picketwire Canyon yesterday to make a visit to the dinosaur track site and Rourke Ranch. This time around I opted to take my mountain bike which would make the 17.4 mile (round trip) trek a lot easier and with no mud a lot quicker.











The best footprint I found


A lot of the dinosaur tracks on the one side of the river had filled in with mud or with debris from flood activities but you could still get a pretty good idea of them. Couldn't really find a good spot to take a photo of the tracks.




Old structure

 

[ttora4runner]

Rourke Ranch













Older vs newer structure.


Overall, it was good day to get away and I actually got a little sun burnt in February.

 

[ExplorerTom]

Very cool. Can't wait for my trip in early May.

 

[NMC_EXP]

Thanks for the report. Looks like it is well worth a visit.

Are you going to try Apishapa again when it dries out?

 

[ttora4runner]

Thanks for the report. Looks like it is well worth a visit.

Are you going to try Apishapa again when it dries out?

Ya, I think the area is worth a visit.

Not sure on when I'll hit up Apishapa.

 

[All-Terrain]

Very cool. Great photos.

Where did you start the trip? How many miles did you drive on the trail, ballpark?

 

[Aquafbody]

A+ Pics dude.

 

[ttora4runner]

Very cool. Great photos.

Where did you start the trip? How many miles did you drive on the trail, ballpark?

Withers Canyon trail head to hike and bike. If you want to drive to the sites you have to arrange that with the BLM trail head is something like 20 miles off the main road.

 

[ttora4runner]

Thanks for the report. Looks like it is well worth a visit.

Are you going to try Apishapa again when it dries out?

I'm going to watch the weather this week and see what it does and I may try to make it out to Apishapa Canyon next Saturday.

 

[ExplorerTom]

If you take the auto tour with the Forest Service, you get to go in the Dolores house. It was nice and cool in there on that hot spring day.

Nice pics.