Darling Creek
Arapaho National Forest (map link) I wanted to do a hike from the end of the road and my seed of an idea of a backpacking trip would be on the South Fork Trail, if it happened, which left Darling Creek. What I'd seen of Darling Creek from Ute Peak hadn't excited me much. It was burned. It was so very burned. It looked like it might be burned all the way up. But weighted against the prospect of hiking even more of the same trail twice, I went for it. Entering burned area. Sigh. Darling Creek Trail N18, says the sign, with 0.4 miles to South Fork Trail N21 and 5.2 miles to St. Louis Divide Trail N17. The trail starts at the power substation that presumably exists to power the 15 mile conveyor belt. That was thankfully silent for the weekend. Just past the substation is where it enters the mountain to get to the molybdenum on the other side. On the other side is industry of a different sort. The Williams Fork has been dammed up here and there by beavers. Nature takes o...