Skyline Drive Hogback Canon City Direction to trailhead: From US 50, turn north onto 15th Street. At the traffic circle, continue north on 15th Street until it dead ends at Washington Street (about 1.5 miles). Turn left on Washington Street and continue approximately 1 mile until Washington Street dead ends at the Skyline drive/hogbacks parking lot. Up and Back Old Skyline Drive Trail: (See Figure 1) Take the trail leading from the west side of the parking area (Figure 1) and walk uphill 150 feet to the where it joins the Greenhorn Trail. Then go left (south) on the Greenhorn Trail for about 150 feet to the trail head for the Old Skyline Drive Trail. Before starting the hike take a few minutes to look at the informative signs about the geology of the Skyline hogback. The Old Skyline Drive Trail was the original buggy and auto road to the top of the hogback. It was built with convict labor in 1906. At first, access was limited to horses, bicycles and hikers. In 1907 cars were also given access to the road. The present Skyline Drive auto road from US 50 was not completed until the early 1930 s. Ascend the Old Skyline Drive Trail and follow it approximately one-half mile up to the crest of the Skyline Drive Hogback where it joins the Skyline Drive auto road. The views from here of the mountains and Canon City are incredible (Figure 2). Turn right (north) onto the roadway and walk about 420 feet to the dinosaur exhibit (WP1). These dinosaur tracks were discovered in 1999 by a University of Colorado paleontology student, William Kurtz. In February 2,000, excavation of the site began by volunteers from the Garden Park Paleontology Society. The site was opened to the public in April, 2000. In 2002, the explanatory signs were installed. These foot prints were made about 107 million years ago by dinosaurs called Ankylosaurus, as they walked along the shore of the Western Inland Sea. Look out for cars on this narrow roadway. Return to the trail head by retracing your tracks down the Old Skyline Drive Trail. Length of Hike: 1.2 miles Elevation at Trailhead: 5585 Feet Elevation Gain: 250 feet: Difficulty: Moderate initially because of the steep incline up the Skyline hogback; easy downhill back to the trail head. 1
Dakota Ridge-Old Skyline: (See Figure 1) Take the trail leading from the west side of the parking area and walk uphill 150 feet to where it joins the Greenhorn Trail. Take the Greenhorn Trail approximately 1/5 of a mile north to the Dakota Ridge trail head. Follow the trail for approximately 0.8 miles as it gradually, then steeply ascends the Skyline hogback. It follows the crest of the hogback for another 0.6 miles until it joins the Old Skyline Trail. The Dakota Ridge Trail splits about170 feet before the junction with the Old Skyline Trail. One trail follows the crest of the hogback and the other traverses the eastern side of the hogback at varying distances below the crest. A note of caution: the crest is very narrow in some places and the drop offs can be very steep. Take the lower arm if you are afraid of heights or of steep drop offs. The views from the crest of the Skyline hogback are spectacular (Figure 4) and well worth the effort. As you walk along the crest, you are walking on a layer of Dakota sandstone created about 100 million years ago by eroded materials deposited in the Western Seaway. This was a large body of water that, at that time, covered a large portion of North America. Look over to the west at Fremont Peak. See if you can identify the numbers 1924 created using juniper trees on the side of the mountain (Figure 5). The numbers are a mystery. No one seems to know who created them, when or why, although one theory is they were created to commemorate the construction of the new Canyon City high school in 1924. Take the Old Skyline Trail back down the hogback to the Greenhorn Trail then return to the trail head. Length of Hike: 2.17 miles Elevation at trailhead: 5585 feet Elevation Gain: 419 feet Difficulty: Rated easy but requires walking up a fairly seep and in some places slippery initial slope. It also requires walking along the narrow spine of the hogback either at the top of the hogback or at a short distance below the top. Graneros-Greenhorn Trail (See Figure 1) Take the trail leading from the west side of the parking area and walk uphill 150 feet to the where it joins the Greenhorn Trail. Take the Greenhorn trail approximately 0.15 miles north to the Graneros trail head to the left. As you walk along the Graneros trail you will be crossing a layer of Graneros shale deposited about 90 million years ago by erosion into the Western Inland Sea. This trail takes you through sparsely scattered junipers, cholla, prickly pear cacti and yucca. After about 0.4 miles the trail crosses the Old Skyline trail. Continue following the Graneros trail for another 1.4 miles as it continues along the lower slope of the Skyline hogback until it rejoins the Greenhorn trail. The Greenhorn trail crosses a layer of Greenhorn limestone deposited about 88 million years ago also by erosion into the Western Inland Sea. Take the Greenhorn trail north for about 1.3 miles until you reach the trail to the parking area. Please stay on the designated trails. There are several re-vegetation areas, especially on the Graneros trail, where volunteers are trying to restore native vegetation. 2
Length of Hike: 3.4 miles Elevation at trailhead: 5585 feet Elevation Gain: 251 feet Difficulty: Easy 3
Dakota Ridge High St. Greenhorn Washington St. Skyline Drive Old Skyline Quarry Spur Greenhorn Graneros Floral Ave. Figure 1 Map of Skyline/Hogback Trails 4
Figure 2. View north from the Dakota Ridge Trail Figure 3. Dinosaur Track 5
Figure 4. View east of Canon City From the crest of Skyline-Hogback Figure 5. The number 1924 on Fremont Peak 6