Trail 19 and the Kook on Raven Run

In yesterday’s post I mentioned a hike “across the mountain and down the canyon.” Today I thought I’d flesh that out a bit with a blurb from the Roxborough Park Foundation newsletter, Hike of the Month, November 2014. It’s called “Trail 19,” and thereby hangs a tale. First, the trail. Then, the tale.

 

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Roxborough Park Foundation – A unique residential community, committed to living in harmony with nature.
Volume 9, Issue 11 November 7, 2014

 

Hike of the Month – Trail 19 to Bear Meadow

 

This hike is very different from most of the other hikes featured in this article. The main reason for the difference is that this hike takes the adventurer out of Roxborough Park and into the wilds of Pike National Forest. We will feature the start of this hike again in future articles because once you start on this hike the options become almost limitless. If you have a lot of spunk you could walk to Durango from this entry to Pike National Forest. But I get ahead of myself.

To begin this walk make your way to Raven Run. It is a little over 3 miles from the entrance of Roxborough on the west side of Roxborough Drive. It is a cul-de-sac with limited parking for residents. At the west end of the cul-de-sac, between two drive-ways, you will see a trail heading along a drainage ditch. Please be courteous on this first stretch of the trail. You are walking on an easement granted to the community by private landowners. Keep your dogs on their leashes and be respectful of the private land.

 

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The first stretch is steep, very steep. In fact you will find a series of stairs, lots of stairs to get you up into the forest. These steps were put in place by your neighbors at a trail workday several years ago. Once you get to the top, congratulate yourself, catch your breath and continue left up the trail. This section takes you up a gradual incline around the corner and into the pine forest. The trail continues through a few aspen groves and pines until you reach a high spot in about a third of a mile. Look up. You should be under power lines. If you ever get lost back here in the forest look for the power lines and follow them to this spot: they are a great beacon.

You will notice at the power lines you can go left, right or straight. I like to call this the crossroads. In future articles we will go the other two ways but for this hike we are going straight. You will descend the trail through the pines.  After about a mile from the start you will break out and see beautiful Bear Meadow (at least that is what I call it). You will notice remnants of an old ranch or miners’ camp depending on the storyteller. Continue through the grassy meadow until you reach an occasional creek. This is the turnaround spot. Total round trip distance is about 3 miles. Of course you can continue, but we would suggest having maps and a GPS. The trail does continue to Waterton Canyon but please be prepared…

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The rest of the hike from this point on to the top of Waterton Canyon is an easy uphill half mile, followed by a rather steep downhill mile and a half. At that point you arrive at Strontia Springs Reservoir, and it’s all a gradual downhill on a graded dirt road following the South Platte River six-and-a-half miles to the Waterton parking lot.

This time of year you need micro-spikes or Yak Trax to negotiate the ice on the stairs at the start. Other than that, it’s a piece of cake, and takes a total of three-and-a-half hours at a fairly brisk walking pace. With the sun going down around 4PM this time of year, it’s best to start out by noon. Otherwise you might end up needing a headlamp for the last mile or so.

 

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The guy who lives at the end of Raven Run at the start of the stairs is a certified kook. The Roxborough Park Foundation negotiated the easement along his property, hence all the “be courteous and respectful” lingo in the newsletter write-up above. But even with that, he used to take it upon himself to regularly call the Douglas County Sheriff on people hiking Trail 19 whenever he didn’t like the cut of their jib. For instance, he once chased my daughter and her college roommate down the street with his hand-held video camera as they were finishing a hike and I was waiting for them on Raven Run in my car.  As a result of all the hullabaloo, the Douglas County Sheriff now has a restraining order against him for harassing hikers.

That still didn’t stop him from shouting down from his second floor balcony at me last Sunday. He commented about the “California plates” on my Chrysler parked on Raven Run, and informed me “this is not a public trail.” I told him that – despite the out-of-state plates – I was a Roxborough resident with all the appropriate stickers on my windshield and I also informed him I was a member of the trails committee who had helped build portions of Trail 19 in past years.  He told me “be careful on the ice.” I told him “have a nice day.” Ahem.

 

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I guess it’s one thing to “live in harmony with nature,” quite another to deal with kooks shouting down from balconies – or chasing you with a video camera. But the fact of the matter is, by the time I reached “Bear Meadow” last Sunday, the kook on Raven Run was only a distant memory. Hiking will do that for ya. Which is why I highly recommend it in all seasons. Well, at least if you come equipped with the proper winter footwear. And the proper neighborly attitude, year-round.