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.

Knife Edge Trail Bird Hike

During the 2011 summer season Mesa Verde National Park is offering bird hikes on the Knife Edge Trail on Sunday and Wednesday at 7:30 AM. The Knife Edge Trail is one of three trails in the Morefield Campground area.

The Knife Edge Trail is a 2 mile round trip along the north rim and historically was a main road in the park, built in 1914. As a regular hike it emphasizes the plants in the area that were available to the Ancestral Pueblo people. There are also wide views of the Montezuma Valley with the regional mountain ranges visible.

The bird hike is different than other hiking in that the walking is slower and the talking is more in whispers. There is more effort at listening and wide angle awareness to spot movement of the birds. If you suffer from Nature-deficit disorder, bird hiking might be for you.

The Mesa Verde checklist of birds includes 186 species with 78 known to breed in the park. The checklist mentions five habitat types including Mesa Tops, Side Canyons, Deep Canyons, Riparian, and North Rim.
 

The Knife Edge Trail is probably the typical North Rim Habitat where the mountain shrubs include Gambel Oak, Utah Serviceberry, Mountain Mahogany, Cliff Fendler Bush, Chokecherry, and shady spots with Douglas Firs.

The highlight possibility on the hike is Peregrine Falcons along the sandstone cliffs. They have been sighted on some of the hikes but we didn’t see any on the day I hiked.

The birds we did see included Rufous-sided and Green-tailed Towhees, Scrub Jay, Raven, Rock Wren and another wren, maybe the Canyon Wren. There were many high flying birds high above on the cliff tops that were either White-throated Swifts or Violet-green Swallows. One bird we thought was a Yellow-rumped Warbler.
 

The hike is advertised as lasting two hours, but since this isn’t an archaeology sensitive area, you can stay longer even if the ranger has to leave. I stayed on the trail for 2:50 hours, finishing by myself. On the return hike I saw a Western Tanager and a circling soaring hawk with broad wings, probably the Red Tailed Hawk.

Knife Edge Trail and Spring Wildflowers

The Knife Edge Trail at Mesa Verde National Park in southwest Colorado is one of two or three interpretive trails in the park that emphasize the plants found in the area, and their use by the Ancestral Pueblo people that lived here.

The Trail Head is in the Morefield campground area near the part entrance and the hike is a 2.0 mile round trip. There are three hiking trails starting in the Morefield campground area, but none of them pass by any of the famous ruins sites.

There are 32 stops on the self guided trail. In spring, not all of the plants mentioned in the trail guide are in flower, but some are. The first stops on the trail are Gambel Oak and Pinon Pine, two of the most common trees, and also sources of acorns and pine nuts that were edible. Also mentioned are Black Sagebrush and Big Sagebrush, two common shrubs. Big Sagebrush is an indicator of good soil for farming.

In the vicinity of the marker that discussed the blue Spurred Lupine there was a blue flower in bloom, but I think in late May is was Larkspur.

There are some wildflowers along the trail that aren't mentioned in the trail guide. I think this is Clematis in the buttercup family. Clematis is one of the plants identified on the paved trail leading down to Spruce Tree House on Chapin Mesa.

Another flower that was conspicuous in May but not mentioned in the trail guide was this showy white flower that I think is Cliff Fendler Bush. The views from the Knife Edge Trail are from the North Rim of Mesa Verde toward the Montezuma Valley.

Snowberry is a low growing bush with pale pink bell shaped flowers. The Trail Guide says that there was no known Ancestral Pueblo use for Snowberry. Another berry on the trail is Utah Serviceberry, the most common bush in Mesa Verde and probably a source of food. There is also an Elderberry Bush on the trail, the only one that has been found in the park.

The Trail Guide mentions that this bush was so striking that the Knife Edge road was detoured slightly to preserve it. The Knife Edge Road was built in 1914 and served as an entrance to the park until the tunnel between Prater and Morefield canyons was built in 1957.

The Wild Rose has bright pink flowers and red oval shaped berries called "hips." These hips are rich in vitamin C and some have been found in Ancestral Pueblo remains. These roses grow in moist side canyons in dense patches.

A few small Douglas Firs are found along the trail and there are large ones high above against the north facing cliffs. Douglas Firs are also found in the moist canyons such as near Spruce Tree House. The Trail Guide mentions that the most colorful flower along the trail is the bright red Indian Paint Brush, but in late may none were in bloom yet.