Lulu City Loop Trail, RMNP, CO June 7, 2009

Posted July 12, 2009

Will and I were able to coordinate our work schedule to allow for us to take a hike together on Sunday, June 7, 2009.  Quite an, ummm, interesting hike.  One could even use the work “epic” : )

The question was, where to go?  June 7 is normally too early for hiking anywhere close to timberline due to snow.  And this year is even snowier than what we have been having during the last few years (supposedly our “drought” has been broken by the amount of precipitation this year).  So, I looked for a hike that was somewhat lower in elevation than timberline, but still above the local foothills.  I decided on the Colorado River Trail system in RMNP.  Specifically, the one that goes up to Lulu City.  It’s located on the “other side” of RMNP (Rocky Mountain National Park).  So, we would go over Trailridge Road in addition to hiking.  Always an interesting ride.

Before I go any further in the trip’s description, here is my standard comment. Please check my photo galleries here for all the larger and higher quality photos for this trip. The photos in the gallery are a quantum leap in size and quality compared to the little teaser photos I put in this site’s trip narrative. I have two other links that will help locate the area if you are interested in making the hike yourself. A Google Earth map can be found here. Use the scale bar on the left side of the Google map to help zoom in or out to help locate the area based on where you live. (This link will direct you to a Google map that shows ALL my trips.) In order to help you with the actual trail itself, you can use this link to view a topo map of the Lulu City trail. All links open a new browser window.

In addition to the Google map link above, below is a Microsoft Live map. The red tack shows the general location of the trail from Fort Collins, CO. You can click on the map to bring it up in a “live” mode and zoom in or out (move the map around) to get more detail.

We got to the trailhead relatively early.  Although cool, the sky was mostly sunny.  It was a little breezy.  Not too many people seemed to be using the trail.  We took a quick “pre-hike” video and took off.

It’s always a good idea to take a quick glance at the message board.  Just in case there have been reports of rampaging mountain lions, etc.

With that out of the way, we took off.

One thing that was immediately apparent was how “green” everything was.  The bushes and aspens were just getting their leaves and had that glowing greenery that you only see in the late spring/early summer.  Other than dandelions, there were very few wild flowers in evidence.  Too early.

The trail starts off as almost a highway.  This lower section of the trail is heavily used by people from neighboring campgrounds.  All kinds of people (young, old, big, small).  Not many of which were evident today.  I think we saw a total of 6 hikers (two groups).

Once pass the initial half mile or so, the trail comes back to tracking close to the Colorado River itself.  Just to be sure everyone is on the same page, yes, this is the same Colorado River that you’d see on the outskirts of Moab, UT. and that continues down through the Grand Canyon.  This is the headwaters of that river.  Photo by Will.

North Inlet Trail, RMNP, CO September 20, 2008

Posted June 13, 2009

Last year, September 20, 2008 to be exact, I decided to take a trip into an area of RMNP (Rocky Mountain National Park) that I’d never hiked in before.  It was fall and, if I was lucky, I’d see a few nice colorful aspen up in the high country.  One thing I wouldn’t see is a hunter.  Another reason for heading into RMNP at this time of year.  Nothing against hunters or hunting, but I just don’t like hiking around an area where people may actively be shooting guns if I have an option.

Before I go any further in the trip’s description, here is my standard comment. Please check my photo galleries here for all the larger and higher quality photos for this trip. The photos in the gallery are a quantum leap in size and quality compared to the little teaser photos I put in this site’s trip narrative. I have two other links that will help locate the area if you are interested in making the hike yourself. A Google Earth map can be found here. Use the scale bar on the left side of the Google map to help zoom in or out to help locate the area based on where you live. (This link will direct you to a Google map that shows ALL my trips.) In order to help you with the actual trail itself, you can use this link to view a topo map North Inlet trail. All links open a new browser window.

In addition to the Google map link above, below is a Microsoft Live map. The red tack shows the general location from Fort Collins, CO. You can click on the map to bring it up in a “live” mode.

I cruised over Trailridge road and the weather was looking quite nice.  Not many clouds and pretty mild.  It took me a few minutes to find the trailhead, but at least there was plenty of parking.  I actually had to park in an upper “overflow” area that is located only a short walk from the main parking area/trailhead.

