Rating: easy-difficult

Distance: 2 miles

Surface: crusher fines, road base

Width: Avg: 9’ Min: 3’

Cross slope: Max: 2%

Grade: Avg: 3% Max: 12% for 50’

Trail Notes:This is a great area for a picnic, with accessible tables dispersed throughout the trailhead area, some in shaded locations. There is a flat, lower loop trail that veers off from the main trail near the trailhead. It is an easy trail with many wildflowers and lots of shade. Be careful of the poison

Hard Spots: After crossing the second bridge about 0.1 mile along the trail, the Mesa Trail has a gradual uphill grade as you head north with some long, steep grades of 10.8%, making it a difficult trail to hike in a wheelchair. Only the f irst 2 miles of it is somewhat negotiable in a wheelchair. The rest becomes too narrow, steep, and rocky

Habitat: The easier portion of the trail starts out in a stream side area along South Boulder Creek and opens up onto grasslands in the foothills of the Rockies. This lends itself to a diversity of plant life and animal species. Deer, black bears, and cougars spend time here. The area is rich with birds including peregrine falcons, red-tailed hawks, and songbirds. Anglers fish the creek for trout. Shady trails loop through the forest near South Boulder Creek.

Culture and History: The trail crosses the Doudy/DeBacker/Dunn homestead. The original homesteads, now no more than a shadow on the landscape, date back to early homesteading in the 1850’s. The stone house standing above the stream belonged to John DeBacker, who sold the home and ranchland to his son-in-law, John Dunn for $1 in 1901. In 1902, Dunn shot and killed a young neighbor near this site over what was most likely an argument about water rights, for which he served one year in jail. ivy though! Above the creek is the historic Dunn House. There is an accessible path to the house a few yards past the stepped path.