La Plata Canyon

Dogs Leashed

Features Fall Colors · River/Creek · Views · Wildflowers · Wildlife

Starting at the second dirt parking lot with the cattle gate, follow the La Plata canyon road up to where the road meets the Colorado trail.

Even though this is a dirt road with no singletrack, there are some nice views along the way, making it worth it!

The hike is very easy and casual for the first four miles until the road goes over Boren Creek, consisting of well-maintained and heavily traveled dirt road. There is only about 500 feet of elevation gain these first 4 miles and travels through many beautiful aspen and pine groves along the La Plata river.

After Boren Creek, the road becomes a high clearance 4x4 road and starts getting substantially steeper and rockier. This is the difficult part of the route, as it gains over 2000 feet of elevation in the remaining 5 miles.

This route is very easy to alter and customize to suit your preferences. Since it follows a dirt road, you can drive as far along as you want (until finding an appropriate parking spot) and beginning wherever you want. Furthermore, there are many steep jeep roads that branch off the main road and make for interesting excursions.

There are several historically relevant sites along the road such as abandoned mines and mills.