Piedra River Trail
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While in Pagosa Springs we wanted to go for a nice hike with some great views. Many of the hiking trails close to Pagosa Springs didn’t quite meet our requirements so we decided to drive a bit into the mountains to find a better trail. Fortunately, Taylor had heard about the Piedra River Trail to the northwest of town and we decided to go there.
The drive to the Piedra trailhead takes a little over 30 minutes from central Pagosa Springs. From the main highway of US 160 through town we turned on Piedra Road and headed northwest. After driving a few minutes the road switched from paved to dirt. Fortunately, the dirt road is very well maintained and is actually the nicest dirtroad we’ve ever driven on. Besides a few bumps, the road was just as smooth as if it were paved with asphalt. All along the way we had a wonderful view of the snowy countryside and nearby mountains.
Eventually we crossed a bridge over the Piedra River and shortly after there was the turn off for the trailhead.
We hiked the trail in late March, and it had recently snowed, so the parking lot and trail was covered with snow, and it was muddy at first, too. The trail starts out heading uphill and into the treeline. Hiking through the snow was tougher than normal hiking, but the views of snow covering the entire area was beautiful and worth the extra effort.
All along the way we traversed the mountainside that was lined with trees. This corridor of trees was quite picturesque and offered us some great views at many points along the trail.
Every so often there would be a small break in the treeline and we’d get a view of the mountains off in the distance.
The trail normally would be a moderate difficulty to hike, but the addition of the snow made it a bit tougher in some areas. It wasn’t too much more strenuous, but it did make the uphill sections slower. Fortunately we both had some good hiking boots and we never had any issues with traction.
About half way through the trail we came upon the ice fissures that rip through the side of the mountain. We first came upon a small trench that a tree had fallen into. This was likely the newer part of the fissure, because just a little further up we found the main fissure. The snowy mountainside made finding the fissures easy. The fissure was much longer than we thought it would be, and it zigzagged through the earth for a few hundred feet.
With the snow covering the ground it would be hard to see if the earth was unstable so we took care when walking up to the fissure. It’s hard to properly gauge the depth with the snow and dirt that fell in, but it appears to be about 20 feet deep or more. The narrow portions are hard to see down, but in certain spots it widens up a good amount, and we were able to see more. Most of it was snow, ice, and dirt. It was pretty cool to see some giant icicles forming down the rocky walls of the fissure. It is possible to climb down into the fissure in the wider sections for anyone adventurous enough to do it. With the snow covering mostly everything, we decided not to try it.
We continued on the trail and eventually spotted a break in the trees where the cliff was as well as hills in the distance.
The cliff overlooked the narrow Piedra River valley below. It was beautiful seeing the snow covered hills and river. The valley was seemingly pristine and untouched by people. The other direction of the cliff has equally fantastic views with Pagosa Peak off in the distance.
The trail apparently continues on for miles along the river, but we couldn’t see any continuation of it from our location along the cliff. Fortunately, the cliff was our goal, so we headed back from there. The hike back was much easier even with all the snow. It was nice to get a different viewpoint as we descended down the mountainside.
The Piedra River Trail was a wonderful hike, and we were so glad we went after it had snowed. The snowy trail made the hike very whimsical and evocative of Christmas time. We’d love to come back when the trail is clear, but we don’t think it could get much better than with the snow.
Google Maps Link: Piedra River Trail Parking