Once I locked my car up and had my pack on, I headed back down to the trail head parking area.

And a quick glance at the sign.  I normally, if it’s at all convenient, try and take a quick look at the trailhead message boards.  They usually have a nice map to look at (in case I don’t : ), some background history of the area, and any emergency messages of trail closures, etc.  This one was a typical well done park message board.  I read it over and took off down the trail.

The first part of the trail follows an old road that, as far as I could tell, was only partially used.  There is a sign that says to stay on the first so many miles of the trail as it passes through some private land.  But, since it’s all very pretty looking, and no traffic to speak of, it’s a very pleasant walk.  This first few miles of the trail is an excellent place to take very young children.  They can run up an down the road and not get into any trouble (and hopefully sleep good that night : )

The trail/road goes through some aspen for a while and then breaks out into some rather extensive patches of meadows.  This is looking back towards the aspens after exiting them.  They were “just” barely starting to get a little fall color.

Snowy Range Loop Trail, WY, August 31, 2008

Posted April 26, 2009

Once or twice (sometimes more) a year I do a hike that turns out to be, ummm, a  little more than what I was planning.  This hike was definitely one of those.

So, it was end of the summer and I was looking for something just a little different.  I thought to myself, gee, what’s different.  Well, Wyoming is different.  Some people would say VERY different.  OK.  Wyoming it was : )

Only thing is, I didn’t feel like driving 6 hours to the Wind Rivers.  Or, 11 hours to the Beartooth country along the Montana border.  Which really narrowed it down to …………. the Snowy Range  Yes, just about 30 minutes NW of Laramie, WY , there is the Snowy Range.  I’d been there before, but I’d never really been up into the heart of it.  The high country.  So, one Sunday morning I headed north out of Fort Collins, Co to the Wyoming high country.

As a slight aside, Laramie itself, according to my kids, is rather “different”.  I actually  have a certain fondness for Laramie since it is where I saw my very first concert, the Nitty Gritty Dirt band, with a lead in by Doug Kershaw (who had to play fiddle all by himself on the stage because the rest of his band was somewhere else in Laramie drinking beer in a bar : ).  Of course, you’ve heard of this famous band (not to mention Doug).  No?  Well, it was a while ago.

Before I go any further in the trip’s description, here is my standard comment. Please check my photo galleries here for all the larger and higher quality photos for this trip. The photos in the gallery are a quantum leap in size and quality compared to the little teaser photos I put in this site’s trip narrative. I have two other links that will help locate the area if you are interested in making the hike yourself. A Google Earth map can be found here. Use the scale bar on the left side of the Google map to help zoom in or out to help locate the area based on where you live. (This link will direct you to a Google map that shows ALL my trips.) In order to help you with the actual trail itself, you can use this link to view a topo map of the Snowy Range Loop trail. Per the instructions on the site “…1) Zoom in to your location; 2) click the “MyTopo” button for topo maps…” I’ll try and get a better map of my own after I purchase the Wyoming piece of the TOPO program I own. All links open a new browser window.

In addition to the Google map link above, below is a Microsoft Live map.  The red tack shows the general location from Fort Collins, CO.  You can click on the map to bring it up in a “live” mode.

Well, when I got to where I wanted to park (which was a story in and of itself) the day was looking like maybe not the best day to hike up to the top of a peak.

Corral Creek Trail, CO August 23, 2008

Posted March 1, 2009

I decided, one Saturday last summer, to head back up to the Long Draw road area for another hike (yah, if you note the “posted” date above, I’m just a mite behind on my blog : ).  I’d recently hiked the Trap Park trail (see my prior post to this one) and wanted to see what else was in that little known (to me) area.  Taking a look at the map I could see that not too much further up the road from the Trap Park trailhead was a nice looking stream called Corral Creek.  It looked like there was an extensive set of open meadows along the creek.  So, it should be nice hiking and held the possibility of seeing moose.

