Canyon Pines Hike

My high school classmate, Terry, met me at Colorado 72 and Plainview Rd near the entrance of Cole Creek Canyon west of Denver, Colorado. From there, Terry drove us about two miles north and west up to his property that he is developing for housing sites. His development is called Canyon Pines.

You can see my car in this picture; mine is the white one in the middle of the row near Plainview Road. We are about two hundred feet above the road where we were standing taking the pictures at an altitude of about 6800 feet above sea level. This land is just north of C72 and west of the Union Pacific railroad line from Denver west to the Moffat Tunnel where it crosses the continental divide and goes over to the western slope of Colorado.

We hiked about a mile southwest and viewed the lots and the interesting features on the property. There are a couple of foundations where houses were started, but abandoned. There is a water well, capped and unused near an abandoned foundation. There is an outcropping of rocks on top of the rise where a tunnel was built for the train. From a mountain to the west there is a wash, where rushing water scoured out a depression in the hillside. Two of the building sites were moved to allow the water to go between the properties rather than flooding the back yards. Part of the year cattle graze on this land, so there was a tub of molasses and salt licks near the stock pond. We also saw several birds during our hike. A small flock of Robbins flew to tree branches near us. Some of them looked young with their short tails.

My friend saw a train coming up the valley, so we found a level place to stand to take pictures as the train approached. The west end of the tunnel is visible in this picture. Then, we could hear the sound roaring out of the tunnel like a megaphone, and there was the yellow Union Pacific engine diving out of the tunnel.

It was a train of all empty coal cars dead heading back to western Colorado to bring more coal to the eastern slope of Colorado and points south: New Mexico, Arizona, Texas.

We waved and gave the pull-the-rope signal to the conductor, but he didn't blow his horn. He may not have seen us so far up the hill.

No caboose on this train.

The day was hazy and overcast, and partly sunny and cool, but pleasant. The view to the southeast was dimmed by haze, but it was an enjoyable and enlightening hike; you can just make out the silhouette of North Table Mountain in this final picture.

I'm hoping Terry can sell his land now that he has the planning and approvals completed.