The canyons between Miller Flat Road and Skyline Drive make for very convenient summer hikes for me and I’ve been slowly chipping away at them for several years. For this trip I chose Jordan Canyon because I wanted to gain some decent elevation and it had easy access to Skyline Drive via an old road that’s been closed for almost 50 years. While driving there on Miller Flat Road I passed a logging truck going the opposite direction, and arriving at the trailhead I was surprised to find the old road to Seeley Canyon (also long-closed) open and freshly graded! I assumed this was the source of the logging traffic, and the first few hundred yards of my hike would take me up that road and I was worried about encountering a logging truck.
Road grader at the trailhead
Old road, newly graded
There was no traffic, though, before I jumped off into the brush and trees. I almost stumbled into a deer that also didn’t see me until we were very close, and it just stared at me for a minute before slowly turning around and walking away. Instead of initially following the old road up, I was trying to following a trail that’s clearly visible in the May 2013 historical imagery in Google Earth that’s not there in the 2011 or earlier imagery. Following it on the ground proved difficult, however. It was pretty much bushwhacking and fallen trees the first three-quarters of a mile until I reached the Jordan Canyon road. There was even a foot bridge over Miller Flat Creek with gabion abutments. It’s like the Forest Circus went to all the trouble of constructing a trail and then nobody ever used it.
Light bushwhacking
Deer
More shwacking
Bridge over Miller Flat Creek
Seeley Canyon (left) and Jordan Canyon (right) creeks
Steep brushy climb
Through the aspens
I got to the Jordan Canyon road and there was a clear trail following it. I had been hearing logging operations ahead of me in the canyon and I grew anxious that when I reached it somebody would tell me I couldn’t proceed. I was steeling myself for a confrontation but the need never arose. There was a brand-new road that went right up Jordan Canyon but it was on the south side, whereas the old road I was ascending was on the north, so I saw but never got close to their work.
On the old road
Ascending the old road
Larkspur
Grouse
Mattress spring
I wish I could read this
Logging operation
Loader
I reached the gas well shown on the USGS topo map and found the capped drill hole. After the trip I found information on this specific well, Joe’s Valley number 1-X, and others nearby. The well was drilled by Three States Natural Gas Company and completed on November 19, 1955. In 1957 it was drilled deeper into another rock formation, and apparently again in 1966. The document mentions plugging and abandoning the well and reclaiming the road in 1976.
Gas pipeline
Joe’s Valley Number 1-X well
Continuing up the canyon, the old road I was on met up with the new road they’d made for logging, except they had already “reclaimed” the new road. It was haphazardly churned up by an excavator within the last couple of days–the clumps of vegetation hadn’t yet died and dried up. Where the road switched back and began climbing the ridge toward Skyline Drive, the “reclamation” stopped and the road would have been passable to vehicles the rest of the way up. At the top of the ridge was another drill hole that wasn’t on the USGS topo. I left the road for a stand of trees to sit down and take a break, and found an old camp there.
View of the upper Jordan Canyon basin
Old road improved then destroyed
Chewed up road
Spring water flowing down the road
Road into upper Jordan Canyon
Stacked logs
Colleen K. Steiner Number 1 well
Old camp
I followed the road the rest of the way to Skyline Drive, then turned north and hiked for more than a mile along the highest part of the ridge, which sometimes was on the road and others up and down a rocky ridge. I stopped at the 1938 benchmark stamped “JORDAN” and found the geocache there.
Head of Seeley Canyon
Skyline Drive
Upper Jordan Canyon
Trail below the ridge
Skyline Drive
Mt. Pleasant
Snow drift
Jordan 1938 benchmark
Upper Jordan Canyon
Columbine
Geocache log
Cliffs and snow
Having walked around the head of the upper Jordan Canyon basin I dropped back into it on a trail cut into the hillside. From there it was all off-trail travel for over a mile until I rejoined the road I’d originally ascended. I went off my planned course to check out a large boulder in the off-chance there could be some sort of habitation site or other prehistoric remnants but there was nothing. Shortly after that I had to stop and remove my backpack to change the batteries in my GPS and I spotted an arrowhead on the ground! The tip was broken off but otherwise it was a decent point. I really love seeing pieces like this at high elevations.
Constructed trail into Jordan Canyon
Back down in the basin
Pond
Boulder
Descending the canyon
Arrowhead
Arrowhead
Upper Jordan Canyon creek
Trail through false hellebore
I got back to the road and retraced my course down it. I spotted an aspen carving that I’d missed on the way up, from 1932. I skipped the bushwhacking on the “new trail” and just followed the old road all the way back to the trailhead, which was a little bit longer but easier going. And I had to cross Miller Flat Creek on foot this time, which was no big deal this time of year. During spring runoff the bridge route would be better. I clocked about 9.5 miles–not as big as some of the hikes I’ve been doing lately but definitely more of a pleasant stroll. And, this was the first hike I’ve done without any knee pain since I injured it in a fall 2.5 months earlier!
1932 aspen carving
Old road through the aspen
Meadow near the trailhead
Miller Flat Creek
Trailhead
Photo Gallery: Jordan Canyon