APISHAPA CANYON
January 20, 2005
By Tim Briese
It is rather startling to drive across the featureless plains of southeastern Colorado and arrive at the rim of a canyon that is a few hundred feet deep. The Apishapa is one of three or four such canyons that exist there. The rivers within their walls provide drainage from the state=s southern mountain ranges and flow eastward toward the Arkansas River.
One fine day in late January my wife Teresa and I sought a respite from the grip of winter and decided to take a snow-free hike and explore the Apishapa Canyon. We drove about 25 miles east of Walsenburg to the Apishapa State Wildlife Area and proceeded a couple of more miles on a rough, muddy road to an informal parking area. Four wheel drive was necessary in some places because of the mud.
From the parking area we struck off to the southeast on an old road with our two labs. After about a mile we came to the rim of Jones Lake Canyon, a tributary of the Apishapa. We bushwhacked through juniper trees and carefully climbed down into the canyon, descending about 300 feet. A bit of rock scrambling was necessary in some places as we picked our way down rocky ledges.
Upon reaching the floor of the canyon we came to a tiny creek and some pools of water, partially covered with ice. We headed down the canyon and after hiking a half mile reached a junction where Jones Lake Canyon joins the Apishapa. We continued downstream along a gravelly creekbed, admiring the rocky walls of the canyon above. There was a faint trail here, but it was obvious that this place sees relatively few feet. The dogs romped around, in and out of the water in the creek, having a great time. We stopped for lunch on a rocky bench at a point where the canyon made a large bend. The day was clear, calm, and beautiful, with the temperature a balmy 65 degrees, remarkably warm for January.
After a relaxing break we continued on down the scenic canyon, past cacti and juniper bushes, skirting around patches of ice in the creek bed in shady places. The canyon wound back and forth, and after another mile and a half we reached a point where a barbed wire fence marked the end of the state wildlife area and the beginning of private land.
At this point we left Apishapa Canyon and climbed left up into a rugged side drainage called Buckeltton Canyon. Our plan was to climb north up out of the canyon system back to the plateau above. Buckeltton was rocky and wooded, and it turned out to be quite a fun adventure finding a way to bushwhack up the rocky steps in its bottom. Teresa remarked that this was her favorite part of the hike. After thrashing about a bit and scrambling up through the rocks we found a way to climb a steep slope to the northeast to gain the canyon rim above.
Once out of the canyon we bushwhacked through some trees in a northerly direction. We presently left the trees and emerged onto a grassy plain where we found an old road that we followed about two and a half miles back to the parking area. When we approached our truck we walked past a man unloading a couple of horses from a trailer and setting up camp for the night, the only other person we saw here today.
The sun was sinking low in the southwestern sky when we loaded up and left about 4 p.m. We covered about eight miles on our nice loop hike on this gorgeous January day. We stopped in Pueblo to enjoy a delicious Mexican dinner at Nachos, and returned home that evening.