Before I go any further in the trip’s description, here is my standard comment. Please check my photo galleries here for all the larger and higher quality photos for this trip. The photos in the gallery are a quantum leap in size and quality compared to the little teaser photos I put in this site’s trip narrative. I have two other links that will help locate the area if you are interested in making the hike yourself. A Google Earth map can be found here. Use the scale bar on the left side of the Google map to help zoom in or out to help locate the area based on where you live. (This link will direct you to a Google map that shows ALL my trips.) In order to help you with the actual trail itself, you can use this link to view a topo map of the Corral Creek trail. All links open a new browser window.

In addition to the Google map link above, below is a Microsoft Live map.  The red tack shows the general location from Fort Collins, CO.  You can click on the map to bring it up in a “live” mode.

I got up to the area fairly early in the morning (well, early for me; probably around 10 am which meant I left Fort Collins around 8 am).  A rather cool and cloudy morning, by the way.  But, I had rain gear, so no big deal.  One thing that seemed to be different about the creek, from looking at the map, was that there was no indication of a “trail”.  So I just went up and found a place to park on the road that was close to where the stream crossed.  There was a small rise that I immediately had to get over.  Looking back to the south, downstream, I could see the Big South Fork of the Poudre River canyon/valley.  I think that is Comanche Peak in the distance.

This is what can be seen looking west up the Corral Creek valley.  If you look at a map, you can see that the stream parallels the road (off in the trees to the right) for a good 2-3 miles.  The creek then curves away from the road (to the left) once you get closer to that mountain in the distance.

Trap Park Trail, CO and the Moose, July 13, 2008

Posted December 25, 2008

After Will and myself’s little escapade on the Blue Lake trail, I decided to look around for something a little lower in elevation until I was sure the snow was gone from the higher elevations.  So, Sunday, July 13 I looked at the map at the area around Cameron Pass for some “quick and easy to get to” trails (got off to kind of a late start : ).  Now, interestingly enough, I’ve done a fair amount of hiking north of Cameron Pass (the Rawahs), but not much in the country south of the pass.  Particularly back in the Long Draw Reservoir area.  Hmmm.  Looks to be a trail up a valley called Trap Park that was not too far off Hwy 14, so that’s where I headed.

Before I go any further in the trip’s description, here is my standard comment. Please check my photo galleries here for all the larger and higher quality photos for this trip. The photos in the gallery are a quantum leap in size and quality compared to the little teaser photos I put in this site’s trip narrative. I have two other links that will help locate the area if you are interested in making the hike yourself. A Google Earth map can be found here. Use the scale bar on the left side of the Google map to help zoom in or out to help locate the area based on where you live. (This link will direct you to a Google map that shows ALL my trips.) In order to help you with the actual trail itself, you can use this link to view a topo map of the Trap Park trail. All links open a new browser window.

In addition to the Google map link above, here is a Microsoft Live map.  The red tack shows the general location from Fort Collins, CO.  You can click on the map to bring it up in a “live” mode.

Trap Park Traihead

I had to drive up the Long Draw road around 3 miles off of the paved Hwy 14 to get to the Trap Park trailhead turnoff.  But, the Long Draw Road is an extremely well maintained gravel road (wide, too) if just a tad bit on the dusty side.  The Trap Park turn off was a little tricky to maneuver in my new “low to the ground” Hyundai, but I went slow and it was only 100 yards or so to the parking lot.

The smallness of the parking lot, and the few vehicles that were parked in it, got my “trail o meter” buzzing.  Because the country was looking really nice, the trail looked really lightly used, and it had all the makings of a new “gem” (a special trail).
I shrugged into my pack, hung my camera from my neck, and stuck my hat on my head.  And off I went.

Here is a shot of the sign at the entrance.

Now, don’t get confused at this point.  Because you will see a trail heading off behind the sign.  That is not the trail to Trap Park, but instead it is a trail to Trap Lake which is close by (in fact, if you keep driving up the Long Draw road past the Trap Park trail turnoff, you will drive right past the lake).  Anyway, assuming you want to got to Trap Park and not the lake, head up the trail that goes through the steel gate (you can see it in my “parking lot” photo).

