Crowd-free, rocky mountain highs -- you'll find this and more in Colorado's South San Juan Wilderness. Since I am obviously a map guy, I would then print the sections of the big USGS topo for the field. This was just the beginning of the volcanic activity. The northern edge extends to Highway 114 west of Sagauche (sa-WACH) and the south end approaches Highway 160. Blue Lake Loop. The tectonic forces at work upthrusted (a type of steep angle fault) billion year old basement rock thousands of feet above sea level to form the Front Range, Sangre de Cristos, Sawatch (including Mt Elbert and the Collegiate Peaks), Mosquito, Wind Rivers, Uintas, Black Hills and many other Rocky Mountain ranges. This page offers a map and GPS tracks of the entire wilderness. The South San Juan Wilderness encompasses the southeastern extent of the San Juan Mountain Range, including a segment of the Continental Divide. Add Your Photos. Some may not be drivable with low clearance cars so check with the FS to make sure you can get to your trailhead. When we were there in 2010, they had about 20 breweries, about 80 different beers, BBQ and brats. The green and black line is the wilderness boundary. San Luis beers tend to lack the bold flavor of a good microbrew and tend to be on the flat side. For the most part there was very good correlation between the our GPS tracks and the forest service’s version. This beginner trip is for you. Blue Lake Loop, South San Juan Wilderness, CO Situated south of Platoro Reservoir, this 17.7 mile hike offers a mix of wooded valleys, alpine meadows and a an exhilerating stretch of the Continental Divide Trail. The delightful mountain towns of Durango, Silverton, Pagosa Springs, South Fork and Creede surround and provide access into the wilderness. The fishing: well, the Blanco, San Juan and Conejos Rivers all start their journeys to the oceans here. Some believe that it is still home to a few grizzlies, but there is no sufficient evidence yet to prove this. San Juan Wilderness is a reserve in Washington. Wilderness Connect ; University of Montana; 32 Campus Drive; Missoula, Montana 59812; Phone: (406) 396-3607 lisa@wilderness.net; Wilderness Connect Policies … OuachitaMaps.com - Hiking Trails of the Ouachitas and Ozarks The starting point for directions can be a city or town, an intersection or a specific street address. This map can guide you off the beaten path and back again with mapped trails, color-coded according to their designated usage, including the … The South San Juan Wilderness is a U.S. Wilderness Area located in the San Juan National Forest, east of Pagosa Springs, in southern Colorado .The last known grizzly bear in Colorado was killed in the wilderness in 1979. Selected camp sites, including the ones we used, are green “^”. The Map of the Wilderness: This map is FREE, but first, be advised that it is a 25 mb file, so you will need a fast connection and some patience. Nestled deep in the South San Juan Wilderness near Pagosa Springs, Colorado, Fish Lake is a beautiful, deep glacier tarn located just below the Continental Divide in the headwaters of the Blanco River. A 4 day backpacking adventure into Colorado's South San Juan Wilderness. It is pretty popular so expect a crowd on a nice day, many of them playing in Mendeno Creek on their way to the dunes. It also has roads, administrative areas and recreation sites. A complex series of Tertiary volcanic episodes along the east margin of the North American plate stretch from Mexico’s Sierra Madre Occidental volcanic field and to the Lowland Creek field of Montana (the source of Montana’s alluvial sapphires). This one is map-based and once you find the layer tab on the right is fairly straightforward to use. Visiting the South San Juan Wilderness The violent and explosive volcanism stopped and was replaced predominately by basaltic lava flows associated with the Rio Grande Rift. The forest roads are in black and based on aerial and satellite imagery. They look like sedimentary conglomerates with cobbles bigger than softballs but the matrix is the fused glass of a tuff or ignimbrite. Though the brewery and restaurant appears to do a brisk business, we found the beers a little disappointing. Map Key Favorites Check-Ins. Thousands of acres of dunes up to 750 feet high blowing up against the flank of the Sangre de Cristo Range. It has the same suite of trees as the Volcanic Subalpine Forest. The latitude and longitude coordinates of South San Juan Wilderness are 37.2460797, -106.6388214 and the approximate elevation is 11,404 feet (3,476 meters) above sea level. The purple trail is the Continental Divide Trail. The Trip Looking to learn or refresh backpacking skills? The extent of this volcanic activity is continental, supporting the play of plate tectonics in this event. The formation of most of the Rocky Mountains began in the late Cretaceous, 70 to 80 Ma (million years ago), and ended during the Eocene about 35 Ma during a period called the Laramide Orogeny. There may be others, but as I mentioned above, most are correct and all can be used for planning. Designed for backpackers by backpackers, Topo Maps+ for iOS offers both à la carte and bundled in-app purchase options to go deeper into the backcountry. One of the key field characteristics of these ranges are massive outcrops of Precambrian granites and gneisses. Conejos Peak Loop (aka South Fork-Roaring Gulch Loop). Located in Rio Grande and San Juan National Forests. Something happened