Knife Edge Trail Winter Views

In the 2012 winter season, the Morefield Campground at Mesa Verde National Park in southwest Colorado, is being managed for winter hiking on snowshoes and cross country skiing. The campground is located only a few miles past the main entrance. In the summer season, there are three hiking trails that begin in the vicinity of the campground.

The campground loops and the new Meadow Bliss Trail are being machine groomed. My hike was two days after several inches of new snow in mid February. The parking area and trailhead for winter activities is the Morefield Village area near the gas station.

From the trailhead it is about 1 mile along the campground roads to the relatively level 2 mile round trip Knife Edge Trail. The Knife Edge Trail is part of the old entrance road to the park and provides good views to the north above the Montezuma Valley and the nearby mountain ranges. It took me about 0:30 minutes of snowshoe hiking to arrive at the Knife Edge Trailhead. The trail isn’t groomed.

The snow depth was moderate along the first segment of trail. Hiking past Point Lookout, the wide views open up. Most of the regional mountains are visible. To the north is the San Miguel range, featuring Lone Cone to the west and Dolores Peak to the east. At the No. 8 trail marker the snow on the trail got much deeper and I was sinking in up to my knees.

I was surprised to see some tracks coming from the other direction near trail marker 10. These deep tracks appear to have been made by a deer that was struggling as much as I was. The deer appears to have made its way by lunging along the trail and then returned the way it came.

On the recent ranger led Winter Ecology Hike in this area we didn’t see any deer tracks, and the explanation was that the deer mostly retreat to the lower snow free areas. I turned around at trail marker 12, turned back by the deep snow.

I continued further along the campground road to the Amphitheater parking area and saw a few more deer tracks on the groomed surface. The Amphitheater area provides an elevated view of the campground area.

In the winter season of 2011, I had made it to trail marker 23, which discusses the geology of the area, including the Point Lookout sandstone and the underlying Mancos shale. Most of the trail markers on the Knife Edge Trail discuss the botany of the area.

The trees easy to see in winter are the Pinon Pines and Utah Junipers, the leafless Gambel Oaks and the tall Douglas Firs. My snowshoe hike was on a 32 F degree mid February day and I hiked about 2.5 miles in 1:50 hours.