GRAPE CREEK CANYON
April 8, 2006
By Tim Briese
Grape Creek Canyon is a rugged and scenic drainage that cuts through the northern end of the Wet Mountains between Canon City and Westcliffe. Portions of it have been designated as a Wilderness Study Area. My wife Teresa and I had hiked through the lower portion of the canyon, known as Temple Canyon, the year before, and were so impressed with it that we wanted to return and explore it further.
We drove southwest of Canon City on the dirt Temple Canyon Road, which climbs high into the forested hills south of the Grape Creek drainage. After six or seven miles the road drops back down to a bridge which crosses Grape Creek. We parked at a parking area on the east side of the road. On our previous hike we had hiked from Canon City up through Temple Canyon to this point, and our objective now was to hike from this point on upstream.
We found a trail across the road on the east side of the creek and began following it upstream. We had our lab Allie along, and attached a little bell to her collar as we typically do when hiking in mountain lion country such as this. The fine trail paralleled the creek around numerous sweeping bends in the canyon=s course. After a half mile we came to a stream crossing, the first of many we would encounter today. In all we crossed the stream in 8 different places, for a total of 16 crossings on the way up and back. I became very accustomed to unlacing and lacing my boots, because every crossing required a ford, except this first one, which we just managed to rock hop across. The water was quite cold, but tolerable, on this pleasant early spring day.
The high, rugged walls of the canyon were impressive, and the creek flowing down the drainage was quite picturesque. In some places, especially further up the canyon, the stream flowed through long stretches of rugged boulders that filled the watercourse. Gambel oak, juniper, and cacti were indicators of the dry climate of this area.
After a couple of miles the route climbed up onto an old deteriorated railroad grade high above the creek on the right side. This was quite helpful because a direct ascent up the rocky canyon bottom would have been quite tedious in many places. The grade climbed high above the creek for a while, creating a sense of exposure that was unexpected, especially for a canyon hike.
At one point we rounded a rocky point and saw several bighorn sheep in a side canyon less than a hundred yards away. After hiking nearly four miles up the canyon we came to a place where the rocky walls narrowed considerably at a place called the ATights". These narrows were unlike the sheer-walled slots we had seen in canyons in Utah, but were impressive nevertheless. We removed our boots to cross the stream again right at the narrowest place, and continued a few more yards around a bend to a point where we could see that the canyon widened out into a broad valley as far as we could see upstream from here.
We decided this would be a good place to turn around, so we found a nice grassy spot to sit and eat our lunch and relax for a while right beside the musical waters flowing through the narrows. The water flowed quickly and vigorously here because it was constricted by the close rocky walls.
After lunch we began our return back down the canyon. The bighorns were still in the same place, now lying down in the shade of trees and rocks, taking an afternoon rest. We saw a handful of fishermen scattered along the creek on the way out, the only other people we saw on the hike today. Around 4 p.m. we tramped back out to the truck, completing our canyon adventure today.
