Zirkel: Main Fork Encampment River and Stump Park

Medicine Bow-Routt National Forest

(orange line, map link)

DAY 1 | DAY 2 | DAY 3

I settled on a three day loop plan to see a bit of the Encampment River at the north end of Mount Zirkel Wilderness with an excursion up Davis Peak for a bit of variety of terrain as well as visits to a few lakes. I thought about including some of the Continental Divide Trail, but the odd fat dotted line it follows turns out to mean ATV trail (on the western edge of the wilderness). Pass. I swapped out the Exped Ultra 5R for the Big Agnes AXL Insulated, so camp will look very similar to the picture a couple days ago except the mat matches the bivy instead of the roof. It saves half a pound and if I can't use that "3 season" thing in August, when can I use it? The Encampment River Trailhead might be the only one in Colorado you're allowed to camp at, or maybe someone's just removed the sign. There's a large loop with a few spots and a corral in the middle and a toilet too. Maybe it's because you have to get there from Wyoming and you're already on (technically, but fine for the Scion) 4x4 road by the time you cross to Colorado. It also has an information board with map and Colorado branded "Bury your poop! Pack it in, Pack it out! That includes your toilet paper!" messages. The map has three lakes in the middle circled in red, meaning no camping within ¼ mile. Thank you for telling me before I get there at the end of the day! Seven Lakes and Gem Lake weren't included, so no changes to plans were needed.

000: signs and a trail — Encampment River Trailhead (Colorado).

001: wide glacial valley — The Encampment River runs through a very wide glacial valley here.

It's about a mile of flat walking to the junction where my loop starts. There's some wilderness rules just before the junction and finally wilderness just after, right after the river crossing. My hope for a bridge went unfulfilled and I didn't want to start off with wet shoes nor did I bring my neoprene socks, so just had to ford it in tender bare feet.

004: sheet of water over river rocks — Encountering the Encampment River. It's a shallow wade across.

005: Mount Zirkel Wilderness sign — Welcome to the Mount Zirkel Wilderness.

The trail teed off into another trail already in progress. It would be really easy to go the wrong way if headed in the other direction. I blame cows, but maybe it's whatever connects to the Tie Hack Trailhead. Happily, although trail can get a little faint crossing meadows, it's really the only place where there is confusion.

006: trail through the grass — Following trail through the meadows... er, parks.

007: grey bird with black stripes on its head — Paused long enough to capture an image for iNaturalist of the sparrows that were so common in the trees. It's actually a mountain chickadee.

008: many cut trees — There's a few spots of the trail displaying quite a lot of work to keep the trail open.

Although I didn't get a bridge for the river, there are short boardwalks along the way. There wasn't always something under them to worry about, but I'm sure they're great when it's rainier.

009: shell of a grasshopper and shell of a seed — Some shells of their former selves.

010: two different sorts of butterflies on purple thistles — Two butterflies of a dozen or more among the thistles. (Fritillary left and green comma right.)

Then after 5.5 miles of nice trail with only two trees down, I came to a spot where three trees had fallen in a pile across the trail. The top had been removed and the bottom two had the start of cuts. One more tree after these had been removed and that was it, the end of any recent work. I launched myself out over 2 miles of some of the hardest trail I have ever encountered with an obvious tread. The third sawyer beetle I saw may have been squished and squished and squished some more, which didn't make me feel any better because it would help the trees not one jot. There may have even been a shout or two, "Why you gotta kill all the trees?" to any beetles in hearing range. Deer and elk are clearly still using the trail and, with the people, establishing walk around routes for each tree, but it still gets really tiring and frustrating.

014: trees partly cleared from the trail — And then everything changed. Seriously, beetles, why you gotta kill all the trees?

015: river through trees below a short cliff, hillsides above — Up above the river with a short cliff between.

017: red berries — Got many raspberries along the way to replenish my energy. These are faint of flavor, but better when warmed by the sun.

022: pooling river — Main Fork Encampment River.

There's two more crossings of the river, but in this area there are plenty of big rocks to hop across. I made quick work of the crossings without any worrying about wet shoes.

024: river full of rocks — Pretty easy to find a rock hop across the river here.

I made it as far as the Beaver Creek Stump Park Trail. Beaver Creek is over the top of the ridge. Someone had cleared a tree from it by cutting it once and sliding the remains across my trail. There is something of an insult in that. I turned up it toward Stump Park and found things had gotten easier. There were fewer trees and had been some minimal maintenance. Whereas the first bit of maintenance was a determination to clear the trail, this looked like it was getting a clear enough route to get a horse through. Often small trees on walk arounds were cut rather than clearing the trail itself. Admittedly, the trail took a rather direct route uphill and could probably use some more little wiggles in its climb.

026: water in the trees passing meadow — Main Fork Encampment River.

027: clouds with a little energy and water below — The last crossing of the main fork of the Encampment River for a while.

028: steeper water flow — Lots of water in the stream off of Stump Park.

029: butterfly a little bigger than the everlasting it is on — A dorcas copper stops on an pearly everlasting.

030: partly cleared — I'm guessing this is user cleared trail rather than a crew with a task.

031: monkey flower — On the lookout for some fresher samples of those purple monkeyflowers and found these.

032: clouds through trees — Overcast morning, generally sunny afternoon, now the clouds are moving in again.

I was getting a little overconfident about water. I figured I'd grab a camp site at the western end of Stump Park after finding water at a particular crease in the land. Not that one, that one. And if I didn't, I could just go a short way down from the top, out of my way, and get water from Beaver Creek. I passed a campfire ring just 20 feet off the trail as I approached the water bearing crease which really did have water. Then I headed up into the park, well past that inappropriate camp right next to the trail and found a nicer spot right where I'd figured I would. I had some small trees for wind shelter but was away from the forest and its standing dead. A perfect day although it was already 7PM as I got water and pitched my roof in time to ward off the first drops of the night's rain.

033: trail through the meadow — Trail through Stump Park.

034: green crease in the land — And there's water down there. The trail crosses it, so it's easy to access.

035: twisted blue flowers — Rocky Mountain fringed gentian line the thin waterway.

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