08/27/01 Hiking Swamp Park Trail:
I got to the South Fork Trailhead at 8:30am. 60's and bright sunshine. A large trail map was on the board and there were actually trail maps available in a holder. South Fork Trail splits from the Swamp Park Trail in a couple of miles. South Fork then begins an ascent that stops somewhere in the clouds. Not for me.
Shortly after starting out on the trail I met an archery hunter from Wisconsin returning from his early morning search for elk. He had spotted a cow with a calf but that was it. A mile into the hike I came to a shallow stream (the South Fork?). I spotted a buncha boulders and rocks a little farther upstream and was able to hop across with the aid of my walking stick without slipping and hurting myself.
A short distance on the other side brought me to a fork in the trail. The trail to the left seemed to be the main trail but it led away from the creek. The fainter trail to the right went up a steep incline but stayed by the creek so I took it. After the steep ascent, the trail continued to rise moderately. 1.20 hours later I was just past the 2 mile (GPS) mark and had risen 500 feet.
The trail had led through stands of aspens and conifers and through several meadows. Off to the right on the other side of the stream, steep, heavily forested slopes rose 1000 feet into the air looking down on valleys, notches and hollers. A smallish, dark colored snake startled me as it slithered off the trail where it had been sunning itself. I presume timber rattlers are in the area but this guy wasn't one of them. Now I could see steep slopes ahead crowned by rocky crags.
2.5 hours brought me to the end of the 4 mile trail at a parking lot. On the way back, I surprised another, smaller snake also sunning itself on the trail. A nice 5-10 mph breeze began blowing in my face. A 10 mph wind is a nice breeze on land but a strong wind when paddling. Without the breeze, the heat coming off the trail when the sun hit it was in the 80's. The breeze pushed the temperature back down into the 70's.
Back at the stream crossing, I mis-stepped and got both feet wet. Didn't fall down or get my butt wet though.