Animas River Trail

Distance: 4.5 miles

Altitude Gained: virtually none

could be called hiking

or freestyle riverwalking
urban day strolling

The Animas River Trail is unique in this project in a number of ways. It is the only paved trail covered by Pixler's book. It is almost certainly the only time we will bring Luca, age 2. It is the only trail that can be considered wheelchair and stroller accessible. It is the only trail that cuts straight through the heart of a city. We like that Paul Pixler chose to include it in the book. It is unique and special to our town, capturing Durango's essence as much as the river itself.










The Animas River Trail is some seriously impressive infrastructure, complete with bridges, guardrails, fishing ramps, and informational placards highlighting Durango's industrial and natural history. It has countless points of access all through the city. It passes by many municipal hotspots: the Rec Center, the Fairgrounds, Durango High School, Durango Public Library, the VFW, the fire station, the water treatment plant, the Durango Mall. It intersects numerous city parks including Rank, Rotary, Riverfront, Schneider, Santa Rita, the skate park, and the dog park. It runs parallel to the Durango Silverton Narrow Guage Railroad for much of its length. We remember the days of Pixler's third edition when there was a big gap in the middle, and we celebrate joyously its completion in 2005. Now one can cruise the river trail without ever having to interact with motorized traffic.













We love the river trail for its contribution to getting around in Durango. In a town that holds motorless transit dear, the river trail is a principal thoroughfare to get where you are going. Durangotangs exercise down the river trail in their preferred ways. On any given day, you may see runners, bikers, fast walkers, slow walkers, dog walkers, dogs, children, skateboarders, and whatever other types of travellers. Some people get a ride the whole way, like Luca and that very happy kid in the Burley trailer. We know a girl who frequently dances down it. It makes us miss the rollerblades of our youth. Most people smile at each other, but not everyone. You are likely to run into some friends on the trail. We saw Dasha and Jeff and Chrissy and her mom Nancy and all of their dogs.






Its urban nature does not prevent the river trail from being a great place for scouting species. We spotted a fair share of mammals and birds along the way, and we weren't even looking that hard.









Interspecies breeding is common among canines. Although domesticated, their mammalian instincts often surface in the wild.













We didn't catch a picture of the mule deer we saw, but we ran into some of its scat on the road.


Aves del Rio:

1. Common Merganser

2. Canada Goose

3. Mallard

4. American Crow

Ay rio, que lindo que estas cuando corres con ganas!

See you all summer Durango on the river and its trail!

Centennial Nature Trail/Rim Trail/Chapman Hill/Lion's Den

Distance: around 3 miles
Altitude Gained: relatively little, but enough to get views that inspire!

inauguration
the groundhog sees his shadow
happy equinox!

Today, the vernal equinox, we embarked on our first official hike of this project. As we are still quite limited by the elements, we are beginning with the city hikes. Today, we took a few steps out our door and climbed our neighborhood trail, the Centennial Nature Trail, which takes you quickly from downtown Durango to the beautiful campus of our alma mater, Fort Lewis College. We then continued around the Rim Trail to Chapman Hill and Lion's Den before coming back to finish up on the other side of the Rim Trail. It is still quite muddy and snowy in many parts, but this does nothing to deter our excitement about being on the trail!

This is a trail we love dearly and tread often.

There were people snowboarding on Chapman Hill!

Neither of us had ever actually been to the Lion's Den. According to Pixler, the Den was a shelter built during the Great Depression from large pieces of sandstone and refurbished and roofed by the Durango Lion's Club in recent years. This is a very cool little spot with nice views of Durango and the valley. We will come back for picnics!

Look who's awake!

The fauna highlight of the hike: the colonies of groundhogs that have recently woken up to start eating and breeding.
(click on photo for more info on our furry friend!)

Today we feel elated! Sunny, chilly, windy, glorious spring equinox! As we descended down the back side of the Rim Trail toward 8th Ave, the smell of pine and the sound of a the bubbling brook prophesied great moments to come. We can't wait to go deeper into the forest and higher into the mountains!