During the course of acclimation and exploration of Mt Elbert's trail head, we crossed the river quite a few times. But the recreational usage of the river is not straight forward - some lands along the river are privately owned. The river bank areas are barb-wired with red warning signs.
We stopped at an access point to the river on highway 24 for a couple times, where the land is privately own, there is a public/private partnership, which the land owner allows limited access to the river for fishing and limited hiking. The water in the river is clear and flows fast, the river bank is lush; trouts are abundant in the river, and birds chirp and swoop in and over the bushes and small trees on the bank.
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| View of Mt Elbert (left) and Mt Massive (right) from a river bend of Arkansas river |
I was obsessed with some very basic questions about the river - where is the start of the river? What does the headwaters look like? .... A quick online search and looking at the map, I know that the whole valley along the highway 24 from Leadville to highway 285/291 at Salida, are the Arkansas river head waters, in fact the valley is called Arkansas river valley.
But the exact start of the river was not listed anywhere. I zoomed in on Google map and eventually found the start of Arkansas river , which is located east of Turquoise Lake, west of Leadville, by county road 9, as highlighted in the following figure. The start of Arkansas river is where Tennessee creek and east fork Arkansas river merge. Down stream from the start there are still many creeks, streams merge into the Arkansas, that's why Arkansas river valley between Leadville and Salida is defined to be the headwaters of Arkansas river.
After summiting Mt. Elbert on July 1st, we have one more day at Leadville before going home, and we visited planned areas already, so we went to visit Arkansas River Headwaters recreation area in Salida.
On the way to Salida, we stopped at the access point just north of highway 10, the one we stopped at before. But this time we crossed the barb-wired fence through a narrow "gate" entrance. The access point is right by a bridge.
There was a group of anglers at the river bank, fishing. We went the other direction, toward the bridge.
It turned out that there are a lot of bird nests at the side of the bridge. I watched the birds intently.
They were flying around, some would go back to the nests to rest a while and then came back again to join the flock. I waited patiently for one bird to come out of its nest, and it paid off, I caught it on the flight. Using SEEK, I know that they are cliff swallows. Instead of cliff, they live under bridge!
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| Birds and Bird nests at the side of the bridge |
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| The cliff swallow flew out of its nest |
Moving on to Salida Arkansas river headwaters recreation area, the Google map led us to the office for the recreation area. We checked in and asked about where to hike and sightseeing.
We went to Marvin Park and Sands lake area, parking at the intersection of M street and Sackett avenue.
The trail is a paved riverside walk, well shaded.
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| A willow tree by the river |
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| Rocky mountains in the background |
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| Eastern Tiger Swallowtail butterfly |
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| An unknown bird - old robin? |
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| Geese in Sands Lake |
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| A Robin |
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| a small solar farm by the river |
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| This bird is very common there, but I did not get a front view of it. |
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| This section of Arkansas river is a level 1/2 river excellent for kayaking, river rafting |
The Arkansas River Headwaters Recreation area is a very nice area, quiet, beautiful, with rocky mountains in the background. There are many type of birds there along the river bank - I saw at least five different species. It is a good place for bird watching. It is also a great place for river sports, unfortunately we did not prepare for it, and did not get into the water.
On the way returning to hotel, we went to the NUMBERS, a Colorado water recreation area by highway 24, to have lunch, enjoying the food and listening to the sound of the rushing river. We were all by ourselves there - what a treat.
Late that afternoon, we went to county road 9, to take a look at the start of Arkansas river, where Tennessee creek and east fork Arkansas river merge. The access road is a private road, with "no trespassing" sign. I then drove around to the old railway track CR 9, across the river from the private road. I attempted to walk to the river's starting point - there is a faded sign between the rail road and the river, supposedly a warning sign, so I stopped. A private home occupies the land around the start of Arkansas river, preventing public access to the geographically significant landmark. The landowner knows the significance of this landmark, and they build a gazebo there. I am frustrated by this fact to this date.
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| a private home occupies the land around the start of Arkansas river, preventing public access to the geographically significant land mark |
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| the old rail track at the start of the Arkansas river |
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| The start of Arkansas river is located between the Gazebo and the trees |
On the other hand, the question is where the river mouth is. This part of information is from internet search. The Arkansas river starts at the rocky mountains near Mt Elbert , it runs 1469 miles from Colorado to Arkansas, where it flows into Mississippi river. It is the 6th longest river in US, and 45th longest river in the world.
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