LEAVE NO TRACE ON �� he Doudy Draw, Flatirons Vista OPEN SPACE & MOUNTAIN PARKS and Eldorado Mountain area has Manage Your D09 it all: golden grasslands, thick Others may not appreciate your dog's company. pine forests, sweeping vistas, rare and � - ,) If you are not sure, ask before allowing your dog · � to approach. Keep your dog nearby and under seldom-seen species, and historic sites L control. Carry and use a leash as required. � that link us to our past. Travel softly and you may be rewarded with visions Pick Up Poop that last a lifetime. Phew! Dog poop stinks, causes severe dam age to the environment, and others can step in it. Pack a pick-up bag and always pick up Where East your dog's poop - wherever it's left. Meets West
Where the prairies of Stay on Trail the Great Plains meet Traveling on trail leaves room for wildlife and the forests of the their homes. Shortcutting trails causes erosion. The Eldorado Mountain area is one of the Get muddy! Step right through puddles. Boots Rocky Mountains, East few places left along the Front Range where dry overnight; plants take years to recover. ern plants and animals elk can still complete their annual migration rub up against their from the mountains to the plains without Western counterparts. encountering human development. Keep your Trash Your Trash The result: some of the eyes open for hoof prints and droppings. You Please take out all trash - yours and others'. best wildlife viewing Even organic garbage such as orange peels, might also spy mountain lions, black bears, a apple cores and food scraps, take years to in Colorado. black Abert's squirrel, coyotes or mule deer. break down. Animals which feed on trash Birds gather here every summer to nest The area is also a wildflower lover's para often die! on the ground amid the wildflowers of the dise. Wildflowers provide nectar for butterflies, � if{1y- Leave It as You Find It prairie. Please don't venture off trail or bees and hummingbirds. Picking flowers, collecting rocks, or picking berries you might crush the eggs of these ground may not seem to be a big deal, but it means others Enjoy the flowers, but won't have a chance to enjoy them. Millions of nesting birds! Down in the shrub thickets, please don't pick them. people visit Open Space & Mountain Parks. If each listen for the spotted towhee, who sings, takes something, what will remain? "Drink your tea-ee Eldorado Mountain �\ ee-ee-ee," or the Habitat Conservation Area I loud and raucous Share Our Trails The slopes of Eldorado We all enjoy Open Space & Mountain Parks in calls of the yellow different ways. Pay attention, expect to encounter breasted chat. The Mountain preserve some others and be courteous. Yield to all. pine forests host of the most fragile habi tat in the Front Range. To different birds. With Open Space & Mountain Parks protect this irreplaceable luck, you may see a www.osmp.org flock of wild turkeys resource, off-trail travel or an elusive north through the Habitat Conservation Area (HCA) ern goshawk. is prohibited without a permit. See the map Photos: Pasque Flower (Bill in this brochure for HCA boundaries. You can May), Wild Turkey (Christian always enjoy HCAs from the trail. To obtain a Nunes, Elk (Joseph Connell), Blue Mist Penstemon (llan permit, visit www.osmppermits.org or call 303- November 2008 Kelman) 441-3440. 0 Clues from the Past Much more recently, people made their ome here. American Indians left stone rings Doudy Draw/ Eldorado Mountain The rocks under your feet tell tales of an � � in various places. This area afforded a rich ancient ocean that once selection of plants for food, medicine and lapped at a prehistoric grazing for horses, as well as a wide variety of coastline. Along Spring DOUDY DRAW/ ELDORADO MTN. II Trailhead - OSMP Designated Parking game animals. 0 Brook Loop near Fowler . Parking Along Public streets -.? "" A ccess p o t - Trail, look for the ripple Euro-American settlers began arriving in n. m Unless Otherwise Posted ... 1859; they also left their mark on the land. ® Mileage Between Symbols (Only For>= 0.2 Miles) patterns in the exposed • • OSM P Hiking Trail Look for the Denver, Utah & Pacific railroad - OSMP Multi-Use Trail cliffs of Dakota Sand •••• other Hiking Trail grade, which crosses the trail system in several :-- More information i stone. Run your fingers - other Multi-Use Trail : atwww.osmp.org : i or call 303-441-3440 ! places. Planned in 1881 by David Moffat, this ,,-- 40 Foot Elevation Contour over the ridges where i___ 8am-5pm M-F. ___! narrow gauge railroad was intended to cross ffl No Public Access waves left their mark OSMP Property the mountains through a series of long tun Habitat Conservation AreaBoundary (HCA) on a sandy beach 100 - Off-TrailPermit Required million years ago. Herds nels. Less than two miles of the grade was con Go To www.osmppermits.com t of dinosaurs trod these structed before financing collapsed and the sands, leaving footprints you can still see project was abandoned. From the railroad's in similar rocks at Dinosaur Ridge near spectacular hill cut on the Fowler Trail, look Golden. Over time, the land subsided and east across the valley to see the grade on the the beach was swallowed by a sea that slope of the opposite mesa. stretched across North America from the Railroad workers may also have built the Gulf of Mexico small stone shelters located along the Gos to Hudson Bay. hawk Ridge trail. Now roofless, these humble structures may have once provided hearth and Soil washed home to into the ocean tired men. Ranchers Flatirons Vista North from the sur 0.9 rounding lands grazed and gradually their herds settled to the on the rich bottom, creat grasses. In ing a layer of the 1920s soft crumbly rock more than a mile thick. or 30s, the This is Pierre Shale, found in Doudy Draw Beasley and along the mesa edge at Flatirons Vista family built ...... ,....,,,...... �-, and the Spring Brook Loop. Pierre Shale this wooden corral and cattle loading chute forms slippery clay-rich soils that stick to near the South Boulder Diversion Canal. your boots. Since the soils are very prone All historic structures and artifacts are to erosion and slumping, we ask that you protected on OSMP. Please do not climb or avoid these trails during wet or muddy Off-trail travel through the Habitat damage them. conditions. Conservation Area is prohibited without a permit. To obtain an off-trail permit, please visit www.osmppermits.org or call 303-441-3440.