Clare Tone

HESSIE TO LOST LAKE TO WOODLAND LAKE, WITH “ONE COOL DUDE” By Suzanne Webel Poor Hessie. In all the research I’ve done I haven’t been able to learn if there once was a maiden named Hessie for whom this tiny gold-mining community west of Nederland was named, or what. In any case, she’s famous now, because the Hessie townsite is one of the most popular jumping-off points to many beautiful trails in the Indian Peaks Wilderness. As a result of Hessie’s newfound popularity, there is no longer anywhere to park a horse trailer near the trailhead (P-2). While we used to be able to park in the small, bumpy meadow near the townsite, beavers have built dams that flood the access road and the Forest Service likes it that way. There is no place to park anywhere along the narrow, steep shelf road up to Buckingham Park, either. Therefore, consider parking in the town of Eldora, where you may be lucky if you don’t have the NIMBY neighbors call out the posse against you. The main road will bear left but you should go straight onto Klondyke Road, a dirt road with adequate room to park somewhere along it (P-1). Ride through town and up the unpaved road a mile and a half to the Hessie junction. Instead, turn left (down the hill) and ride through the flood created by all those zealous beavers, to the actual Hessie trailhead. In its infinite wisdom, Boulder County purchased a large piece of land (called the “David Property”) behind […]

By Suzanne Webel My personal involvement with this property goes way, way back. Having ridden the entire Heil Valley Ranch property with the Heil family and their neighbors many years ago, and having taken friends to ride the Heils’ livery horses there, and having roamed the whole ranch by myself with nothing but my crazy OTTB gelding and a bunch of elk for company, and having represented BCHA on the North Foothills Open Space Advisory Committee, and having been one of the volunteers who helped build the new trails, and having testified often and frequently before the Parks and Open Space Advisory Committee and the Board of County Commissioners about the importance of keeping the ranch open to horses with reasonable trails and off-trail access, I can say, with understatement, that the whole process of finally getting this property open to the public has been worth every minute. This ranch is one of the prime parks in the County’s open space system. The property comprises approximately 4,800 acres, ranging from dry “red rock country” to sunny foothills pine forests to mountain meadows to subalpine firs and spruces on the shady north-facing slopes. Wildlife includes elk that migrate across the property on their annual trek to Nelson Road, wild turkeys that were originally imported here so they could then be hunted, mountain lions that now keep the deer population from exploding, and a variety of other birds and small mammals. Historic activities included quarrying, ranching, hunting, a horse rental business, and even “renaissance questing weekends” (in which

By Suzanne Webel Many years have elapsed since my original trail log of Marshall Mesa, and a lot has happened there in the meantime. The grand opening of the new Marshall Mesa Trailhead seemed like a good impetus for revisiting an old friend. In the interest of giving positive feedback wherever possible, let me hasten to praise the City of Boulder Open Space & Mountain Parks for some good things they’ve done here. If you remember the funky liquor store and the tiny Ethiopian restaurant that used to draw crowds to the east side of the intersection of Highway 93 and Eldorado Springs Drive, you’ve just “dated” yourself. If you remember the bizarre black office building that sprouted overnight like a mushroom in their place but was never occupied, in a few years you, too, have become “dated.” In a fit of inspiration, OSMP bought the condemned building (it sat on burning and unstable coal mines), demolished it, and in 2006 built – TA DA! – the first (for them) modern, functional trailhead complete with landscaping, picnic tables, restrooms, water, and – drumroll, please – designated pull-through horse trailer parking! This is truly the highest and best use of that property, and we hope it remains a nice trailhead (P-1) for years to come. It replaces the old Marshall Mesa Trailhead, which was barely a wide place along the road, where there were none of the above amenities but lots of potential for accidents and conflicts (this old access point is now closed). More than 55