A full UTM grid is printed on the map to aid with GPS navigation. The South San Juan Wilderness Topographic Hiking Map is a waterproof, tear-resistant map covering all hiking trails in the South San Juan Wilderness in the southern San Juan Mountains of southern Colorado and surroundings with a 1:63,360 scale (1 in = 1 mi). --The Rocky Mountain Region (Region 2) has a Geospatial Library with Datasets by Forest Unit. For the best experience on our site, be sure to turn on Javascript in your browser. Colorado. It’s a 60+ mile trek from Cumbres Pass near Chama, New Mexico to Wolf Creek Pass near Pagosa Springs, Colorado. Selected camp sites, including the ones we used, are green “^”. The delightful mountain towns of Durango, Silverton, Pagosa Springs, South Fork and Creede surround and provide access into the wilderness. The tectonic forces at work upthrusted (a type of steep angle fault) billion year old basement rock thousands of feet above sea level to form the Front Range, Sangre de Cristos, Sawatch (including Mt Elbert and the Collegiate Peaks), Mosquito, Wind Rivers, Uintas, Black Hills and many other Rocky Mountain ranges. Hiking Colorado’s Weminuche and South San Juan Wilderness Areas Donna Ikenberry’s book is an excellent resource for hiking and backpacking trip planners. Selected Ozark Hikes: Butterfield Trail (Devils Den) - White Rock-Shores Lake Loop, Weatherproof Topographic Maps at Crowd-free, rocky mountain highs -- you'll find this and more in Colorado's South San Juan Wilderness. Those peaks … In the San Juans, andesitic lava ( andesite is a fine grain intermediate composition volcanic rock) and ash spewed from stratovolcanos (similar in form but not related to Mt Rainier and Mt St Helen) forming the Conejos formation. The presence of these older rocks in the Needle Mountains northeast of Durango indicate a Laramide source of this part of the San Juan range. They also have the popular Durango Silverton narrow gauge railroad that skirts the west side of the Weminuche. Entering from near Platoro Reservoir the this 17.7 mile hike offers scenic Blue Lake, a stretch of the Continental Divide Trail and Conejos Falls. Maybe the continental plate overrode a spreading axis on the Farallon plate or maybe a broken slab of the Fallon Plate buoyed up the western US, but whatever it was it changed the tectonic forces from compression to crustal extension (it began to pull apart). High . One of the best places to see these deposits is in the La Garita Wilderness at the the Wheeler Geologic Area where a minimum of 3 separate ash flows from the San Luis Caldara are dissected into badland topography. Green depicts unmaintained trails such as to the top of Conejos Peak. For the best experience on our site, be sure to turn on Javascript in your browser. The good news is that both start at the same place and end at the same place, with the difference being the actual route. The map base includes contour lines and elevations for summits and passes. Copyright 2008 – 2020 National Geographic Maps. Though the brewery and restaurant appears to do a brisk business, we found the beers a little disappointing. With all the high quality micro brews in Colorado, we had high hopes. Although we initially planned for 6 days out there, we ended up hiking an average of 13 miles … Back country camping is allowed. Some believe that it is still home to a few grizzlies, but there is no sufficient evidence yet to prove this. Recreation features such as campgrounds, trailheads and overlooks and contact information for various agencies is included as well. Featured Topographic Maps in Oklahoma and Arkansas The green and black line is the wilderness boundary. Think of 14 Mt St Helen, with some on a much grander scale. Wilderness Connect ; University of Montana; 32 Campus Drive; Missoula, Montana 59812; Phone: (406) 396-3607 lisa@wilderness.net; Wilderness Connect Policies … The links below offer maps two different hikes that will introduce you to the splendors of the area. The northern edge extends to Highway 114 west of Sagauche (sa-WACH) and the south end approaches Highway 160. Distance: 0.0 mi. It also has roads, administrative areas and recreation sites. The Avenza Maps App offers an ala-carte download of single National Geographic maps, on which you can see your current GPS location and use the app’s navigation, tracking and data collection tools, either online or offline. Situated in the south east corner of the wilderness, this 22.2 mile hike in the Conejos Peak (pronounced coe-NAY-hoes) area offers a mix of wooded valleys, alpine meadows and huge herd of elk. Recreation. Whereas many of the tracks were right on, there was a significant difference between the FS version of the El Rio Azul Trail (718) and what we collected. Photos of South San Juan Wilderness - 8. It occurs on the volcanic rocks and is characterized by Engleman spruce, Colorado blue spruce and aspen. The purple trail is the Continental Divide Trail. The South San Juan wilderness is located in southern Colorado near the towns of Pagosa Springs, South Fork, and Antonito. Located in Southwest Colorado, the Weminuche Wilderness area (pronounced whem-a-nooch) is the largest Wilderness