Picket Wire Canyon Lands

This last Sunday, Candy and I hiked down in the Picket Wire Canyon lands. This was the second time for me and the first for her. We got lucky as it was overcast cool in the morning. We had great weather all the way out to the track site. On the way back the clouds had broken and it heated up quick. There is no shade to speak of so hard to cool down. Total miles came in at 11.4 and total time out was six hours.

I was on the look out for snakes, scorpions and tarantulas but didn’t manage to find any. Of course I didn’t venture to far off the trail to look for them. We did see lot’s of birds, grasshoppers and beetles. I think it was mating season for the beetles or maybe they are just at it all the time. We came across a box turtle and one grasshopper that I had never seen before. Most of them were grey, black or green. But this one had orange, yellow, blue, black and white colors. Looked it up and it is called a Painted Grasshopper (Dactylotum Bicolor).

The river wasn’t running to high, we took off the shoes and socks and made our way across. Took a break had a peach and some almonds. Checked out the dinosaur tracks for a while and then headed back. For more info on the track site visit: http://www.fs.fed.us/r2/psicc/coma/palo/index.shtml

We headed back to town and grabbed lunch and then stopped at a couple of farm markets and got some peaches, corn, tomatoes, etc. all good stuff. Then we headed home, the drive back was just about 90 minutes.

All pictures can be found at: http://picasaweb.google.com/drobincorvette/20090809#

Picket Wire Canyonlands

Well I finally made the hike through the Picket Wire Canyon Lands. My route was 10.4/Miles. I took a short cut, up and over the hills. Not advised if you do not have a GPS, as it is easy to get lost once you get of the trail.

The trail follows the Purgatory River and I was surprised by the amount of water flowing. Especially when I had to cross it, to get to the dinosaur tracks.

I started out at about 9:30am from the Withers Canyon Trail Head. It was 35 degrees when I started but once walking I warmed up pretty quickly. I had a head wind most of the way and ended up with a nice wind rash on my face when done for the day. I was back at my truck at 1:30pm.

The dinosaur tracksite was pretty cool. You had to cross the river which was a bit of a challenge. This is actually the largest dinosaur tracksite in North America.

I also came across the Dolores Mission and Cemetery. There you will find the remains of an old church and Cemetery.

If you get the chance this hike is one to add to your list. If you stay on the main trail the hike is fairly level and easy to do. As you return from the dinosaur tracksite and reach the Cemetery, head to the north and work you way up and around the steep butte and you can shave at least two miles off the hike. This route is very difficult and again, make sure you have a GPS as you will get lost.