Mud Lake Open Space
Nestled between the Town of Nederland and the Indian
Peaks Wilderness Area, Mud Lake lies within the montane lifezone of the
east flank of the Front Range of the Southern Rocky Mountains. About 44
species of mammals, re presenting
45 percent of all mammal species in the county call Mud Lake Open Space
home. Nutall's cottontails, snowshoe hares, mountain lions,
black bear, coyote,
long-tail weasels and bobcats are regularly seen. Crayfish, amphibians
and freshwater mollusks dominate the shallow lake, which some speculate
may been created by a meteorite impact.
Mud Lake offers multi-use trails,
picnic tables and horse trailer parking for
equestrians enjoying the trail connections to
Caribou Ranch Open Space.
Open year round, the park was designed partly with winter recreation in
mind. Its 3.0 mile trail system is blazed with blue markers for
snowshoeing and cross-country skiing.
History
Mud Lake, at one time called Muskee Lake, has a long history of human
use and exploration. The lake itself has drawn the attention of
university researchers studying the amphibians and mollusks. Early
reports and studies date from the 1930s. Citizens of Nederland have long
enjoyed the area for hiking, pincicking, ice-skating and other outdoor
activities.
 The
property was first homesteaded in the early 1870s in conjunction with
the gold and silver mining occurring around Nederland and Caribou. The
discovery of silver just to the west of Mud Lake at Caribou in 1869 led
to heavy prospecting across this whole region of present-day Boulder
County. By 1871 silver mining had begun at the Bluebird Mine, just one
and a half miles northwest of Mud Lake. These first mineral "booms" led
to the initial resource development impacts and land patenting
activities in the Mud Lake area.
The tungsten mining boom, which began at the turn of the 20th century,
also heavily influenced use of the property. By 1904, the Wolf Tongue
Mining Company and the Primos Chemical Company purchased most of the
holdings, and industrial mining began around Mud Lake. The Colorado
Tungsten Corporation also acquired tracts and mined on the north part of
the property. During a peak in values during World War I, the district
produced most of the tungsten ore in the world.
A decline in tungsten values followed the development of
mining and production in China. This fact, along with depleted supplies
in Boulder County, led to a drop in value for the ore, and the market
for tungsten never recovered.
Following the bust in tungsten mining after WWI, most of the lands
around Mud Lake were probably used for pasture and grazing. Following
the disturbances due to mining and related activities, the area
responded with very high rates of tree recruitment. As residential
development and mountain property values increased, suppression of
forest fires kept these forest strands thick and homogenous. As use of
the property waxed even further, the remnants of the mining era fell
into disrepair and became convenient locations for trash dumping.
Boulder County began purchasing the property jointly with
the Town of Nederland in 1999.
The Wild
Bear Center for Nature Discovery, a non-profit environmental
education organization, also owns a 5-acre parcel at the site, where
they are planning to build a nature center in the future. Wild Bear
currently uses the property for daytime, hands-on educational programs.
Mud Lake consists of 190 acres of open space with a 3.0 mile multi-use
trail system that represents one of the highest densities of trail
networks in the entire County Open Space system.
Hikers can enjoy pedestrian only paths near the lake and scenic loops
that cover much of the property. Dogs are
allowed at the park but must be leashed at all times.
The site offers a loop system for
mountain bikers and
equestrians that consists of
the Tungsten Loop (0.80 miles) and the Kinnickinnick Loop (1.10 miles).
The Caribou Ranch Link (0.50 miles) branches off the Tungsten Loop on
the northwest and crosses Sherwood Creek to the Caribou Ranch trailhead. The trail
connections to Caribou Ranch provide extra mileage for a total round
trip of about 5.5 miles. Horse trailer parking at the main parking area
at Mud Lake is intended to accommodate equestrians visiting Caribou
Ranch. The Caribou Ranch Link at Mud Lake is multi-use, but
bikers are not permitted on
Caribou Ranch Open Space trails.
For a summary of activities and facilities on all County Open Space
parks, please visit our Summary of
Public Parks and Open Space page.
Geocaching
is permitted at Mud Lake.
This site has two picnic tables at the main trailing parking lot and
permanent restroom facilities. The parking lot is built for 25 cars with
additional horse trailer parking that serves both Mud Lake and Caribou
Ranch Open Space.
The Mud Lake trailhead can be accessed off County Road 126, one mile
north of the turnabout in the Town of Nederland, off the Peak-to-Peak
Highway (Hwy 72).
Visiting Mud Lake
Mud Lake Kiosk Map: Because all of our open space properties are environmentally sensitive,
it is important for users to know the rules
and regulations pertaining to
our open space.
Once
the map is displayed, you can use the adobe toolbar to fit the map to your
window, pan, zoom in or out, search or print the map on your own printer.
The size of the original map and screen reduction are shown on the lower
left hand status bar.
The Mud Lake map is an 850 KB file and will
require Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is available free from Adobe. The map may
not appear properly in your web browser. For best results, save the map file to a
directory on your computer by right clicking on the map link and choosing "Save Target
as" in Internet explorer or "Save Link as" in Netscape. Open
the file using Adobe Reader.
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