09/07/01:
A cold front moved in last night and the temperature went below freezing. Strong winds developed yesterday afternoon and a fair amount of rain dropped in the evening. The rain drops froze on the truck as did condensation formed on the tailgate from my breathing during the night. The forecast is for 2-5 inches of snow above 7000 feet for tonight. I'm camped at about 9000 feet. We'll see what happens.
When I got up mean, nasty looking clouds hovered above the mountain ridge to the north. It seemed to be moving away but the forecast said a good chance of rain/snow during the day. Rather than go off hiking and get caught in something like that I drove the few miles to the Grand Lake entrance to Rocky Mountain National Forest.
The big news here was the elk. In less than 10 miles I came to a meadow and found a herd of 50+ elk not far from the road. Half were cows, most of the rest were calves with a number of young bulls with prongs rather than antlers. And then there was dad. Much larger than the females or young males, he had quite a rack on him, at least three feet long sweeping back over his head.
Most of the females were laying down and he started checking them out to see who was in heat. When he came near a young bull, the youngster got out of his way in a hurry. Most of the females moved off quickly also. I guess they weren't in the mood, yet.
At the other end of the meadow was another bull with 20 or so females and larger calves. Another 10 miles and 2000 feet and another large bull looked after 5+ females, at least that's all I could see. More may have been hiding in the woods. He was bigger than the other two large bulls but seemed to have the smallest harem. I saw a few more females grazing on alpine tundra at 12000 feet. It was very cold and blustery up there too, almost like winter. A thin coat of snow was plastered against some of the signs by the wind.
It did snow above 10000 feet last night and many of the peaks had white tops. As far as the drive itself, I was disappointed. I expected to see towering, rugged mountain peaks and ragged crags everywhere. Instead I found a lot of tall, rounded peaks and deep valleys. While everything was on a larger scale than I've ever seen and presented a vast panorama, I saw little in the way of the spectacular or dramatic. Big Ben in Texas and of course the canyons and cliffs of southern Utah are much more to my liking.
It took me less than 2 hours to make the 48 mile trip from Grand Lake to Estes Park and about 1.5 hours to come back. I have to hang out in the general area till October when I visit friends. I'll have to recalculate how that time will be spent now.
09/16/01 Hiking Onahu Creek Trail:
I've been hiking and padding around Lake Granby, just outside the Rocky Mountain National Park for the past several days and am still camped there. Today is my first hike within the national park boundaries.
Last night in the 20's again. I got an early start because I hoped for some elk sightings in the fields along US 34 leading into the national park. And I got them. Several groups of cows and a few young bulls with just prongs, no antlers. I saw one big bull out in the field all by himself, probably driven away from the cow herds by a more dominate bull. I watched him for a few minutes as he wandered near a small stand of trees. He either had itchy antlers or was frustrated because he wasn't getting any because he spent a couple of minutes thrashing around at the branches.
It was still in the 30's-40's when I got to the Onahu Creek Trailhead at 8am and not much sun. Surprisingly, orange reflectors had been hammered into trees 10 feet above the ground to blaze the trail. Few trails out west have blazes, mainly because the trails are so well defined, unlike back east. Even I can follow them. This part of the Onahu Creek Trail you needed to stay on the trail out of self defense because of dense layers of downed trees. Firs are predominate with lots of aspen and some spruce.
I forgot to take a GPS setting at the parking lot and also forgot my water again. I thought this trail had little change in elevation but the trail kept winding upwards at a moderate degree. 45 minutes brought me to a series of cascades down some steep rocks. The trail continued to climb for 1.15 hours before leveling off. The sun was trying to break through and warm things up. It was in the 40's by now but my fingers were still cold, even with gloves on.
A doe and fawn, returning from a drink at the creek were startled to see me. They ran a short way but when I stood still they didn't pay me much mind, just kept an eye on me as they grazed. I got to the Upper Onahu camping area around 10am. I went another mile or so, mostly uphill when I came to a long, gradual descent. If it had been level or continued upward I would have continued. My legs had had enough ups for one day and I wasn't about to start a long descent I'd eventually have to climb back up. I was already 1000 feet above where I'd started, not counting all the ups and downs along the way.
A few sprinkles on the way back kept me moving. I had my rain gear but still didn't want to get rained on.
09/17/01:
This morning was really miserable, rainy, foggy and just plain dreary. Seemed like a good time to move on. As I entered the Rocky Mountain National Park to follow US 34 to Loveland on the other side of the park, I saw a big herd of elk totaling close to 100 near the entrance. They could be seen quite clearly but were a couple hundred yards out in a meadow.
I saw a few more elk and a little farther on I spotted a 6 point mule deer buck. Not far away was a doe with 5 fawns. Five? Ow! That must have hurt. I presume other does must have been around. Two are common, three not rare. I've never heard of more than three, though.
I could see a fair amount of new snow at higher elevations but I got rain and drizzle and fog lower down. I passed 15-20 bull elks, some with prongs and some with moderate sized antlers. These guys have probably been kicked out of the herd by the dominant bull to keep them from messing with the ladies so they hang out together. I did see some prongs with the herds though. They must have been just a little younger and will probably be booted out soon.
The rain changed to snow at 11000 feet or so and the road became a little slushy. This is not the place to go into a skid believe me, its a long way down.
In Loveland, I picked up my elk pictures and they turned out great. I followed I 25 down to Colorado Springs and then turned into Pike National Forest after missing Pikes Peak (or Bust) near Castle Rock. I have to go back there to visit friends in a couple weeks so I'll check it out then. Right now I'm camped at 10000 feet. I've spent most of the past 4-6 weeks camped at about 8500 feet with no problems. Hope I can still sleep 1500 feet higher.