Castle Rock is accessible, heart-stirring and powerfully gorgeous any time of the year.
This half-day hike north of Durango takes you to the top of a spectacular 800-foot precipice. The 10,441-foot-high Castle Rock is the jewel of Hermosa Cliffs.
Currently, the San Juan Mountains are suffering from a dry winter. On a very recent trip, we carried snowshoes and used them near the top. We started out first thing in the morning when the mud was frozen. More normal for February would be a snowshoe hike in deep snow.
The Elbert Creek Trail No. 512 is multi-use, and open to hikers, mountain bikers and equestrians. From the trailhead, 8,800 feet, walk west along the north side of a working corral. The Forest Service issues grazing permits in the summer. Close the gate behind you.
The track crosses Elbert Creek at 0.3 mile. While the stream is typically buried under snow in winter, the crossing is tricky when the water is high. The trail makes two long traverses as it switchbacks up the east-facing grade. Aspen are sun worshipers so naturally they predominate. In winter, pass through a monochromatic lower story world of vertical white trunks and long, slender shadows. The ceiling contrasts with ravishing Colorado cerulean.
At 1.2 miles, the path rounds the corner and gradually climbs a south-facing slope. Hear the turbulent creek plunge down the ravine. On this warm aspect, a few Douglas fir and Rocky Mountain juniper hang on while aspen thrive. As the drainage narrows and shade thickens, so do Engelmann spruce and subalpine fir. A spring trickles out from under the trail and down a wooden flume, forest gives way to meadow, and a perfectly placed, historic line cabin is reached at 1.8 miles, 9,800 feet. The chinked log building is the property of the San Juan National Forest. It is locked and not open to the general public. Range riders sometimes stay here in the summer. For the rest of us, the front porch offers protected bench seating.
Continue past the cabin in the open valley to a fabricated post at 2.0 miles. Leave the Elbert Creek Trail, hooking a sharp right onto a well-established social trail that climbs northeast up a south-facing hillside.
Note: The Elbert Creek Trail, an east/west lateral, carries on until it intersects the north/south Hermosa Creek Trail No. 514, eight miles past the cabin. Elbert Creek Road No. 581 is one mile west. A right turn on No. 581 leads to Durango Mountain Resort. The road is open to four-wheel-drive traffic in the summer.
The trail transitions from the sunny slope into a deeply wooded, often chilly drainage at 2.2 miles. Climb 300 feet over 0.2 mile. The pitch softens and thick conifers abruptly give way to a pastoral valley. As soon as you are in the open, start looking for a cairn that marks a faint track to the right/ southeast. In winter the cairn is not visible but snowshoe tracks frequently show the way.
Ascend the west flank of Castle Rock. The woods are a little tangled in here but after about 100 feet of climbing and 0.2 mile, you will pop out on the abrupt, south rim of the escarpment. The unforgiving aerie is sure to leave you breathless and backing away from the drop.
According to geologist John Bregar, probably several times during the geologically recent Pleistocene epoch, ice in the glacially carved valley, over 1,600 feet below, thickened to reach nearly to the top of the cliffs. The Hermosa formation dates to the Pennsylvanian period, approximately 300 million years ago. The cliffs consist of alternating beds of limestone (deposited when sea levels were high) and sandstone (deposited when sea levels were low) with intervening layers of silt and shale. The sea level fluctuations correlate with glacial and interglacial episodes, similar to what occurred in the Pleistocene.
Walk east, round the corner to the north, and reach Castle Rock at 2.8 miles. The San Juan Mountain celestial skyline is as sweeping as it is startling. To the east at center, Pigeon and Turret peaks upthrust in their jaggedly way. The bulkier Twilight Peaks in the West Needle Mountains are on the left. Mountain View Crest contrasts with its visually flattened top on the right. U.S. Highway 550, of course, runs along the base. East of the road is Electra Lake, which drains into the Animas River at Tacoma.
There are pleasant sitting ledges back from the no-nonsense, 800-foot cliff edge. The integrity of the rim rock is inconsistent, so settle onto a safe and comfortable picnic perch.
Return as you came or proceed north 0.5 mile, paralleling the cliff at a serene distance to arrive at another promontory with a striking look back at Castle Rock. Engineer Mountain and Potato Hill (“Spud Mountain”) frame the north. Until 2014, there was a memorial in the depression between the two high points commemorating Joe Ehrich, 37. On April 21, 1986, Ehrich tragically fell 800 feet to his death when he drove his snowmobile over the cliff. The two friends accompanying Ehrich, also Purgatory Ski Area employees, speculated that the sun’s morning reflection gave him the illusion there was a clearing through the trees ahead. In reality, the snowfield was thin air.
To complete the small loop, walk west for 0.1 mile into an open valley. Turn left/south on a social trail that rejoins the incoming path. Animal tracks imprinted in snow are easy to identify. I have seen elk, deer, lynx, squirrel, snowshoe hare, grouse and turkey.
In summer, red columbine and heart leaf arnica bloom beside the lower trail; lupine are lush around the cabin; and the charmed will find fairy slipper orchids living in the shady, moist woods. While this hike is popular and wondrous all year, many locals make an annual pilgrimage in autumn when dazzling color flames the flanks of Castle Rock.
http://debravanwinegarden.blogspot.com. Debra Van Winegarden is an explorer and freelance writer who lives in Durango.
Castle Rock basics
Castle Rock (10,441 feet) is a comfortable, relatively short ascent on a historic trail, following the footsteps of legions. Emerge at a dramatic and thrilling place. Enjoy a feeling of accomplishment while soaking up the riveting, unobstructed view.
Travel: From the U.S. Highway 550/160 intersection in Durango, drive north on U.S. Highway 550 for 24 miles. Turn left at Needles Country Store, mile marker 46.2. Gas, water and snacks are available. Trailhead parking is at the south end of the commercial cluster, just north of a corral. Allow 30 minutes from Durango.
Distance and Elevation Gain: 5.6 miles round trip and 1,650 feet of climbing; the optional loop adds 0.8 miles and 100 feet of elevation gain.
Time: 3 to 4½ hours.
Difficulty: Trail most of the way; navigation moderate; no exposure before precipitous clifftop.
Map: Electra Lake, Colorado 7.5 quad; or Trails Illustrated: Durango, Cortez No. 144.
