08/29/01 Hiking West Branch Trail:
Yesterday, Tuesday the 28th, I drove down CO 40 from Steamboat Springs to CO 14 and turned east. The truck turned 120,000 miles while going through Steamboat Springs. I was surprised at the arid land and mountains along the way. I didn't really hit any more trees until I got to the Colorado State Forest past Gould. After that came the Roosevelt National Forest and forested mountains. I found a number of free campsites on FR 103 past Chambers Lake on the edge of the Rawah Wilderness at 8600 feet.
This morning was still in the 50's when I set out on the West Branch Trail. I dug out fleece gloves and vest to keep the chill off. I shortly came to a long stand of aspens. Several of them appeared to be scratching posts for elk with bark torn away up to 7-8 feet high. It's my belief their antlers start itching sometime during the winter or spring and they use trees to scratch until eventually the antlers fall off. Then during the summer they grow a new and larger rack.
Looking at the trail on the atlas, it appeared there would be little elevation change. That wasn't proving to be the case as the trail rose steadily. I came to a set of switchbacks where the trail became even steeper. I was expecting a fork in the trail after a mile or so but that didn't happen. Maybe I'm on the wrong trail. Oh well, I took a GPS setting in the parking lot anyway.
I could often hear the roar of the West Fork of the Laramie River as water rushed downstream over boulders and such. I came to a little side trail and followed it to the rim of a cliff. Looking several hundred feet down I could see water tumbling over a couple of small waterfalls. Through the trees I could see a series of cascading waterfalls upstream. Very nice.
By 9:30am I had come 2.0 GPS miles and risen 800 feet. I noticed leaves on many aspens are already turning yellow as they get ready for the fall season. Many of the conifers have dead branches. I don't think that's related to the season change. Hopefully it's not like in the New York Adirondacks where air pollution has been killing of stands of trees for years.
At 2.25 GPS miles I finally came to the Camp Lake Trail fork. The temperature had risen to the 70's but a nice strong breeze kept things very comfortable. A half mile farther I crossed a stream. A half mile or so after that I turned back without even thinking about it. Back at the stream I took a break and found I'd forgotten to bring water again.
Sitting there munching a bagel I watched a squirrel scurry towards me with a pine cone in its mouth. It hopped on a log, took a look around, saw me, dropped the pine cone and took off into the brush. A few seconds later it reappeared and came towards me again. It stopped, sat up and looked at me and, I guess, confirmed I was still as big and ugly as before and took off again.
Just as I was leaving from my break, three backpackers stopped for their break on their way back down the trail. They had apparently been at a couple of small lakes several miles up the trail for a day or more. On the way back down I met another backpacker on his way up to the lakes for a couple of days of fishing. Then I met an outfitter with five packhorses and two customers. I was going to ask if they were staying till Thanksgiving but thought better of it.
Back near the trailhead I passed a woman out there with her dog picking raspberries I hadn't even noticed. She was picking the raspberries, not the dog.
08/30/01 Hiking Lost Lake Trail:
This morning was in the 50's again as I donned my fleece vest at the Lost Lake Trailhead at 9400 feet. Actually all I saw was a 4WD road (FR 177) heading off to the right so that's where I went. I could see little glimmers of Lost Lake through the trees but didn't take any of the little paths down to it. At the top of the lake a wider path led down so I moseyed on down to it. Several ducks swam out from shore as I approached. The lake itself is small but pretty.
The road went up and down a little and became quite rugged with ruts and potholes 2-3 feet deep. I followed it around and along the other side of the lake where it dead ended. All I could do then was retrace my steps. Several cars and trucks had shown up by then, all fishermen heading for this little lake. Strange, because right across the road is the much larger Chambers Lake. This is another pretty lake with steep, heavily forested slopes flowing down to the lake. The lake is way down though leaving steep banks around it.
The walk only took 1.5 hours so I got the atlas out to see where I would move on to. I don't want to get to the Rocky Mountain National Park until the crowds thin out after Labor Day. I thought I would spend more time on CO 14 going through the Roosevelt National Forest. Looking at the atlas however I couldn't find much in the way of free camping opportunities nor trails I might want to hike.
Checking out the area I'm already in showed a few more trails back on FR 103 another 10 miles or so. I checked them out and guess I'll hang out here for a few more days. I found a free campsite but also found the remains of what looked like a dead red angus whose fragrance proved to much for my sensitive nose. The cow, if it was one, had been butchered and a little bit of hide and bones was all that was left. Rustlers?
09/01/01 Hiking Link McIntire Trail:
Yesterday rained off and on and was pretty dismal so I just hung out most of the day.
