Odessa Craters Trail gets needed work

On a picture-perfect Sunday afternoon, several groups of Odessa residents hiked the newly defined and marked Odessa Craters Trail north of town. The high school chapter of the Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) had spent time working with Chris Shafer of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to remove encroaching sage brush and larger rocks from the existing trail, which is on BLM land. In some places, the students had placed stones aligned along the side of the trail to more clearly mark it.

Several of the craters, created by flooding and/or glacial action over millennia are located on the right-hand side of SR 21 as one heads north. Cache Crater, reportedly named for its use as a storage location by Native American people, is located a short distance farther north and on the left-hand side of the road.

The trail refurbished by Shafer and the students leads directly past three of the craters. The Amphitheater Crater is a large indentation with a gently rising northern slope covered with grasses. The Garden Crater has the look of a dry lake bed now overgrown with grass, and since it was still early in the spring, there wasn't much green in this "garden." The Rock Rose Crater is difficult to define at first glance, but it is characterized by a rock outcropping at its center. Between the outcropping and the sides of the crater itself are deep indentations where water had scoured away much of the topsoil many years ago. Now it is again covered, especially in the low places, with soil and vegetation.

The trail includes one very steep hill that is challenging whether hikers are trying to go either up or down. FBLA advisor Terri King said her students and BLM's Shafer have plans to create switchbacks on that portion of the trail to make it easier for hikers to handle. King also said that there had been snow on the ground when the project first began in February.

At the trail head, FBLA students offered hikers bottled water and granola bars, as well as a map of the trail showing the crater locations. Once hikers had finished making the trail loop, each was given a sticker saying, "I hiked the Odessa Craters Trail."

Early spring and late fall are both good times for hiking the trails on BLM property. The air temperature on Sunday, for example, was right around 70 degrees, and it was sunny, with little wind. There were no bugs, except for the large ant hill we spotted beside the trail. In fact, the ants and a few birds flying overhead were the only wildlife we spotted at all on the 1.5-mile trail. Seems it was a lazy Sunday for Mother Nature!

Plant life, however, had just begun to emerge. The bright yellow flowers of the Arrowleaf Balsamroot plant were visible on many hillsides, sometimes in clusters of 20 or more plants. The shooting star, a plant with a blossom that hangs down from its stem with petals swept backward from a point, was very beautiful but also very small and easily overlooked. As spring progresses, so will the blooming of the wildflowers. Any hiking done over the next few weeks will likely provide many opportunities for viewing the flora and fauna of the Channeled Scablands that surround Odessa.

Although area residents are well aware of potential dangers, visitors to the area will want to make sure they remain aware of their surroundings at all times. Sage ticks and rattlesnakes will not always remain hidden. Spring is also the time that many animals bear their young and become very protective of their dens and other hideaways.

Another part of the project planned by the BLM and the FBLA students is to put benches at various scenic locations along the trail to give folks a chance to rest if they need or want to. The trail is a gem. Its luster had faded some over the past few years, but the recent refurbishment project has once again put the polish back on it.