Low clouds crown South Tarryall Peak, right; the trail to Lizard Rock goes up the valley towards the pointed peak on the left
Trail Head: 39°8’10”N, 150°27’48”W, 8546 feet
Trail to Goose Creek and Lake Park Trails:
39°9’48”N, 150°27’20”W, 9500 feet
End of the trail for us: 39°9’48”N, 150°26’40”W, 9622 feet
Hiking distance – 5.9 miles
Take Park County Road 77, the Tarryall Road, south from Jefferson 28 miles, or north from US 24 near Lake George about
14 miles. Turn east to the Spruce Grove Campground just south of mile marker 28. There is no sign for the campground on PCR 77. The Lizard Rock Trail head is in the campground, but parking for hikers is at the gate to the campground. The gate is closed during the off season.
The weatherman promised a calm, mostly sunny, fairly warm day all over Park County, so Pete and I headed down the Tarryall Road for some time in the woods. It was overcast during the car trip, with temperatures in the thirties. As we traveled down the Tarryall Road, the weather became more ominous: Low clouds rested on the tops of Bison Peak, McCurdy Mountain, and South Tarryall Peak. The fog lifted now and again to show frost on the trees at the mountain tops.
The lower Tarryall valley is a wonderful area to hike in. There lots of trails with easy access from the Tarryall Road, and spectacular mountains with rocks, cliffs and forests. Our only concern was the weather, and the clouds looked like they wouldn’t mind dumping some snow on us.
We parked at the gate to the Spruce Grove Campground, where we found a newly posted sign: MOUNTAIN LION SEEN IN
AREA. Oh, well, we thought, that’s his problem. We went through the campground, and found the trail head at the lower end, next to Tarryall Creek. A well-made footbridge led us over the creek (it has a 5000 pound load limit! It’s OK to bring your two-ton buddy!) and a sign pointed us north on the Lizard Rock Trail. The path immediately went under a boulder and up the creek. The campground was probably named for the towering spruce near the creek; it was a long walk to
find more.
The trail was wide and well-traveled. It left the creek, moving to the east to avoid the private land in the valley bottom. Soon there was a fork in the trail, and we, we took the one more traveled by (apologies to Robert Frost). The path led us up steadily, but not too steeply, allowing us to make good time. After seven tenths of a mile from our start, the houses and roads had disappeared behind the trees, and we came to a trail that led to the left and right. There were signposts but no signs; seeing no mountain to the left, we went that way, continuing our north-bound trek. At a mile from our start was another fork in the trail, this time with a sign identifying the Lizard Rock Trail going up the hill. Up we went.
Spring has come early to Park County. The snow on the south facing slopes is all but gone, making our upward journey quick and easy. The trail led us up a small gully, fi lled with eight-inch diameter and smaller aspen, dotted with Douglas fi r and a few big ponderosa pine. The path was strewn with leaves fallen last autumn, filling the air with the smell of the aspen, and the trees, already beginning to bud, told us that we might be seeing green leaves in April.
The trail switched back and we climbed out of the gully, past a pair of large, old Ponderosa. The taller of the two was dead; it carries the scars of lightning strikes. The shorter didn’t have these marks. Apparently his older brother sheltered him from the storms; he’ll be vulnerable when the dead tree falls in the next year or so.
There, on the top of a low ridge, we turned back to see a fine view of Badger Mountain, which sits just north of Wilkerson Pass. Badger sits on the edge of South Park, and so has been crowned with many antennae. Pete checked, and found his cell phone coverage to be excellent there.
Soon we found ourselves in a wider valley as we continued up the trail. The long, south ridge leading up South Tarryall Peak was our constant companion to the east, and we soon moved north of her summit. The forest was fairly thin. Aspen made up maybe half the trees, Ponderosa pine a third, and Douglas fir the rest. As we moved higher, the aspen became smaller and scarcer, and the fir more numerous. Boulders and tall, rocky outcroppings dot the landscape, and we decided it was time to begin looking for Lizard Rock.
Pete heads up the valley on Lizard Rock Trail, through the aspen and conifers and around the boulders.
Near the top of the valley, the path grew steeper and the view spread out to include mountain tops to our north. We hadn’t found
Lizard Rock, but we did fi nd Luncheon Rock! We stopped to take a break, compare our progress to the map, and recharge. During our walk up the valley, the clouds to the south had thinned, and as we ate and rested, the fog lifted from McCurdy Mountain, revealing the massive cliffs there, and left South Tarryall Peak for good. Dim sunshine followed us up the last of the valley when we went on.
Our search for Lizard Rock almost ended at the top of the ridge, where we found a sign pointing up a hill to the west of the trail. There we saw an outcropping of rock we took to be Lizard Rock, although it didn’t look like a lizard to us. From another viewpoint we could see a tall vertical column of rock at the top of the hill, but it didn’t look like a lizard, either.
The Forest Service trail description had promised us a loop,and we were game to go on, so we ventured over the ridge, to the north-facing slope, A sign told us we would find Goose Creek and Lake Park Trails if we continued on.
There were dramatic changes as we went over the ridge. In the valley, we had seen snow in rare, isolated patches; here bare
ground was the exception, although the trail was still clear. The terrain changed: It was steep up, and steep down, all the way to the valley along Hay Creek between South Tarryall Peak and McCurdy Mountain. The forest presented the most striking difference, changing from bright and pleasant, mostly aspen, to dark and thick, mostly Douglas fir and limber pine, with an occasional spruce.
We traveled on, and soon encountered snow; we put on our gaiters to keep the snow out of our boots and to keep our lower pant legs dry. Luckily for us, a pair of snow shoers had passed a week or so before us, and had packed down the snow on the trail. Pete had brought a pair of walking sticks and loaned me one; they proved a good balancing brace when the snow proved too soft for our footsteps and we sank in to our knees or deeper.
the cliffs high on McCurdy Mountain peer at us through the low clouds as we take in a little lunch near the top of the trail
We had broken up the snow a bit on the outbound trip, and found ourselves sinking more often into the snow on the return. It was a relief to finally step into the mud on the last bit of the trail before the ridge, and onto terra firma on the south slope. The remainder of the trip was quick and easy, being mostly downhill on the well-maintained trails.
The trail through the valley leading up to Lizard Rock ranks near, if not at, the top of my favorite trails in Park County. The good trail and not-too-steep slopes make for an invigorating walk,
the nice mix of aspen, conifers and boulders along the trail is a welcome change from the dark forest and open meadow walks I so often find. I’m looking forward to a late spring hike there, with the sun shining through the aspen leaves, kinnikinick and buffalo grass carpeting the ground, butterflies dancing on the wild flowers.
Sorry, mountain lion, but we’ll be coming back.
Which is Lizard Rock? A sign at the top of the Lizard Rock Trail points in the general direction of both rocks. The lower rock might look like a profi le of a lizard’s head
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