archives

WILLIAM FREDERICK HAYDEN PARK ON GREEN MOUNTAIN By Suzanne Webel Whew. There is some controversy over how Green Mountain itself received its name. In the early spring, perhaps, the grasses up there might provide a flash of green, but for the rest of the year it’s pretty much a tan prairie. A member of the William Frederick Hayden family, which donated or sold many acres to the the park, claims that it was named after an early local postmaster named Greene. The Rooney family, which once owned 10,000 acres in the area and still owns the ranch across the road (now C-470), claims that it got its name from the once-abundant green cedars that covered the slopes. Early surveys show that it was once named “Hendricks Mountain” after a surveyor who worked in the area with Capt. Edward L. Berthoud. There was also a famous (unrelated) Hayden Survey of the west. In any case, it’s Green Mountain now, it’s huge (2,400 acres), it’s the second largest park in the City of Lakewood’s Open Space program, there are lots of trails, horses are welcome, and it’s worth checking out. Take C-470 south of I-70 to Alameda Parkway. Turn east and proceed about 3 miles to one of two adjacent trailheads (P-1; one was full but the other wasn’t, on the day we went). There is also a trailhead on the west side of C-470, but it means crossing high above this busy highway on a sort of aerial bridge, and I didn’t even want to investigate doing […]

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