Also, please have some mosquito repellent with you if you go during the summer.  The mosquitos were in full force along the first section of the trail as it winds through some meadows that are lush and damp.  You will also encounter them in the woods.  Once I got up into the “park”, the breeze was good enough to make the mosquitoes disappear.  That said, they weren’t bad enough to make me put on any repellent (I do that as a last resort) nor keep me from stopping to take some photos : )

Mill Creek Trail, RMNP, CO, October 18, 2008

Posted November 16, 2008

This fall in northern Colorado has been “mild”. Just one long September (well, the leaves changed, but the weather stayed warmish). So, one Saturday I got up, took it easy, did a few chores, and decided it was just too nice to stay in town. Headed up to Rocky Mountain National Park looking for a good hike. Just in passing, there is a reason I go to RMNP at this time of year. Hunters. I have nothing against hunting at all, but the density of hunters in Colorado is pretty extreme at this time of the year. So, I leave them to the hunting and go enjoy the park.

Before I go any further in the trip’s description, here is my standard comment. Please check my photo galleries here for all the larger and higher quality photos for this trip. The photos in the gallery are a quantum leap in size and quality compared to the little teaser photos I put in this site’s trip narrative.
I have two other links that will help locate the area if you are interested in making the hike yourself. A Google Earth map can be found here. Use the scale bar on the left side of the Google map to help zoom in or out to help locate the area based on where you live. (This link will direct you to a Google map that shows ALL my trips.)
In order to help you with the actual trail itself, you can use this link to view a topo map of the Mill Creek trail. All links open a new browser window.

Here is a map of how to get to the Mill Creek trail head.  If you click on it, you should be taken to a live map that you can scroll around on and zoom in and out.  Pretty cool : )

There was really no snow in the mountains yet, and it was very close to shorts and tshirt weather, so I headed up to Bear Lake to hike up Glacier Gorge (or, somewhere up in that vicinity). Unfortunately, about 10 million people had the same idea. I couldn’t even make it into the Bear Lake parking lot.

So, no problem. There is a neat thing about national parks. They can be really crowded at times, but normally only in the few well known places (Bear Lake definitely being one of those places). But, everywhere else in the park can be pretty uncrowded. So, I pulled into a place along the Bear Lake road I’d never stopped at before to take a look at the hiking possibilities.

Hmmmm. Yah. Looked nice to me : ) This is a pano of two photos. Looking up Mill Creek from the Hollowell Park trailhead.

Now, I can’t say that I didn’t see any other people on the trail. I did. Like, maybe 12 people during the entire hike. But, compare that to the 10 million up at Bear Lake and, well, it’s like I was back in the wilderness. This turned out to be a GREAT hike. And would be an incredible place a little earlier in the fall when the fall colors were max’d out. But even today, there was enough “color” to make it quite pretty.

Here is a shot of the trailhead sign. Checking the map I could see that the area had the potential for some nice loops. I partook of a short loop today, but the other trails that offer a loop are 8 miles in length, so I’ll have to come back and do them some other time. I only went for around 4 miles today. This is also a great trail for kids. Lots of flat wide open places. And the trail spends a good portion of its time pretty close to a stream.

Lake Haiyaha, RMNP, September 8, 2008

Posted October 19, 2008

Conor, Will, and I actually spent some time together this summer. It’s just taken me a while to get the photos “developed”. I’ve already updated this web site with the photos of the Long Meadows hike Conor and I did together, so here is a hike that all three of us did together.

Before I go any further in the trip’s description, here is my standard comment. Please check my photo galleries here for all the larger and higher quality photos for this trip. The photos in the gallery are a quantum leap in size and quality compared to the little teaser photos I put in this site’s trip narrative.
I have two other links that will help locate the area if you are interested in making the hike yourself. A Google Earth map can be found here. Use the scale bar on the left side of the Google map to help zoom in or out to help locate the area based on where you live. (This link will direct you to a Google map that shows ALL my trips.)
In order to help you with the actual trail itself, you can use this link to view a topo map of the Lake Haiyaha trail. All links open a new browser window.

Here is a Microsoft map of the location for this hike. You can click on it to get more info on how to get there (highways, etc.).

This is a hike in RMNP (Rocky Mountain National Park), Lake Haiyaha (located in Chaos Canyon), that Will first discovered from going up with his climbing buddies early this past summer (they had to walk over/through a lot of snow). As it turned out, it’s a great hike out of the Bear Lake parking area and leads to a lovely high mountain lake. With, as you will see, some great views of the surrounding country almost the entire time of the hike.

