By Dustin Heron Urban

With the sun setting on my office in the tower of our South Main home at 5pm sharp lately, there are plenty of days when I don’t have much time to get outside. So it is fortunate that we live so close to an amazing trail network which allows us beautiful outings, even when time is tight. Walking the river trails immediately adjacent to South Main is always an excellent option. But I thought I would take you today for a virtual tour of our most common afternoon walk across the river: the short loop.

It’s an average weekday here in South Main, and I’m working from home as usual. 3:30 roles around and Katie and I decide it’s time for some fresh air. We bundle up our son Heron, rouse our dog Hurley and head out. We head north from our house and soon intersect with the upper river trail which runs from South Main’s River Park Square north to the footbridge which accesses Midland Mountain and its extensive trail network. We walk by the staircase, which leads down to the Midtown Hole in the river park. During snowmelt, this is an excellent kayaking feature, which should be seeing further improvements this spring.

We cross the footbridge, entering the vast Piñon-Juniper woodland east of the Arkansas River. Blocks of ancient granite pepper the landscape here, some of them offering fun bouldering for rock climbers like myself. We bear right at the first intersection, entering a section of the Midland Bike Trail which runs south along the river. This a fun, somewhat technical section for mountain biking, another activity easily accessed from South Main. From this trail you can access literally hundreds of miles of single and double track trails, which wind through this vast expanse of public lands.

We pass under and by some massive pieces of granite which sit on the opposite side of the river from the staircase I mentioned which leads to the Midtown Hole. Here we also reach one of the several Kiosks along the trail which house interpretive signs with interesting information about the areas mining and railroad days. Indeed, old mine shafts and artifacts, tailings and old camps spots can be found all over Midland Mountain if one looks closely enough.

From this point we begin to climb, heading north and splitting off from the Midland Bike Trail. Here we reach some of the best overlooks of South Main. Yuccas’ urchin-like profile dot the landscape and delicious pine nuts fallen from the Piñons carpet the ground. The trail traverses north for a stretch and we eventually turn left, descending a steep section of switchbacks which return us to the Midland Bike Trail and the footbridge. We return home around 4:00 refreshed after a gorgeous little adventure.

Midland Mountain and its high desert landscape truly are an integral part of the South Main experience. The trail network offers numerous routes, keeping even daily walks fresh. Overlooking South Main with Piñons, Junipers, Yucca and granite in the foreground and the soaring Collegiate Peaks in the background is a beautiful time for reflection and great way to step back from the sometimes hectic details of daily life. The loop on which I just took you is truly the tip of the iceberg for Midland terrain. There is a lifetime of exploration to be had on the public lands immediately adjacent to South Main. I, for one, am just getting started.

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