Tom Schweich  

Trailhead: Stegosaurus Lot

From the trailhead in Stegosaurus Lot, the Dakota Ridge trail goes northeast straight up the western limb of the hogback.

May favorite kind of trail -- straight up.	Stegosaurus Lot, trailhead for Dinosaur Ridge.

Trail turns south.

View of Interstate 70 at the mouth of Mount Vernon Canyon. The third road at right is US Highway 40. The parking lot for Matthews/Winters Park is at lower left. The highway is really noisy, especially the trucks using their Jake Brakes.

Interstate 70 enters Mount Vernon Canyon.	Northern edge of burned area.	Likely Toxicoscordion paniculatum whose leaf tips were scorched by the Hogback Fire (2023).

Viewpoint of Rooney Valley and Green Mountain. This valley is threatened by development.

Green Mountain from Dinosaur Ridge	View to the northwest of the Hogback Fire.	Burned ponderosas and junipers at the observation site.

This is where I found just two Physaria. They were P. montana.

One of two Physaria seen.	The other of two Physaria seen.	Area burned by the Hogback Fire to the southwest.	Area burned by the Hogback Fire to the northwest.

Rattlesnake along the trail

Little rattlesnake seen along Dakota Ridge Trail.	Opuntia macrorhiza	Possible Physaria vitulifera × bellii.

The Dakota Ridge trail comes off the ridge and down into this little “meadow.” It is not clear whether this meadow is natural or an atrefact of previous mining.

Looking north on the Dakota Ridge Trail.	View southward across the water gap after the Hogback Fire.	View northward from burned to unburned areas.

Junction: Zorro Trail.

The Zorro Trail goes down to a parking lot along Rooney Road.

Junction with the Zorro Trail.

The Dakota Ridge Trail continues south.

Looking south on the Dakota Ridge Trail.	View northward across the water gap partially burned by the Hogback Fire.

The thing to see here is the two women and their unleashed dogs. I had previously talked to them and asked them to leash their dogs. Four minutes before I took this photo (by the timestamps on the photo), I took the photo of the rattlesnake beside the trail.

Two young women with unleashed dogs.

Junction: Alameda Avenue

Junction: Alameda Avenue

Junction: Red Rocks Trail

Junction: Bail Out

Junction: Dakota Ridge South Trail

End of Trail in a loop.