Visiting Colorado's Spanish Peaks

8/9/2019 Visiting Colorado's Spanish Peaks

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Visiting ColoradosSpanish Peaks Area

Paul Richardson

2010


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The picture on the cover is taken from on the scene. The picture above is taken

from my living room on the north side of Colorado Springs in the Black Forest.

The first picture is a few miles from the peaks. The one above is about 110 miles

from the peaks. We are fortunate during the cooler months of the year (usually

October through April) to be able to see the Spanish Peaks clearly. During the

warmer weather the air can hold more moisture and the visibility is cut down

enough that rarely do we see them.

The Indians named the peaks Wahatoya, which is translated as breasts of theearth or mothers of the earth depending on what source you read or hear. The

reason for their description is obvious I think as they do look from a distance like

the breasts of a woman lying on her back.


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While I have been in the vicinity of the peaks many times over the many years I

have lived here I have mostly seen them on the way over La Veta Pass into the San

Luis Valley. The valley has lots of things to see including the Great Sand DunesNational Park, the Fort Garland (Kit Carson was commander for a time) historic

site and the Stations of the Cross sculptures in San Luis. There is also a National

Wildlife Refuge in the valley near Alamosa where various species of cranes stop

on their long migrations each year. The valley also gives beautiful views of the

Sangre de Christo Mountains with many of them being fourteeners.

Recently my son, Mark asked if I would like to go camping in the La Veta area

with him and Sam, my grandson. My schedule allowed it and I would have gone

even if it didnt. We left on a Sunday afternoon as Mark is a nurse and needed afew hours sleep after his 12 hour shift the night before. We drove down I 25

through Pueblo to Walsenburg where US 160, The Navajo Trail crosses it. It is

aptly named as it takes you through southern Colorado to the Navajo reservation

and Monument Valley. Do you remember the John Ford westerns filmed in the

Monument Valley area?

We only traveled a few miles on 160 before turning south on Colorado 12, the road

to La Veta. La Veta is a nice little town that appears to be prospering. It is well

kept, has a vibrant main street with stores, restaurants, inns, etc. Mark had picked

out a campground for us and it had available sites for us so that we even got a

choice. We picked next to a gurgling stream with a spot for the tent under a cluster

of giant spruce trees. We set up Marks tent. It was a three-man expedition type

that had been used by he and his wife in many areas including a trip up Mount

Rainier in Washington. The campground was called Bear Lake and yes bears

visited on the last morning there looking for food. Caused a little excitement but

no harm to anyone other than faster heartbeats for those who saw them. We didnt

but enjoyed hearing the stories of those on both sides of us who did.

On the first day of our explorations we did go away from the La Veta area for the

morning so that Sam could experience the sand dunes. We didnt know how it

would be since a wildfire had been burning in the area for over a week. The

National Park and Forest Service people had decided to let it burn itself out and it


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appeared to be working. It had gotten

to the steep slopes of the Sangres and

would have been very difficult to fight

in any event. It is called the Medano

fire after the creek that runs through thesand dunes park.

Every kid I have taken to the sand

dunes has enjoyed playing in Medano

Creek. It is very shallow and spread

out over a wide area, wider in spring due to the snow melt runoff. They love to

play in the sand, build castles, dams to make the water flow were they want it or

just sitting in it and letting it cool them on a hot summer day. Sam was no

exception. The only downside that day was that the mosquitoes were out in force.

Luckily I had one of those OFF clip on fogger fans and I escaped with only a

few bites by the time I went back to the car to get it. By then Sam and Mark were

already in the stream playing.

Mark and Sam


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This is a pic of the top of

the dunes showing that a

few hardy people put forth

the effort to do it. The

high point is almost 750feet high, the highest dune

in North America. I had

done it once in the past but

with Sam and a hot day it

was not on the agenda for

this trip. You need to start

out early in the morning to

get it done before it getshot, and the sand does soak up the heat very well. We did take Sam up the first

rise so he could experience running down the slope. His small feet didnt work too

well as he would sink in and

almost stumble with each

step.

See the sand flying up from

his right foot. You can see

he is concentrating on notfalling on his face. He is two

and a half.

After visiting the dunes we

headed back over La Veta

Pass explore other areas.

We stopped in Cuchara the

little village near the now closed Cuchara Ski Area. It is a very nice area but theowners closed it down due to slow business and lack of consistent snow in some

years. They didnt have snowmaking equipment. It is difficult to compete with

the bigger ski areas near Denver and it doesnt have the trails or terrain to compete

with Aspen or Telluride. It does have a lot of nice condos and homes in the resort

area. One home we saw was very unique. It was built in trees with great views of


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the mountains. There were two separate three story buildings built into the side of

a hill with an enclosed bridge between them on the top floor. It reminded me of

the skyway system connecting buildings in Minneapolis so that people can

navigate the cold weather downtown in the winter more comfortably. We

speculated on the layout because each building looked to be at least 4 or 5thousand feet in living area. Perhaps it was for family privacy during large

gatherings. The drawbridge in the middle of the connection was a dead giveaway.