We took off on a Monday morning, ate breakfast in Estes Park (at the Egg and I), and got on the trail around noon. Note that the earlier you can get to the parking lot, the more chance you will have to find an open parking space. Your other option, during part of the year, is to take a shuttle bus. The trail starts off at a gentle climb through the forest.

Although my photos won’t show them, we did meet/see a moderate amount of hikers on the first half mile or so to Nymph Lake. Then the number of hikers decreased a lot on the way to Dream Lake. The trail between Dream Lake and Lake Haiyaha was pretty vacant (saw a hand full of hikers including a couple of rangers) and the same at Lake Haiyaha itself. Amazingly low numbers of hikers (I thought) , but maybe the numbers reflect that the official “summer” season had ended.

Long Meadows, RMNP, September 9, 2008

Posted September 30, 2008

Conor and I took two hikes together during his visit to Fort Collins this summer. Both were in RMNP (Rocky Mountain National Park), Colorado. The first hike, that we took with Will, was to Lake Halyaha above Bear Lake. The second hike was just Conor and myself (Will was working) to Long Meadow on the west side of RMNP. The one to Long Meadow is described now and I’ll post the one to Lake Halyaha next.

Before I go any further in the trip’s description, here is my standard comment. Please check my photo galleries here for all the larger and higher quality photos for this trip. The photos in the gallery are a quantum leap in size and quality compared to the little teaser photos I put in this site’s trip narrative.
I have two other links that will help locate the area if you are interested in making the hike yourself. A Google Earth map can be found here. Use the scale bar on the left side of the Google map to help zoom in or out to help locate the area based on where you live. (This link will direct you to a Google map that shows ALL my trips.)
In order to help you with the actual trail itself, you can use this link to view a topo map of the Long Meadows trail. All links open a new browser window.

Here is a Microsoft Virtual Earth map of the general route to the trail.

Conor and I took off Tuesday morning from Fort Collins and stopped in Estes Park to get a bite to eat (late breakfast). By the time we crossed Trailridge Road (Hwy 34) over the continental divide to the Long Meadow trailhead (officially known as the Onahu Creek trailhead) and actually got on the trail, it was between 10:30 and 11 am. So, not a real early start, but good enough.

The trail starts off fairly level (sorry, no trailhead or parking lot photos : ) and winds through some open forest.

After about 1/4 of a mile, it starts to head uphill. This uphill section was approximately 1 mile long and, while utilizing some switchbacks, was not too steep. You do get to pass by and cross several small stream crossings.

Blue Lake Trail, Rawah Wilderness, CO, June 28, 2008

Posted August 17, 2008

Late in June, Will and I headed up to the Blue Lake trailhead (just before you get to Cameron Pass up the Poudre River). You hit timberline right before getting to Blue Lake itself, but I thought it was late enough in the summer that the snow would be mostly gone.

Before I go any further in the trip’s description, here is my standard comment. Please check my photo galleries here for all the larger and higher quality photos for this trip. The photos in the gallery are a quantum leap in size and quality compared to the little teaser photos I put in this site’s trip narrative.
I have two other links that will help locate the area if you are interested in making the hike yourself. A Google Earth map can be found here. Use the scale bar on the left side of the Google map to help zoom in or out to help locate the area based on where you live. (This link will direct you to a Google map that shows ALL my trips.)
In order to help you with the actual trail itself, you can use this link to view a topo map of the Blue Lake trail. All links open a new browser window.

As part of my decision to use Microsoft’s Live Writer, I’ve included a map to see if it adds any value. You can click on the map to bring it up “live” in another window to zoom in/out, change it to aerial/satelite view, etc. I think it adds enough to leave it. I will still use Google maps for my links (see above) and because Google is integrated with my gallery.

Red tack shows approximate location of Blue Lake trailhead.

Got up to the trailhead and the parking lot was pretty empty, blue sky, warm, and spotted a moose across the highway in a meadow. It actually was not that far away, but this photo makes it look that way.

Zoom in max to show what it really looked like. Nice start to the day.

