This hike was described in one of the brochures that I picked up in the RV park. However, while it described a beautiful hike it did not provide any directions on how to get to the trailhead and no one at the park had a clue. Never fear GaryTheSpy found it after an hour and a half of searching and driving several miles on gravel roads and then a dirt road.
I had driven down the dirt road (that you can see leading from where the Durango is parked) about 1/2 mile before turning around and parking in this wide spot just off of gravel Road 10. I thought that the dirt road led into the canyon, but was afraid that I wouldn't be able to turn the Durango around as the road narrowed.
After parking I began hiking down the dirt road and in about 30 minutes discovered the beautiful park, trailhead, and turn around.
Oh well, I still got 30 minutes of hiking down to it and saw some beautiful scenery, even if it wasn't as spectacular as it is from this point on. From the park pictured above the trail runs for another 11 miles along the Dolores River and through the canyon. You get a twofer on this hike because your right next to the river and can cool off if you want. I talked with several of the ATV riders that you see in the above picture and they advised me that it is prudent to carry either bear repellent spray or a gun in this area because there are a lot of bears. They also described seeing big horned sheep on the cliffs and along the river. I confess that hiking down the Canyon for another hour and a half before turning around to head back up (another two hours) and never saw a big horned sheep or a bear.
Following are a couple of pictures of the beautiful canyon and river. For a better view of the pictures shown on this page simply click or double click on the photo. If you're interested you can see all of the pictures here:
Dolores River Canyon
Tomorrow, Saturday, May 8th, I plan to hike some of the Sand Canyon trails. See you there.
