Just 6 miles northeast of Raton down a lovely twisting road lies the Sugarite (Shug a reet) State Park. Its 4500 acres encompass nearly 20 miles of trails, mesa top vista views, and the remnants of a large coal mining town and three mines.
From the Park entrance we drove two miles along a box canyon, then started to climb the mesa on a gravel road.
After two long days of mostly riding (Friday on the Enchanted Circle and Sunday--yesterday--to Bent's Old Fort), our goal today was hiking. Our trail let us to the top of Little Horse Mesa, as seen from the trailhead parking lot.
I chose this trail to give us a workout and to add flexibility to Duane's knees. To access the trail we walk 1/2 mile. The Mesa trail is only 1/4 mile further, but involves a strenuous 300 foot climb to the park's highest point, 8320 feet.
On top of the mesa we had several choices. We could wander around the mesa, we could take a 2 mile trail to Lake Maloya,
or we could walk to the mesa edge for a spectacular view of the entire canyon with its surrounding mesas.
We took in the view, wandered around viewing the regrowth from a huge 2011 fire, then started back down.
Back at the truck we stowed our gear and drove the paved road to Lake Maloya, one of three lakes formed by damming Chicorica Creek. The first, Lake Dorothy is about a mile north of this lake in Colorado. All of the lakes are also spring fed. They were constructed to provide water to Raton.
Retracing our route, we caught a picturesque view of Lake Alice.
We stopped at the Visitors Center and discovered that it was the only building left standing of an entire coal mining town. Buildings included a hundred or so residences including two boarding houses, a mercantile, school, doctors office, social hall, and the post office which is now the
Visitors Center.
Inside we found three dioramas illustrating how coal was extracted from the three local mines,
and a short history of the town.
A walking trail, part of which was the old railroad bed, took us in a circle around the town.
When the mines closed in 1941 some of the buildings were relocated to Raton, while the mining company salvaged the rest.
These are the foundations of the doctor's office and residence.
The residences were large for a mining town--400 square feet ( about the size of 2 rvs) divided into 4 rooms, each with an electric ceiling light. The foundations of all the buildings were constructed from limestone blocks cut from the mesa above the town, and faced with coke block (similar to cinder block) and faced to look like limestone.
A view of the town site form the north. That white area on the right is the post office/Visitors Center roof. The railroad ran along the bottom of the slope with the town in the middle. Beyond the town at the far edge of the valley were the mines where the operations illustrated in the dioramas above took place.
We were on our way back to the truck when I turned a corner and just about jumped out of my skin! There was that Creepy Guy hiding in the bushes!!!
After exiting the park at 2:20 pm, even though we were hot and dusty, we decided to drive straight to this little restaurant, recommended by our rv park hosts. Inside we found icy drinks, and some very delicious dry rub smoked ribs, brisket, and pulled pork. It was all delicious and didn't need any bbq sauce. The brisket was almost as good at Texas brisket--and that's saying a lot!
A short trip to the local grocery and we were ready for home.
More hiking on the agenda for tomorrow.
Louise and Duane
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