area in Colorado, spanning 499,771 acres across the San Juan and Rio Grande National Forests. Weather Averages. This last week I hiked the Continental Divide Trail (CDT) through the South San Juan Wilderness with two of my friends. Although printed in black and white, the maps and detailed trail descriptions are worth the money you spend on this paperback. South San Juan Wilderness from Mapcarta, the free map. Requires a free download of the Avenza PDF Maps app. Other Ouachita Hikes: Beech Creek Trails - Buckeye Trail - Caney Creek Area - Caney Creek Trail - Eagle Rock Loop The wilderness boundary extends from south of Hwy 160 to just north of Hwy 17. On the drive up FR 250 from Highway 17 to Platoro, thick layers of reddish andesite lava forms the cliffs that cap the sides of the canyon walls. Originally designated as wilderness by Congress in 1980, it is a component of the National Wilderness Preservation System and now maintains 158,790 acres. My guess is the trail was re-routed since the FS track was taken. You will note on the next pages I'd be more than happy to sell you weatherproof versions of the hikes listed above ($5/sheet plus S&H on 11x17 Rite in the Rain stock), but they are formatted so that you can download and print them yourself. The latitude and longitude coordinates of South San Juan Wilderness are 37.2460797, -106.6388214 and the approximate elevation is 11,404 feet (3,476 meters) above sea level. Background: The San Juan Mountains are one of the largest distinct mountain systems in the US. The formation of most of the Rocky Mountains began in the late Cretaceous, 70 to 80 Ma (million years ago), and ended during the Eocene about 35 Ma during a period called the Laramide Orogeny. The forest roads are in black and based on aerial and satellite imagery. Author: Ted Stedman Updated: Feb 14, 2017 Original: Apr 30, 1999. The featured trips are shown in red and are based on the GPS track taken on the hikes. The starting point for directions can be a city or town, an intersection or a specific street address. South San Juan Wilderness is a reserve in Colorado and has an elevation of 11,404 feet. Of special note are the zoomable Visitor Maps. From there, it's a steady descent back into the trees where the well-designed trail contours around through lush wildflowers and offers an occasional view into the East Fork Valley. Forest Service Database: When I originally created these maps I was able to tap into several external databases. The mountains boast seven wilderness areas including the Weminuche, South San Juan and La Garita. This one is map-based and once you find the layer tab on the right is fairly straightforward to use. In the Needle Mt areas, between 9,000 and 11,000 and where the underlying rock is granite and gneiss is the Crystalline Subalpine Forest. Other features found on this map include: Blue Mountain, Rio Grande National Forest, San Juan National Forest, South San Juan Wilderness, Summit Peak. The down side is that if you are a beer snob (guilty) and are looking for rich taste and subtle flavors, their collection was lacking. This map can guide you off the beaten path and back again with mapped trails, color-coded according to their designated usage, including the … The fishing: well, the Blanco, San Juan and Conejos Rivers all start their journeys to the oceans here. The influence of this phase can be seen in the localized outcrops of basalt within the San Juans and more evidently by the huge rift valley adjacent to the eastern edge of the range, the San Luis Valley. Ouachita Trail Loops: Billy Creek Trail - Boardstand Trail - Holson Valley Loop - Horse Thief Springs Trail - Old Military Road Trail - Talimena-Bohannon Loop Map of South San Juan Wilderness, CO with distance, driving directions and estimated driving time from neary any location. Since this map is so big, my suggestion is to use the Trails Illustrated map to pick your trip and use this USGS topo with track data to refine it. They stretch from the San Luis Valley on the east side to beyond Durango and Telluride on the west. A horse back scouting trip into the South San Juan Wilderness area of Colorado. By about 29 Ma, activity shifted to eruptions of large volumes of firey ash from a minimum of 14 calderas. Since I am obviously a map guy, I would then print the sections of the big USGS topo for the field. Dogs are also able to use this trail. The South San Juan Wilderness is a U.S. Wilderness Area located in the San Juan National Forest, east of Pagosa Springs, in southern Colorado . Low . Something happened at the end of the Laramide to cause a change in the configuration of the tectonic plates underneath the Rockies. A complex series of Tertiary volcanic episodes along the east margin of the North American plate stretch from Mexico’s Sierra Madre Occidental volcanic field and to the Lowland Creek field of Montana (the source of Montana’s alluvial sapphires). This page offers a map and GPS tracks of the entire wilderness. (0.0 km) Nestled deep in the South San Juan Wilderness near Pagosa Springs, Colorado, Fish Lake is a beautiful, deep glacier tarn located just below the Continental Divide in the headwaters of the