Moments in Dirt and Ink

White River National Forest Locate the trailhead. DAY 1  |  DAY 2  |  DAY 3  |  DAY 4 It rained off and on during the night and at one time I woke to a jackrabbit testing my bivy for edibility. Yesterday's short day made sense yesterday, but seemed less sensible in the evening, and not just because of the rubber eating jackrabbit. Besides the teeth marks in my hiking stick handle, he has done no damage. It is just that I do not see where to camp tonight and it would only be a slightly long day to finish if I had walked a little further yesterday. I decide to hike out anyway and get up with the breaking light. There is a pause in the rain with more threatening, so it seems like a very good time to pack up and try to get my bivy dry. My little roof is sufficiently under a tree that it is already dry after the light rain. A pile of sticks in the middle of the water makes me think there may be beaver in the area. A broken dam leaves a...

White River National Forest Locate the trailhead. DAY 1  |  DAY 2  |  DAY 3  |  DAY 4 Another dry night and the bench for sunset watching is now a bench for the sunrise. The same mountains are fringed with light from the new sun as glowed red the evening before. I have decided to have a short day after two 12 mile days, so there is time to paint in the morning. A couple people come up from the other sites for the water that runs past mine. They think it is a spring, but I am suspicious it is just an underground outlet for Snowfield Lake above. I watched a couple waterfalls tumble a few tens of feet and disappear into the rocks without even a splash in the Avalanche drainage yesterday. The water reappears eventually below, but it is not a spring. It is a little late by the time I get started and promptly lose the trail at the creek crossing. Geneva Lake in mid-morning, still with a few fish jumping, from the spur to site 4. Will...

White River National Forest (map link) DAY 1  |  DAY 2  |  DAY 3  |  DAY 4 The clear night skies stayed that way overnight even though I did not trust them to. Having breakfast and almost packed up, my neighbor comes over to make sure I have everything I need again. He was planning to follow my route for a while, then take a trail to the west and cut back over an unmaintained trail that is rumored to remain passable over Avalanche Pass before joining with the current trail again. He has had second thoughts about the unmaintained trail and will instead continue down this trail and climb back up Hell Roaring to a trailhead a little more than a mile down the road from Capitol Ditch and Creek. There are many loops possible in this area. It is probably odd to feel a sense of loss because so much of trail maintenance is the feet passing over it and now this trail will get one less set, but I do feel it. When breakfast is done, the last of the g...

White River National Forest (map link) DAY 1  |  DAY 2  |  DAY 3  |  DAY 4 I wanted a backpacking trip for while I was in Colorado, so I asked the internet and came up with this page of "backpacking" hikes . With one loop not quite 8 miles long, it does run a bit short, but the longest loop (second down) looked interesting and would be convent to my location, so I bought the map. Since the last "40 mile, 5 day" loop was so far off, I had to measure it out for myself. My estimate was 43 miles and I expect that to be an underestimate, but it is still well within a 5 day trip. I packed as if for the Sierras, since they are big mountains at the same latitude. Also, being in Breckenridge for nearly a week beforehand should give me a good feel for the likely weather. It could be arrogant, but it seemed reasonable. Rain gear a must since big mountains will make their own weather and are prone to throwing down the drops. With that, planning comp...