Encampment: discovering the rest

Medicine Bow-Routt National Forest

(light blue line, map link)

DAY 1  |  DAY 2

I didn't quite have enough water for breakfast, so packed it all up and got the quarter mile or so up the trail to the next tributary to eat, drink, and make merry. I couldn't help poking around a little and found that there's at least a little bit of use trail going up Jordan Creek, or perhaps it goes on the Drunkard Creek side. I didn't get far, but it seemed to be going somewhere. I didn't really get along the trail until 9AM, which is better for having a little light down into the canyon.

The river is still in shadow, but the shadowed rocks of yesterday are well lit.

Here comes the sun.

Rocky Mountain maples have a collection of winged seeds now and might be colorful later.

Getting some high (and wide) ledge time on the trail above the river.

I actually spent a little more time taking in the plants than the river as I walked the return.

Look a bit too closely at the western aster and there might be a spider or two.

Engelmann's aster.

The cutleaf coneflower, which has quite a lot of aphids.

Encampment River.

Ledges in the slope.

There goes the river.

But as I moved out of the lower biome, there weren't so many flowers and the river got some attention.

Encampment River.

Bigger rocks in the Encampment River.

Lots of water flowing downstream.

Encampment River.

The meadow rue is feeling the changing of the seasons already.

There are a couple islands in the river.

Big tree above Encampment River.

I bumped into actual trail workers out to cut out all those logs once I'd already gone over the worst of them again. They were out to do the trail end to end and I guess I missed the best time for it by two days.

Encampment River.

I almost missed them because in a few more feet was Dudley Creek, the subject of a diversion. The map said there was a structure only a quarter mile up it. I started up next to the creek and almost quit totally near instantly. There's no "only" when there's that much beetle killed trees falling over. Then I noticed that further up the hill is a little bit of a trail. It was much easier travel than by the creek although the trees over it showed very little sign of any recent use. I found a couple little streams as I approached the spot. I didn't find the cabin, but it looked like a better spot for it down the hill. About 200 feet from the mark, I found the collapsing two room cabin.

Two rooms! Such luxury! A little bit of partition wall is visible to the left.

I walked around it with great difficulty. It's probably not much older than 50 years. There's a stream of rubbish out the front door, some of it the sorts of things that are supposed to last.

There's still a door on this side.

Goal completed, I found some more vanishing trail that got me back to my route in to finish the diversion. From there, I enjoyed clear trail.

Nearly to the end of the narrower canyon.

Another look at the mushroom rocks.

There was one tree left down just past the wilderness sign, but everything else had been cleared by the trail crew. I found the higher, official trail through the wider section of the canyon easily going this direction.

Long shadows just barely reaching the river in the wide canyon.

It was a good hike to have even if I'd already hiked a bunch of miles along the Encampment River. It is a very different river here. There's about 5 miles I didn't do, but I decided against day hiking the rest of it from the far end. It might be different again. I was certainly getting into a different plant community with lots of sage toward the end.

*photo album*




©2022 Valerie Norton
Written 10 Nov 2022