This morning was still in the 50's but the sun was out when I got to the trailhead at 8700 feet. Today's Saturday, the first day of Labor Day weekend. The trailhead was jammed with cars indicating a lot of people had already headed into the Rawah Wilderness for the long weekend. Several horse trailers were there too. I could see several people sacked out on the ground in their sleeping bags. They probably got in late last night. A guy was also loading up two llamas for his trek into the wilderness.
I started up the trail at 8:30am. The trail went up 100-150 feet and then leveled off. Turning a corner I almost stepped on the severed foreleg of a deer. Poachers? I thought it was just archery season for elk. A long descent through second growth conifers dropped me 400-500 feet down to a rushing stream. Every step of the way I'm thinking I've got to climb back up that at the end of my hike.
Crossing the stream over a bridge I turned left. The trail followed beside the stream and then began a slight but steady incline that did not let up. By 11:30 I was at 9500 feet and had come about 4 miles. The legs were feeling tired so when I came to a steep section I turned around.
Three backpackers with two dogs had passed me on the way up. After I finished lunch and started back I passed the llama guy. They seem so alert and intelligent. I passed two couples and then another on horses. Then I ran into a couple of families with young children before beginning my trek back up the hill.
When I plan on returning to a campsite I always leave a chair or water jugs or something at the entrance so others know the campsite is occupied. I even have a sign I usually leave too. This morning I spread three six gallon water jugs across the entrance but I couldn't find the sign. When I came back from the hike a couple had moved the water jugs off to the side and moved right into my campsite.
I pulled up, got out and stood there looking at the water jugs and then at them. The woman knew they were wrong and ducked out of sight behind their tent. The guy just bustled about for a while and then looked over at me an nodded. I turned my back on him and loaded the water jugs into the truck thinking, getting into a hassle just wasn't worth it. As I pulled away though, I couldn't resist calling "I hope you enjoy MY campsite". I was able to stop myself before adding "a**hole!".
09/03/01:
I had a bad attitude yesterday and just hung out at the new campsite. It rained for a while in the afternoon so that helped me feel justified.
The big question today was whether to hike or move on. I got to what I thought was an unmarked trailhead at a large turnout. The atlas showed there was one there anyway. I started up what looked to be the trail but immediately came to a quite extensive deadfall and turned back. I tried one other trail but the parking area was already jammed so I moved out onto CO 14 and pointed the truck eastward. On the way out I came close to running into a 4 point mule deer just standing there in the middle of the road.
I got out to admire Poudre Falls. It's very large, just a series of drops 3-4 feet deep but a lot of water is moving through there. A while later I came to Profile Rock, kinda like New Hampshire's Old Man of the Mountain and snapped a picture. CO 14 passes through Poudre Canyon for 30-40 miles. The first part of the drive is steeply forested slopes, some topped with rocky crags and other crags rising out of the slopes.
The eastern part narrows so there is just enough room for two lanes of roads and 20 feet below the Poudre River. Here, canyon walls rise hundreds of feet above the road on both sides and ends at Fort Collins when CO 14 runs into US 287.
I drove down US 287 through Fort Collins to Loveland and then picked up US 34 towards the Rocky Mountain National Park. Once out of Loveland this road too, goes into a narrow canyon with towering walls on both side. Big Thompson Canyon was created by Big Thompson River which obviously flows through it.
I'm camped at 8000 feet in what looks like a burnt out aspen forest. Not a lick of shade.
09/04/01:
Drove into Loveland to do some chores. Their Wal-Mart didn't have a food center so I drove another 20 miles to Greely to do my food shopping. I always do 95% of food and other shopping at Wal-Mart. I didn't get much else done except locate a couple of laundromats for the next time I'm in town. I also found a Dodge dealer so I can get a 120,000 mile maintenance service if I want. I drove up US 34 to Drake and will have my mail delivered there. Then on to Estes Park.
US 34 didn't have any free camping opportunities all the way to the Rocky Mountain National Park. I back tracked and tried a couple of other roads but nada! Coming back from checking out one road I saw a statue of a female elk in a little tiny driveway. And then it moved. It was browsing on the lady's flowers. I swung around and drove past the other way and then turned again so I could get a picture. As I did a large calf trotted across the road and went between two houses and down a gully. The female was gone by then too, probably down the same gully.
Then I went down CO 7 and more nada! Some 14000 footers to my right that I couldn't see from the drivers side but no camping. Everything everywhere is private and there doesn't seem to be any public roads leading to the Roosevelt National Forest.
I switched onto CO 72 below Allenspark and things improved. First of all, the scenery shifted from my right where I couldn't see to the front and left with peaks, deep valleys and steep walls. I found one dirt road but it was too steep and rough for me. I found a couple of spots with no shade and moved on. I finally found a shaded spot but its right beside CO 72 so I get all the traffic noise. Hopefully it won't be much later.
I've been seeing signs saying "In case of flooding climb to safety". I guess that's opposed to just standing there and letting a raging torrent sweep you to your death?