Abandoned Church Hike

Trail Name: CR530
Distance:  5.92 mi
Date: 8/14/10
Length: ?

Alright, this wasn't a Golden trail, but it was a fairly interesting hike.  It started in the middle of nowhere, out in the Wet Mountain Valley (which is between Alamosa and Walsenburg, southern Colorado).

There isn't much to write about; the journey was mostly uneventful.  The area is completely covered in Pinyon Juniper woodlands.  (Pinus edulis and Juniperus osteosperma).  The trail itself is a county road that gets little traffic.  We saw three motor vehicles over the course of 6 miles; a truck, an ATV and a motor home.  It was very hot, but there was a nice breeze.  Not a cloud in the sky, except over the Wet Mountains to the north.  (caused by air rising over them, see Orographic Lifting).

There is a large ridge formation that appears around two miles in.  It was a really handy landmark.

At three miles in, there is an old abandoned church.  This was pretty much the objective of the hike.

We really couldn't ascertain much about the nature of this old structure.  There wasn't really anything that stood out.  No denomination, date, name, etc.  Just a bunch of decaying wood and rusty nails.

From inside, the story was the same.  No clues about the its age... we estimated 20 years, based on the level of decay.  Light coming through the roof; it doesn't provide much structure anymore.

That's pretty much it; the hike wasn't a loop, just back the way we came.  Not a lot of altitude gain, but it was pretty hot.  Bring lots of water if you're going to be walking around southern Colorado at noon.