Just kidding.

Mark and Sam checking out the action (or lack

of it) along the main street in Cucharra. The

Dog Bar and Grill is perhaps the most notable

feature. Mark said on a previous visit with

friends they had gone there on a weekend night

and were surprised to see that every one of the

locals in the place had their dogs with them.

The place apparently lives up to its name.

The grill has a nice big deck to the

left which would be a good place to

sit in nice weather.

The next day we explored around the area. This area of Colorado is famous for its

dikes. There are three dike systems in the area. The following description is from

the www.spanishpeakscountry.com website. The Great Dikes were formed

during the same period of volcanic activity as the Spanish Peaks, Mount Mestas

and Silver Mountain. At the time these vertical granite formations were formed by

molten rock, they were located several thousand feet underground, below and


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among many layers of sedimentary rock. Over time, as the ground rose and the

softer rock was eroded away, these igneous intrusions were exposed.

There are essentially three different sets of dikes in the area. One set emanates

radially from the West Spanish Peak. The second set emanates radially from Silver

Mountain. The third set crosses the landscape in a roughly N80E direction. The

dikes in this third set are roughly parallel to one another and are the longest and

oldest of the dikes. This third set of dikes was formed about the same time as the

Sangre de Cristo Uplift, the event that pushed up the Sangre de Cristo Mountains

between 2 north-south running fault lines about 27 million years ago. The Spanish

Peaks, Silver Mountain, Mt. Mestas, the White Sisters, the Sheep Mountains, Iron

Mountain, and the Black Hills in Huerfano County, along with their associated

radial dike systems, were formed about 25 million years ago.

An edge view of one of the radial dikes fromWest Spanish Peak helps you understand

that they are literally walls of granite

standing upright.

The dyke on the right was visible from the Spanish Peaks Wilderness area trail to

W. Spanish Peak. The trail starts at Cordova Pass, elevation 11,500 feet. We had

wanted to get to the base of West Spanish Peak but the clouds moving in and

intense thunderstorms of the previous afternoons convinced us that we had best

turn back. Lightening safety is a paramount consideration when hiking in the

mountains.


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We decided to drive down the east side of Cordova Pass which is a gravel road that

goes to Aguilar on I 25. We encountered a portal through a dike that had been cut

since it was across where the road needed to go. They had apparently blasted the

hole and then built up a masonry arch to support the dike remaining above the

hole. It is called the Apishapa Arch. It was built by the CCC in 1934.

Other scenes near Cordova Pass were some more on the West Spanish Peak trail in

the wilderness area.


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From the trail down to the right. Note more dikes.

One afternoon we went over Cuchara Pass (less than 10000 feet) because it was

raining hard and we didnt want to go back to our camp until that stopped. After

crossing the pass we ran into an intense hail storm that covered the highwayturning it white. We kept going as stopping was not an attractive option. Soon we

came to a place called Monument Lake as the storm was abating. Monument Lake

is a resort owned by the City of Trinidad, Colorado a little over 20 miles to the

east. Trinidad is the last town in Colorado on I 25 before you enter New Mexico.

We were hungry and decided to stop for a late lunch (3:30) there. It is a very nice

operation from all appearances with a large lake, boat rentals, small adobe cabins

and lodge rooms for people to stay. We went into the restaurant which was very

nice and completely empty but for us.

We looked at the menu and ordered. The service was excellent and the food was

very good, too. The setting was especially nice. The pictures following are of the

dining room and lake.


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Leaving Monument Lake we drove back toward our camp. The hail had mostly

melted. We noticed some rocks had ended up in the roadway, especially a larger

one that would have landed in my lap if we had been driving by when it fell. So

sometime in the 2 hours or less we were driving to Monument Lake and then back

to the spot the rock had fallen. Glad we missed that experience.

When we got back to camp we decided to take a twilight hike around Bear Lake.

Very nice and Sam led the way on this one except for crossing the streams a couple

of times on flexible logs lying across the stream. There Mark carried him.

Bear Lake at twilight


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Mark stops Sam from walking into the lake to check the temp.

I will close with a few miscellaneous pictures of the campground, more Monument

Restaurant.


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Sam checking the contents of his backpack before we leave the campground.

If you get the opportunity this is a good area to spend a few days or more visiting.

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Visiting Colorado's Spanish Peaks