Went to Salida, Colorado last week but only for 3 days. Spouse suggested cutting trip short by a day because of cold weather. On Wednesday, our only full day there, we parked at the Frantz Lake State Wildlife Area and walked to Sand Lake and back, passing the Mount Shavano State Fish Hatchery along the way.
When we started, I insisted on first walking to the left, away from the direction we wanted to go, to see where the path led. Took a lot of "convincing" to get spouse to go along as he was sure we were only going to walk far out into a meadow (but what a meadow with glorious views of snow-capped 14ers in the Sawatch Range, one probably being Mt. Shavano!) Shortly, the trail turned back around on itself and traveled along the other side of the lake in the "right" direction; only then did he finally feel reassured that we were on track. My philosophy is to explore but that makes him nervous!
We had lunch on a (cold) bench at Sand Lake with beautiful views of the southern Sawatch Mountains. Geese were wheeling overhead - an umbrella would have come in handy but fortunately they ejected no slime-bombs. The lake was full of geese and ducks - quite picturesque. Spouse regrets that I didn't take a photo and he's right about that one. Sand Lake serves as a settling pond for waste from the fish hatchery but the state maintains it as high quality habitat for wildlife. It's a pretty lake. It pours into the Arkansas River after all the waste has settled out.
Afterward, I talked spouse into trying again to find Spiral Drive. He was reluctant because he remembers last time we tried to find it, we came to a closed, private property road. After some more "convincing" on my part, we finally found it and started driving up it. It's a well-graded road, no worse than the Dome Road, the portion from NM4 to Graduation Flats, in the Jemez Mountains. It was the teeniest bit washboard-y but not excessively so. Spouse wasn't comfortable continuing up so he parked while I walked up some more. His last words were "Don't take too long!"
As I walked up, the views opened up of the Sawatch Mountains and the Arkansas Hills. I could see Tenderfoot, or "S" Mountain, in the distance and figured there was no way I'd be able to walk to the top of it. As I continued up Spiral Drive, though, Tenderfoot looked more within my reach so I didn't stop walking until I got to the gazebo on top of the mountain.
There are fantastic views from the top of the city of Salida, the northern Sangres and the southern Sawatch mountains. Tenderfoot is a dormant cindercone. The townsfolk of Salida decided in 1922 to build Spiral Drive which truly does spiral up to just below Tenderfoot. The last few yards to the top are navigated via stairs.
I estimate that the distance I walked to the top was less than two miles and only a few hundred feet in elevation gain. Tenderfoot is 550 feet above Salida which is right around 7,000' in elevation. I didn't walk all that elevation difference because I started from higher up. The whole round trip took me about an hour. I've wanted to walk up Tenderfoot ever since I first saw it!
I have to comment about the views of the snow-capped northern Sangre de Cristos on the way to Salida, starting from the Great Sand Dunes. When covered with snow, those mountains look like the Himalayas to me! They are impressive! The Rainbow Trail, I read in the travel literature, travels in the Sangres from Poncha Springs to the Great Sand Dunes. Now, that would be a hike!!
Had we stayed another day, like we had planned, I would have hiked portions of the Arkansas Hills Trail System. The Arkansas Hills, it seems, are southern foothills to the Mosquito Range. Volunteers are busily building a whole system of trails into the foothills.
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