Eagles Nest Open Space, CO April 19, 2008

Posted July 27, 2008

Been a long winter, so yesterday (Saturday) Will and I headed up to Livermore and the Eagles Nest Open Space trail. Very nice day (we had breakfast at the Silver Grill on the way out of town, yummy : ) and it was good just to get out with a pack on the back and hike (easy trails : )

Before I go any further in the trip’s description, here is my standard comment. Please check my photo galleries here for all the larger and higher quality photos for this trip. The photos in the gallery are a quantum leap in size and quality compared to the little teaser photos I put in this site’s trip narrative.
I have two other links that will help locate the area if you are interested in making the hike yourself. A Google Earth map can be found here. Use the scale bar on the left side of the Google map to help zoom in or out to help locate the area based on where you live. (This link will direct you to a Google map that shows ALL my trips.)
In order to help you with the actual trail itself, you can use this link to view a topo map of the Lumpy Ridge Loop trail. All links open a new browser window.

Will did most of the hike without his shirt on and only got a little burned.

Lumpy Ridge Loop to Gem Lake, Rocky Mountain NP, CO June 14, 2008

Posted July 26, 2008

On Saturday, June 14, Will and I got up fairly early for a hike in RMNP (Rocky Mountain National Park). You can loop around a mountainous ridge (Lumpy Ridge; extensively used by climbers), come down the backside of Lumpy along Cow Creek (a trail used to get to Bridal Veil Falls), cut across the end of the ridge to Gem Lake, and then end up back at the car. All in all, a “good” 10 mile hike (so, maybe between 10 and 11 miles) with a variety of hiking.

Before I go any further in the trip’s description, here is my standard comment. Please check my photo galleries here for all the larger and higher quality photos for this trip. The photos in the gallery are a quantum leap in size and quality compared to the little teaser photos I put in this site’s trip narrative.
I have two other links that will help locate the area if you are interested in making the hike yourself. A Google Earth map can be found here. Use the scale bar on the left side of the Google map to help zoom in or out to help locate the area based on where you live. (This link will direct you to a Google map that shows ALL my trips.)
In order to help you with the actual trail itself, you can use this link to view a topo map of the Lumpy Ridge Loop trail. All links open a new browser window.

There are several good reasons to take this hike. One, it only takes 1 hour to drive to it from Fort Collins. Two, it is snow free early in the hiking season. And three, although it is in RMNP, it does not require you to purchase an entry ticket into the park. Good stuff : )

So, we left Fort Collins around 6:30 am, got up to “The Egg and I” in Estes Park around 7:30 am, had a rather great breakfast (combination of excellent service, excellent food, and very reasonable prices), and were on the trail no later than 9 am. I did discover that they have constructed a brand new trail head and parking lot (pretty decent in size), but the parking lot WILL fill up. When we got there at 8:30+am there were only a couple of dozen cars. When got back the parking lot was full (there is an additional row of parking that can’t be seen in this photo).

The trail head does have a restroom facility and a good description of the trails in the area. Take a few minutes to review and it will probably help you decide where to go. If you do not feel like doing the “loop”, there are shorter options as far as hiking.

We immediately were able to see some of the striking rock formations that Lumpy Ridge is known for (most being much larger than this, of course).

The trail cuts over a small ridge ………

Greyrock Trail, Poudre Canyon, CO May 11, 2008

Posted June 26, 2008

Well, every so often I take the trail up to the top of Greyrock Mountain located in the Poudre Canyon. You can see Greyrock from Fort Collins, it’s not too far away, and it’s just long enough to act as a short preparation trail for other upcoming summer hikes. It’s a fairly popular trail, and you can expect to see people along the trail and on top of Greyrock. My other son, Conor, and I went up the trail a few years back (the last time I had climbed it) and we met a man from Alaska at the peak. So, figured it would be a good early conditioning hike for Will and myself (and it was : )

Before I go any further in the trip’s description, here is my standard comment. Please check my photo galleries here for all the larger and higher quality photos for this trip. The photos in the gallery are a quantum leap in size and quality compared to the little teaser photos I put in this site’s trip narrative.
I have two other links that will help locate the area if you are interested in making the hike yourself. A Google Earth map can be found here. Use the scale bar on the left side of the Google map to help zoom in or out to help locate the area based on where you live. (This link will direct you to a Google map that shows ALL my trips.)
In order to help you with the actual trail itself, you can use this link to view a topo map of the Greyrock Mountain trail. All links open a new browser window.

