Moments in Dirt and Ink

Medicine Bow-Routt National Forest ( map link ) A geocache alerted me to the presence of a nearby waterfall and I put it on my list of things to visit. My hike started at FS-550, a good gravel road running from Encampment to Steamboat Springs. There's actually road running more than halfway from there to the waterfall. The sign benignly states "4WD recommended". The description on the geocache said bring your ATV. I chatted with a local and asked, "So, you gonna drive it?" He laughed and said he had once and it wasn't fun at all. It also says "North Fork Encampment River Trailhead" because, once upon a time, this trail went a lot further. It continued along the north fork to join the Huston Park Trail, now the route of the Continental Divide Trail, below Red Mountain. Now it gets to the edge of the wilderness and what would have been a spur crosses the fork and stops. Good thing that's as far as I wanted to take it. My start. If this f...

Medicine Bow-Routt National Forest (red line, map link ) DAY 1  |  DAY 2  |  DAY 3  |  DAY 4 All I had to do was get back to Battle Pass and I was already much closer than my first night's camp. I wanted to add on Red Mountain, but that could only add a mile extra. I expected a lovely day of it, so had a relaxed morning. I even did something I almost never do. I photographed the setup! Camp, set up. Nemo Hunker 2 (AKA "little roof"), Mountain Hardwear Conduit SL (AKA "bivy"), Exped Ultra 5R, Tyvek, Komperdell aluminum poles with shock absorbers. Not visible is the deep purple MYOG summer quilt. Then I packed it all up and got moving. There's a peak to bag! First up, the wilderness high point. I chose a point, pondered it from a different angle, and became very sure it was the exact same point I'd chosen before. If you've hiked this trail and claim the Huston Park Wilderness high point done, I fully support that. I took in the views fr...

Medicine Bow-Routt National Forest (orange line, map link ) DAY 1  |  DAY 2  |  DAY 3  |  DAY 4 The day looked every bit like it would be dry and warming like my now two day old weather report predicted. Actually, it might be a little warmer than desired for all the elevation gain that needed to happen a the end of the day. When I crossed the signs on the road yesterday, I noticed that they, like the signs on the trail, were about 100 feet south of where I expected them based on the map. I had spotted that first monument without any reference to where I thought I was in relation to the state line, so wasn't sure how it sat. (My track indicates north of the line drawn.) I had reflected that being that far south could easily have hidden a monument from me when searching for 148 M, but I should still have been able to find 149 M. The first one for today was less than a quarter mile off, so I would look, then get a bit south and look again. There'...

Medicine Bow-Routt National Forest (blue line, map link ) DAY 1  |  DAY 2  |  DAY 3  |  DAY 4 There was no drying things out the next morning. It was dribbling again shortly after I woke up and it kept it up as I packed, breakfasted, finished up, and headed out onto the trail. Rather than lifting, the clouds were dropping. Try as I might to get under them, they surrounded me and took away every remnant of view. Bits of cloud are drifting down the canyon from the saddle near camp. I didn't have much left of the wilderness and, since the trail now shortcuts a part of old road it used to follow, I had less than I thought before the last step out. My plans along the state line were increasing. Really, why not take the trail all the way to the crossing and then go cross country to the monument I was aiming at? This would go past a second giving me twice as many chances of actually finding one. Plus "finishing" the state even if I'd just started i...

Medicine Bow-Routt National Forest (purple line, map link ) DAY 1  |  DAY 2  |  DAY 3  |  DAY 4 I packed up for four days but suspected my plan could only take three. That plan: hike the Continental Divide Trail (CDT) through the Huston Park Wilderness and a little further. The trail crosses an old road that happens to go past a state line monument, so I decided I would follow that down and see if I could find that monument before turning on my heels and heading right back north. There was at least one different trail diversion I could take on the way back. For the most part, trails in Huston Park Wilderness are spurs connecting to roads off the backbone of the Huston Park Trail running north to south, and hosting the CDT for most its length. It (marked #852 there) diverges by dropping to a low park (as meadows get referred to around here) and climbs back to the CDT after a similar length and about 300 extra feet of elevation change. I also wante...