at the end of the Laramide to cause a change in the configuration of the tectonic plates underneath the Rockies. Tracks of the Entire Wilderness: This link is to a Google Earth KML file for all the tracks on the big map. It is well known to backpackers because it will drop them off at Needleton for a hike to the Chicago Basin and the Needle Mountains. The river snakes back and forth across the borders of the San Juan National Forest and the South San Juan Wilderness Area, making them slightly less accessible but still open to the public.Many fishing easements have also been added to private land along the Conejos, which has proven a major boon for both anglers and the … Ouachita Trail Loops: Billy Creek Trail - Boardstand Trail - Holson Valley Loop - Horse Thief Springs Trail - Old Military Road Trail - Talimena-Bohannon Loop Entering from near Platoro Reservoir the this 17.7 mile hike offers scenic Blue Lake, a stretch of the Continental Divide Trail and Conejos Falls. --The Rocky Mountain Region (Region 2) has a Geospatial Library with Datasets by Forest Unit. For the best experience on our site, be sure to turn on Javascript in your browser. All the tracks but the ones in red are from the Forest Service GIS database (there is more on this source at the bottom). Featured Topographic Maps in Oklahoma and Arkansas You will note on the next pages I'd be more than happy to sell you weatherproof versions of the hikes listed above ($5/sheet plus S&H on 11x17 Rite in the Rain stock), but they are formatted so that you can download and print them yourself. #1 South San Juan Wilderness Protected Area Updated: 2017-12-19 The South San Juan Wilderness is a USA Wilderness Area located in the San Juan National Forest, east of Pagosa Springs, in southern Colorado. There is another narrow gauge railroad in the area. These offline maps integrate seamlessly with adjoining areas and offline navigational tools include (among others) your current location, adding waypoints, tracing your own routes, and recording tracks. A two hour train ride back with restaurant service meant no problem with that long drive home. Dogs are also able to use this trail. Blue Lake Trail is a 10.2 mile moderately trafficked out and back trail located near Pagosa Springs, Colorado that features a lake and is rated as moderate. Green depicts unmaintained trails such as to the top of Conejos Peak. South San Juan Wilderness is a reserve in Colorado and has an elevation of 11,404 feet. The South San Juan Wilderness Topographic Hiking Map is a waterproof, tear-resistant map covering all hiking trails in the South San Juan Wilderness in the southern San Juan Mountains of southern Colorado and surroundings with a 1:63,360 scale (1 in = 1 mi). Weather Averages. Situated in the south east corner of the wilderness, this 22.2 mile hike in the Conejos Peak (pronounced coe-NAY-hoes) area offers a mix of wooded valleys, alpine meadows and huge herd of elk. The music was hokey but a good time was had by all. Photo: Jack Brauer. Low . Click on the link below to purchase a digital version of this map for the Avenza Maps App. Neighboring towns: Pagosa Springs, Southfork, Del Norte, Monte Vista, Summitville, Platoro, Chromo (Choma, New Mexico) Many call the South San Juan Wilderness … The influence of this phase can be seen in the localized outcrops of basalt within the San Juans and more evidently by the huge rift valley adjacent to the eastern edge of the range, the San Luis Valley. The down side is that if you are a beer snob (guilty) and are looking for rich taste and subtle flavors, their collection was lacking. The map is true 1:24,000 scale based on the USGS 7.5 minute quadrangles. One of the best places to see these deposits is in the La Garita Wilderness at the the Wheeler Geologic Area where a minimum of 3 separate ash flows from the San Luis Caldara are dissected into badland topography. I also compared the FS tracks to the National Geographic Trails Illustrated map and conclude the FS tracks are definitely good enough to plan your trip and are probably the most accurate publicly available rendition. Recreation features such as campgrounds, trailheads and overlooks and contact information for various agencies is included as well. Author: Ted Stedman Updated: Feb 14, 2017 Original: Apr 30, 1999. The presence of these older rocks in the Needle Mountains northeast of Durango indicate a Laramide source of this part of the San Juan range. Forest Service Database: When I originally created these maps I was able to tap into several external databases. • Waterproof • Tear-Resistant • Topographic Map, Expertly researched and created in partnership with the U.S. Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management and others, National Geographic's Trails Illustrated map of South San Juan and Del Norte provides an unparalleled tool for exploring this rugged region of southwestern Colorado. (0.0 km) Other Ouachita Hikes: Beech Creek Trails - Buckeye Trail - Caney Creek Area - Caney Creek Trail - Eagle Rock Loop Selected Ozark Hikes: Butterfield Trail (Devils Den) - White Rock-Shores Lake Loop, Weatherproof Topographic Maps at I had a link here before but it no longer functions so you would need to search for it. The trails in blue and purple are other trails in the area. The Volcanic Mid-elevation Forest is similar to it’s subalpine cousins but with occasional lodgepole pines, ponderosa pines and Douglas firs. Private land is clearly marked to avoid any disturbances while exploring the area. Previous Next. From there, it's a steady descent back into the trees where the well-designed trail contours around through lush wildflowers and offers an occasional view into the East Fork Valley. My guess is the trail was re-routed since the FS track was taken. Requires a free download of the Avenza PDF Maps app. Great Sand Dunes is a pretty amazing. The featured trips are shown in red and are based on the GPS track taken on the hikes. By about 29 Ma, activity shifted to eruptions of large volumes of firey ash from a minimum of 14 calderas. The upside is you could drink them like Mai Tais at a luau (been there, done that) and make your walk back to the motel as difficult as a 5.6 pitch. Maybe it's the jagged 13,000-foot peaks clawing the sky that make the area seem so raw and foreboding. The South San Juan wilderness is located in southern Colorado near the towns of Pagosa Springs, South Fork, and Antonito. A horse back scouting trip into the South San Juan Wilderness area of Colorado. Other features found on this map include: Blue Mountain, Rio Grande National Forest, San Juan National Forest, South San Juan Wilderness, Summit Peak. South San Juan Wilderness from Mapcarta, the free map. On the drive up FR 250 from Highway 17 to Platoro, thick layers of reddish andesite lava forms the cliffs that cap the sides of the canyon walls. The San Juan Islands National Wildlife Refuge is in the San Juan Islands of the Salish Sea, north of Puget Sound, in the State of Washington.Created in 1976, it comprises 83 small, uninhabited islands, scattered throughout the San Juans, with a combined area of approximately 454 acres (1.84 km 2).The Refuge is managed by the U.S. … A… JavaScript seems to be disabled in your browser. This map can guide you off the beaten path and back again with mapped trails, color-coded according to their designated usage, including the … Find local businesses, view maps and get driving directions in Google Maps. The map's coverage includes San Juan and Rio Grande National Forests, South San Juan Wilderness, San Juan and Chalk Mountains, Rio Grande River and the Continental Divide. About 35 Ma, and in response to this pull-a-part tension, numerous volcanic centers formed. Pick up the train (video) in Alamosa, ride two hours across the valley and up to Fir, Colorado (which is nothing but a railroad spur in an alpine meadow (video) (near 10,000 feet) and a band stand. This page offers a map and GPS tracks of the entire wilderness. The wilderness … With all the high quality micro brews in Colorado, we had high hopes. Anyone who is interested in visiting South San Juan Wilderness can print the free topographic map and street map using the link above. The South San Juan Wilderness is a U.S. Wilderness Area located in the San Juan National Forest, east of Pagosa Springs, in southern Colorado . The mountains were formed when the continental mass of the western US was compressed as it over rode the Farallon plate, an ancient tectonic plate of the Pacific Ocean. Recreation. Maybe not as famous as the larger Weminuche Wilderness, the 158,790 acre South San Juan Wilderness of the Rio Grande and San Juan National Forests offers of 180 miles of trails, including 42 miles along the Continental Divide. Our trek in Southern Colorado’s South San Juan Wilderness is a great location for an introductory trip in a high altitude setting. We also saw a lot of lush corn lily (AKA false hellebore) in the under story of some of the aspen groves. San Juan Wilderness from Mapcarta, the free map. It’s a 60+ mile trek from Cumbres Pass near Chama, New Mexico to Wolf Creek Pass near Pagosa Springs, Colorado. The good news is that both start at the same place and end at the same place, with the difference being the actual route. Since this map is so big, my suggestion is to use the Trails Illustrated map to pick your trip and use this USGS topo with track data to refine it. Those peaks … In the Needle Mt areas, between 9,000 and 11,000 and where the underlying rock is granite and gneiss is the Crystalline Subalpine Forest. The map base includes contour lines and elevations for summits and passes. Although printed in black and white, the maps and detailed trail descriptions are worth the money you spend on this paperback. The Alpine Zone occurs above 11,000 feet and is characterized by open alpine meadows and sparse and stunted Engleman spruce, subalpine fir and limber pine. Maybe not as famous as the larger Weminuche Wilderness, the 158,790 acre South San Juan Wilderness of the Rio Grande and San Juan National Forests offers of 180 miles of trails, including 42 miles along the Continental Divide. We liked the IPA best but it only had the hoppiness of a pale ale. General Safety Information Ages of … Map of South San Juan Wilderness, CO with distance, driving directions and estimated driving time from neary any location. A full UTM grid is printed on the map to aid with GPS navigation. Los Caminos Antiguos and Silver Thread Scenic Byways are also marked for those who wish to explore the area by car. The trail is primarily used for hiking, walking, nature trips, and birding and is best used from April until October. The Avenza Maps App offers an ala-carte download of single National Geographic maps, on which you can see your current GPS location and use the app’s navigation, tracking and data collection tools, either online or offline. 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