So on Saturday, May 11, Will and I ate breakfast at the Silver Grill in Fort Collins (great food and service) and then headed up Poudre Canyon to the trailhead.

The trail’s parking lot (and most of the “off the side of the road” parking) is on the opposite side of the road from the bridge that you use to cross the Poudre River. Most people are fairly cautious driving up the road (Colorado Hwy 14), but you should keep a close lookout for your smaller children as you cross the road. Once you cross the bridge over the Poudre River, there is a nice sign that marks the beginning of the trail.

I decided to do the “loop” (I always do a loop if at all possible). So, we’d take the shorter (by a mile or so) section going up and the longer (thru the meadow) section going down. We both agreed at the end of the hike that maybe it would have been better to do it the other way around since you have to climb up and over a ridge on the way down after passing the meadow. Funny thing, neither of us really felt like doing any more uphill hiking after getting to the top of Greyrock : )

The trail starts off by following the Poudre river for a few hundred yards. This is a good short hike if you have small children.

Forester Creek, Zirkel Wilderness, CO September 15, 2007

Posted June 1, 2008

Headed up to the Zirkel Wilderness one Saturday last fall (Sept 15, 2007 to be exact). The plan was to get back up into an area that I’d had not been in yet. Well, I was successful in that attempt; its just that I ended up not quite where I thought I’d be going : ) That said, the Fall colors were starting, the weather was mostly nice, I survived, so no big deal.

Before I go any further in the trip’s description, here is my standard comment. Please check my photo galleries here for all the larger and higher quality photos for this trip. The photos in the gallery are a quantum leap in size and quality compared to the little teaser photos I put in this site’s trip narrative.
I have two other links that will help locate the area if you are interested in making the hike yourself. A Google Earth map can be found here. Use the scale bar on the left side of the Google map to help zoom in or out to help locate the area based on where you live. (This link will direct you to a Google map that shows ALL my trips.)
In order to help you with the actual trail itself, you can use this link to view a topo map of the Forester Creek trailhead. All links open a new browser window.

The trail I wanted to go on was up near the northern section of the Zirkel Wilderness. Trail number 1126 takes off at the end of a road (on the map I had) that you get to from Big Creek Lake and heads south all along the eastern boundary of the wilderness area. So, I headed up the road (after enjoying looking at the lake) and “thought” I found the trailhead. I mean, it looked like a trail, had a sign on it, and was sorta where the trail should be, so I figured it had to be the one. Turns out, it wasn’t the one, but it ended up being a nice trail anyway. It did have a great parking lot just a couple of hundred yards away (just a big meadow).

So, I parked the truck and headed up the trail. After the first sign (just says “national forest trail – no motorized vehicles” or something similar), I noticed that the trail seemed to be rather “unused.” In fact, it mostly seemed to follow an old ditch (used to transport water for irrigation, I guess). But, it kept going and the day was nice, so I kept following it. It did pass some great looking meadows which looked like prime moose country.

Prong Creek Trail, Elkhorn Mts, CO September 1, 2007

Posted April 15, 2008

First week in September gave us our annual 3 day weekend (Labor day? Memorial day? I can never remember : ). Great time to take a little longer than normal trip. So, I decided to take take my camper and myself waaaaaaaaayyy over to western Colorado to a place I’d never been before. Elkhorn Mountains. This area is actually pretty large; covers most of Routt National Forest that lies north of a line drawn between Steamboat Springs, CO and Craig, CO.

Before I go any further in the trip’s description, here is my standard comment. Please check my photo galleries here for all the larger and higher quality photos for this trip. The photos in the gallery are a quantum leap in size and quality compared to the little teaser photos I put in this site’s trip narrative.
I have two other links that will help locate the area if you are interested in making the hike yourself. A Google Earth map can be found here. Use the scale bar on the left side of the Google map to help zoom in or out to help locate the area based on where you live. (This link will direct you to a Google map that shows ALL my trips.)
In order to help you with the actual trail itself, you can use this link to view a topo map of the Prong Creek trailhead. All links open a new browser window.

