Rating: moderate

Distance: 0.4 mile

Surface: granite crusher fines

Width: Avg: 6’ Min: 36”

Cross slope: Max: 5%

Grade: Avg: 5% Max: 8.6% for 20’ at top (bridge)

Trail Notes: This crusher fines trail is slow going, but worth the 0.4 mile trek. Once you’ve reached the picnic area and restrooms up the 5-6% grade, the trail continues on for another 500’ to the bridge. The trail is not considered accessible from this point on. Community Ditch Trail also intersects at this point.

Hard Spots: The gate from the parking area is 63” wide. The picnic area is accessed through a 63” gate; the bathroom is accessed through a separate 65” gate. Because of the gusty winds in the area, the spring tension on the restroom doors is set very high, making it tough to negotiate with a wheelchair

Habitat: Wildflowers are seasonally abundant here, and there are great views of the foothills. Many of the songbirds that nest in the cottonwood trees and shrubs in summer spend their winters in the steamy tropical rainforests of Central America. Look for orioles, lazuli buntings (pictured), yellow-breasted chats, and spotted towhees

Culture and History: The picnic area site sits on a former homestead and dairy farm. Ruth Dunn grew up in the Dunn House, part of which still stands just west of the South Mesa Trailhead about half a mile from this picnic area. In 1928, Ruth married Henry Helart and lived at the site of a stone foundation at the northern end of the picnic area. This house was moved from the mining town of Marshall, about 3 miles away, after the coal strike in 1914. The Helarts ran a dairy farm with as many as 50 cows for several years. You can make out a concrete foundation and several fence posts from the corrals just south of the restrooms. The only building remaining is the milk storage shed near the creek, just north of the picnic area. Milk was kept cool with creek water circulating through the shed.