Priest Gulch

Priest Gulch

Drive north along highway 145 north of the town of Dolores, CO, and you’ll find lazy, lime green meadows backed by forested foothills that slowly turn into peaks lofted skyward where the snow hangs on 10 months out of the year. Trailheads and Forest Service roads turn out from the highway. Quaint but rugged (can you have both) mountain towns pop up once every 40 or so miles.

Get this scenery and solitude whilst thou cannest (I made that last word up), because large tracts of this green and red and white world are for sale, for subdivision. Friends of mine organized a legal campaign to keep this narrow region pristine, where the Dolores River crashes over boulders and eagles nest high in the willows. The legal battle was won by the developers.

The Priest Gulch trailhead is located right off the highway as you head toward Telluride, about 25 miles north of Dolores. The trail rises gradually but steadily into the foothills. I’s one of the more vegetated trails I’ve hiked, slightly overgrown and in need of a little maintenance, I like them that way.

You’ll cross through narrow and sometimes quaint (there, I’ve used that word twice in the same post) little parks, dotted by quaky saplings and one outlier ponderosa, one of the biggest I’ve ever seen. See if you can spot it, on the left as you head up from the trailhead.

You’ll parallel a stream strewn with river rock, the Priest Gulch drainage, as you trend north-northeast toward the mountains, crossing a few mildly wet creeks which I’m sure are much more robust in the spring. I went on Labor Day. Despite the holiday, I only ran into three other hikers, and the trailhead lot had just one other vehicle.

As you head up, Priest Gulch follows a gentle ridge that, combined with the cozy (not quaint) meadows that open along the way, provide sweeping views of the foothills that gather into mountains, foothills which would be regarded as mountains on the Appalachian side of things. This is definitely a forest hike, shaded with aspen and spruce-fir. Your hike ends at the trail’s junction with the Calico Trail (#208). You can loop back on the Lower Calico Trail (at mile 1.25 of the Priest Gulch cutoff, # 201) for a 3.5 mile total return trip.

To Get There: Take Highway 145 North from the town of Dolores. About 25 miles north, just opposite the hamlet of Stoner, you’ll see the sign for the Priest Gulch Trailhead on your left. Be aware that, as of Labor Day, 2017, there were trail closures on the connecting Calico Trail which can be accessed from Priest Gulch. Fines are hefty for hiking closed trails.

© 2022 by Michael C. Just

Mike’s novel, The Dirt: The Journey of a Mystic Cowboy, is available in softcover or eBook formats through Amazon.

You can purchase the book through this website. Or go straight to amazon at https://www.amazon.com/s?k=the+dirt+journey+of+a+mystic+cowboy&crid=1S40Q4BXSUWJ6&sprefix=the+dirt%3A+journey+of+a+m%2Caps%2C180&ref=nb_sb_ss_i_1_23

Mike’s other titles, including The Crippy, The Mind Altar, and Canyon Calls, are available through this website or through Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B002

Four of his short stories have recently been published online:

Lies, Ltd. has been published by The Mystery Tribune @ Lies, Ltd.: Literary Short Fiction by Michael C. Just (mysterytribune.com)

The Obligate Carnivore has been published by the Scarlet Leaf Review @ Category: MICHAEL JUST – SCARLET LEAF REVIEW

I See You, Too has been published by the 96th of October @ I See You, Too – 96th of October

Offload, a short story about a man who can heal any disease, is now live and can be read at The Worlds Within at Offload – The Worlds Within