Moments in Dirt and Ink

Medicine Bow-Routt National Forest (purple line, map link ) DAY 1  |  DAY 2  |  DAY 3 No frost over my feet this morning. Actually, everything was nice and dry and probably a little warm for that. The lake was pretty in the dawn colors, but more photogenic a little later. Gem Lake from the shore near camp in the morning. So I headed back down to Main Fork Encampment Trail and lost the trail on the way. It was in right about the same place as I lost it on the way up. It's just a bit too thickly covered in trees there. Getting back on track was easier on this second go. Following the trail along the outlet stream back down to the river. The outlet stream gets big on the way down. A random pool along the way down to the river.

Medicine Bow-Routt National Forest (blue line, map link ) DAY 1  |  DAY 2  |  DAY 3 I woke in the middle of the night and celebrated the fact that there was only a little roof over my head by scrunching around to watch the stars for a while. Then I got cold and scrunched back under and tucked in properly again. Good stars, though. Maybe the reason I can't feel any inclination toward any of the tents I've been pondering is that I'm just not a tent person. They're good at blocking winds, but they do it by trapping you inside with no way to just look out whichever way you want. Anyway, I managed to get back to sleep and woke up in a brightening world with frost over my toasty feet. Even cheap down socks are brilliant things. The junction of Beaver Creek Stump Park Trail with Buffalo Ridge Trail. There wasn't quite as early sunshine as I'd hoped to get, but it came and the place warmed nicely. I headed off for the last little bit of trail to the junct...

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 toil...

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...

White River National Forest Arapaho National Forest (orange line, map link ) DAY 1  |  DAY 2  |  DAY 3 My perch up on an exposed hill let me watch the morning animals. The deer were up particularly early and high on a nearby hill, chomping away in the dawn light. Moose wandered by later to stare at me while I stared at them. It was good to enjoy the animals because I was seriously not enjoying my breakfast. I found these quinoa flakes in Dillon and decided to try them. It has a sour flavor and a poor texture. You might expect it to have more protein than couscous, but no, it has no nutritional advantage whatsoever. The couscous I could find was $8 for not even 2 pounds and I'm used to scooping it out for $1.60 a pound, so I was open to new ideas. Flaked quinoa is an all around fail. (Also in there: lots of cinnamon, pinch of nutmeg, cranberries (other fruit infused ones are most excellent), raisins, big pour of parmesan and Romano cheese (Romano is funky a...

Arapaho National Forest White River National Forest (purple line, map link ) DAY 1  |  DAY 2  |  DAY 3 It wasn't too cold in the campsite by the creek and I had a rather good sleep. I didn't think I needed to get up early since this day should be a shorter and therefore easier day. I was half right. It was shorter. There's sun further up where the trail goes, but not yet at my camp. It was already past 7PM when I stopped, so I really didn't want to continue on although there is water up there. It wasn't all that late when I got climbing for the pass, leaving the canyon part of the hike behind. No more muck! Also not a lot of water for quite a while, so I was sure to start filled up. There actually was some water in the first mile, but after that it wasn't just one pass but many as the trail traveled around the rim of the next canyon. The unvisited high end of the glacial canyon through which Bobtail Creek flows. Slender cinquefoil . The ...

Arapaho National Forest (red line, map link ) DAY 1  |  DAY 2  |  DAY 3 The South Fork Trail is a loop trail of a little over 20 miles (according to the sign) that travels from the main Williams Fork to its South Fork with a ridge crossing in between. My backpacking plan was to start on the Williams Fork portion of this trail and follow it up and over to South Fork. Soon after reaching South Fork, I'd climb again on Ptarmigan Pass Trail to Ute Peak Trail and hike it all the way back. This route has a nice mix of environments and, it turns out, challenges. The final day is a long ridge walk, but the weather machine was promising some perfect weather for it. There was 0% chance of rain! The day before, which had some high stuff late in the day, was only about 10% chance and the first day was more like 40% chance. You can't have everything. I decided to put the short road walk at the start and parked at Ute Peak Trailhead to get started. The first thing to go ...

Gunnison National Forest DAY 1  |  DAY 2  |  DAY 3  |  DAY 4  |  DAY 5  |  DAY 6 (red line, map link ) It rained overnight, but that left me dry in my tent and my kitchen area dry under its little roof. Not that the sagging silnylon didn't try to at least wet my feet a little. I've got to try incorporating some elastic into the guylines to take up the slack as the silnylon stretches in the wet. Then again, the fact that it doesn't come that way has always made me wonder if it would really work. As is, it's a tent system that is weakest when most needed, and it's a universal problem with the material. I glared at the water seeping in where the fly sagged and touched the mosquito netting. What's the point of a double wall, again? At that point, it looked like to draw moisture through. But enough complaints about a tent that would be a great expense to replace. I could always go back to just the little roof and a bivy. It did w...

Gunnison National Forest DAY 1  |  DAY 2  |  DAY 3  |  DAY 4  |  DAY 5  |  DAY 6 (orange line, map link ) I got an early start trying to beat the mosquitoes and sort of made it. I noticed the missing bit of sign on the ground to finally discover that there's no camping (or campfires) allowed at the lake. I turned at the post, ready to take it wherever it may go. The couple at the lake thought it was silly to think it might rain in the afternoon because the air was just too dry. Indeed, I'd washed two pairs of socks (in a bag well away from the lake and creek because I'm not a barbarian and I know soil bacteria is needed to break up everything from that and you don't find that floating in water) which were very nearly dry in the morning. It was quite pleasant until I got to the long grass meadows and everything from my knees down got wet anyway. A little bit of view over the meadow still shadowed in the morning. The trai...

Gunnison National Forest DAY 1  |  DAY 2  |  DAY 3  |  DAY 4  |  DAY 5  |  DAY 6 (green line, map link ) I was wondering if this loop might be a little front loaded with the good stuff as I started toward the tree covered Castle Pass that represents the highest point for the second half of the trip. I expected it to be easier, although the state of the Castle Pass Trail was unique in that it not only showed recent trail work, but more trees already down on it than had been removed. It got better as I got higher. The camp site I should have found the evening before. Admittedly, it is closer to the trail than it should be. A little of the view from near the camp. Water pools in the meadow, but flows as a small creek beside the trail. From further along the meadow, The Castles and other pillars along the ridge top can be seen. I found a bit more water than advertised on the map along the trail. There was another, muc...