Part of the Horse Gulch Trails system.

Send It Descent is a technical one-way trail which starts at the top of Telegraph Trail. Although only 0.57-miles, Send It descends 500 feet to meet back up with Meadow Loop. The Horse Gulch Trail System is the perfect trail system for all levels and user types. It accommodates beginners or advanced riders, short rides, long rides, and more. You can start this trail any time of day. It gets dark around 7-8 p.m., depending on the time of year, so you’ll want to be done by then. In summer, these trails are mighty hot so bring plenty of water. Remember, the climb up Horse Gulch Road is the hardest part for beginners, once you arrive at the signed intersection at Meadow trail, you are greeted with 360 degree views and wide open space vistas. This intersection also provides a variety of trail options throughout the system.

History of the area:  Daryl Crites, a Durango native, then president of Goff Engineering and longtime Trails 2000 board member, kicked off the preservation of the Horse Gulch area. In the early 1990s, he approached Noel Pautsky, the owner of the vast area east of Durango, about preserving its many trails with permanent easements. Pautsky agreed, and Crites went to work surveying all of the trails, including Crites Connect, Telegraph and Send It Descent. Pautsky eventually gifted the easements to La Plata County. That initial partnership laid the groundwork for a series of recent open space purchases in Horse Gulch by the City of Durango. In addition, Trails 2000 facilitated an easement opening legal access to Raider Ridge in 2009. The acquisitions have promised that the trail network and the pristine high desert surrounding it will be preserved for perpetuity and enjoyed by Durangoans and visitors for generations to come.