I’ve actually seen it from a distance while driving to Huston Park Wilderness, Wyo. Always wanted to go back and check it out, and now was a great time. So, on Saturday, Sept 1, 2007 I headed up the highway. Went up through Laramie, Wyo, crossed westward over the Medicine Bow mountains to where CO Hwy 127 intersects with the road that heads up to Riverside/Encampment, Wyo (one of my favorite places; at least outside of wintertime : ). At Riverside/Encampment I took Wyo Hwy 70 headed west to the rather small, ummm, spot in the road called Slater, Wyo (or, maybe it’s CO: it’s right on the border). This is what I saw when I turned off the highway onto Cty Rd. 1 (which eventually turns into Cty Rd 82) and headed south towards the Elkhorns.

Note that it had taken me around 4 hours to get to this point. But I figured it was already well worth the trip. Just a “sweet” little valley out in the middle of nowhere. And, this was the usual amount of traffic I encountered on Cty Rd 1 : ) Actually, I saw not much more than this amount of traffic on Hwy 70 that I had just turned off of. This part of Colorado/Wyo is not exactly on the way to anywhere that tourists go to (again, this was on the holiday weekend at that). I was lov’n this.
(Note that I’ve kinda switched some of the photos around to help “show the way”. That is, I think I took the photo above when I was headed home, but wanted to show everyone what they should be seeing on the way in (just in case someone wants to visit this area)).
Anyway, headed up the road that, in general, followed a valley filled with green meadows and ranches. It slowly took me closer and closer towards the (now not too) distant Elkhorn mountains.

Some words of warning. The road is very well maintained, but there aren’t a lot of signs. So, kinda watch where you are headed. Also, there were a few blind curves so keep an eye open for oncoming traffic. I was sight seeing myself (going pretty slow : ), so if you do the same, have some consideration for the people that actually live and work in the area. Pull off to the side when you can in order to give them plenty of room to pass. They will appreciate it and you can proceed slowly on your way enjoying the scenery.

Round Mtn. Lake, Zirkel Wilderness, CO August 19, 2007

Posted March 2, 2008

Shortly after my son Conor went back to, ummmm, whatever that state is that’s next to China, I put my camper on the truck and headed up to a part of the Zirkel Wilderness (along the western edge of North Park, CO) I had not yet visited. This is very close to the southern end of the wilderness area (I spend most of my time in the northern section because the southern section is closer to Denver…….just kidding………mostly : )
Before I go any further in the trip’s description, here is my standard comment. Please check my photo galleries here for all the larger and higher quality photos for this trip. The photos in the gallery are a quantum leap in size and quality compared to the little teaser photos I put in this site’s trip narrative.
I have two other links that will help locate the area if you are interested in making the hike yourself. A Google Earth map can be found here. Use the scale bar on the left side of the Google map to help zoom in or out to help locate the area based on where you live. (Look on the right side of this web site for a link to a Google map that shows ALL my trips.)
In order to help you with the actual trail itself, you can use this link to view a topo map of the Round Mountain trailhead. All links open a new browser window.

I took off after work, which meant I got up to where I wanted to camp right before dark. Which meant, unfortunately, that I did not get any photos of the country I passed through to get there. A very scenic ranch filled section of North Park (although, quite a bit more built up than the northern section I’m used to). Anyway, found myself a flat place for the night and went to sleep listening to some cows and coyotes : )
Got up the next day to a little rainbow.

I did see a few other people around, but not many and none at all in “my” campground. Looks to be pretty popular at times. Most likely during cattle round up time and the hunting season.

That’s ok. I see plenty of people in town.

Took off down the trail and right off I could see it was going to be a mite different than my normal trails. That is, flat (at least for a few miles). But, very pretty.

The sun was just starting to poke it’s way through the last of the storm clouds that were quickly clearing to the east. This next series of photos show the sun getting stronger as I zoom in a little in each shot.

Of course, it looked nicer than this. Hard to capture the rising ground fog in the distance.

Now the sun is hitting full strength. Everything was still pretty wet from the rain.

Now, when I turned around and started up the trail headed west, it was all full daylight. And that’s looking, off in the distance, pretty close to where I’m headed. Round Mountain is just to the right of those distant hills (hidden behind those beetle killed trees just up the trail from where I stopped to take this photo).