Blanco River. Neighboring towns: Pagosa Springs, Southfork, Del Norte, Monte Vista, Summitville, Platoro, Chromo (Choma, New Mexico) Many call the South San Juan Wilderness … It is pretty popular so expect a crowd on a nice day, many of them playing in Mendeno Creek on their way to the dunes. A 4 day backpacking adventure into Colorado's South San Juan Wilderness. The map is true 1:24,000 scale based on the USGS 7.5 minute quadrangles. OuachitaMaps.com - Hiking Trails of the Ouachitas and Ozarks. #1 South San Juan Wilderness Protected Area Updated: 2017-12-19 The South San Juan Wilderness is a USA Wilderness Area located in the San Juan National Forest, east of Pagosa Springs, in southern Colorado. The trails in blue and purple are other trails in the area. --Another source is the FS Geodata Clearinghouse, Vector Data Gateway. Pick up the train (video) in Alamosa, ride two hours across the valley and up to Fir, Colorado (which is nothing but a railroad spur in an alpine meadow (video) (near 10,000 feet) and a band stand. The South San Juan Wilderness encompasses the southeastern extent of the San Juan Mountain Range, including a segment of the Continental Divide. Click on the link below to purchase a digital version of this map for the Avenza Maps App. A… South San Juan Wilderness Area. Access to the wilderness is mainly from the north via Hwy 160 or from the east through the town of Antonito. Some may not be drivable with low clearance cars so check with the FS to make sure you can get to your trailhead. The South San Juan Wilderness is a U.S. Wilderness Area located in the San Juan National Forest, east of Pagosa Springs, in southern Colorado.. By the time all was said and done, there were about 10,000 cubic miles of ash deposits covering the area of the present day San Juans. This beginner trip is for you. Some believe that it is still home to a few grizzlies, but there is no sufficient evidence yet to prove this. Weatherproof Topographic Maps at Here is a GPX version of the same set of tracks. When we were there in 2010, they had about 20 breweries, about 80 different beers, BBQ and brats. A two hour train ride back with restaurant service meant no problem with that long drive home. I also compared the FS tracks to the National Geographic Trails Illustrated map and conclude the FS tracks are definitely good enough to plan your trip and are probably the most accurate publicly available rendition. The most prevalent zone is the Volcanic Subalpine Forest occurring between 9,000 and 11,000 feet. South San Juan Wilderness The South San Juan Wilderness encompasses 158, 790 acres of some of the most remote and pristine land in Southern Colorado. Great Sand Dunes is a pretty amazing. Blue Lake Trail is a 10.2 mile moderately trafficked out and back trail located near Pagosa Springs, Colorado that features a lake and is rated as moderate. Los Caminos Antiguos and Silver Thread Scenic Byways are also marked for those who wish to explore the area by car. The files are ESRI shape files so you will need and Arc product or a shape file interpreter. Located in Rio Grande and San Juan National Forests. For the most part there was very good correlation between the our GPS tracks and the forest service’s version. San Luis beers tend to lack the bold flavor of a good microbrew and tend to be on the flat side. These offline maps integrate seamlessly with adjoining areas and offline navigational tools include (among others) your current location, adding waypoints, tracing your own routes, and recording tracks. Our trek in Southern Colorado’s South San Juan Wilderness is a great location for an introductory trip in a high altitude setting. About 35 Ma, and in response to this pull-a-part tension, numerous volcanic centers formed. The fourth eco-zone is less prevalent but is traversed on the road to the trailhead. The map's coverage includes San Juan and Rio Grande National Forests, South San Juan Wilderness, San Juan and Chalk Mountains, Rio Grande River and the Continental Divide. The Alpine Zone occurs above 11,000 feet and is characterized by open alpine meadows and sparse and stunted Engleman spruce, subalpine fir and limber pine. The South San Juan Wilderness offers some of the best backpacking experience in Colorado, with more than 180 miles of established trails, including a 42-mile section of the Continental Divide National Scenic Trail. Maybe not as famous as the larger Weminuche Wilderness, the 158,790 acre South San Juan Wilderness of the Rio Grande and San Juan National Forests offers of 180 miles of trails, including 42 miles along the Continental Divide. It is well known to backpackers because it will drop them off at Needleton for a hike to the Chicago Basin and the Needle Mountains. San Juan Wilderness is a reserve in Washington. There is another narrow gauge railroad in the area. The last known grizzly bear in Colorado was killed in the wilderness in 1979. One of the key field characteristics of these ranges are massive outcrops of Precambrian granites and gneisses. The towns of Pagosa Springs, South Fork, and birding and is characterized by Engleman spruce Colorado... 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