Lion's Paw Trail to Pierson Park - 14.2 Miles Round-Trip

The Homestead Act of 1862 encouraged western expansion by opening America's land to agricultural settlement. To qualify, a person had to be a United States citizen (or express the intent to become one), older than 21 years or head of a household and possess less than 160 acres of their own land.

To acquire the property title, one had to build a house within 5 years, occupy the land for at least 6 months of the year, make income related to the property and cultivate a portion of the land.

After 6 months one could buy the land for $1.25 an acre, or $15 outright after 5 years. Homesteaders could acquire up to 320 acres of land under the Act, a program that ended in 1976.

Homestead Meadows, listed on the National Registry of Historic Places, contains the remains of over a dozen cabins from the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

The Lion's Paw Trail leads through diverse montane forests and several large meadows to the Engert, Laycook, Boren and Hill homesteads. It continues deeper into the national forest to its terminus at Pierson Park, a large meadow complex ringed with campsites:

The Lion Gulch Trail drops from the parking lot into a gulch, over a creek and rises steadily up the far side. It crosses back and merges with the equestrian trail (.45 miles : 7,435'), bending northwest (.6 miles) along the creek into the upper-gulch.

The trail crosses a third bridge (1.0 miles : 7,538') and intensifies on a twisting, undulating course. Pinyon, lodgepole and ponderosa join aspen, fir and spruce as you climb.

The trail emerges from dense timber and eases up a slender glade to the Lion's Paw Trail - Pierson Park split (2.95 miles : 8,324').

Bear left on the Lion's Paw Trail across the meadow on what soon widens to an old wagon road leading to the first of four homesteads. The trail rounds a hill and emerges on the edge of a vast, fire-scarred and blown-down area at a spur for Engert Homestead (3.15 miles : 8,466').

Fire is natural and essential to this ecosystem, and aesthetics have been quickly restored by grasses, wildflowers and waves of young aspen.

The trail eases past the second Engert Homestead spur (3.6 miles : 8,590') and pitches down to the Laycook Homestead spur on the edge of a vast meadow. The Laycook Homestead is one of the newest and therefore most intact of all, with an adjacent meadow ideal for seeing wildlife.

The trail rolls to the Hill Homestead spur (4.2 miles : 8,327') and rises gently to the Boren Homestead, located just off-trail and easy to investigate (4.7 miles : 8,370').

Grades level past Boren, skirting the area's largest meadow where fire scars yield to healthy intervals of ponderosa parks, streams and young aspen - arguably the Lion Paw's most pleasant section (5.0 - 5.5 miles).

The path narrows on a strenuous climb to the trail's highest point (6.1 miles : 9,147'). Here it drops sharply through an unremarkable forest to its terminus at Pierson Park (7.1 miles : 9,085'). Note that Pierson Park is curiously unmarked, as is the forest service road on its far side.