On the Way Out [5: Sunday, July 25, 2010]

Another fine night for sleeping under the stars and a bright, shiny, full Moon.  We wake-up restful and a little sad, knowing we need to leave this beautiful place.  We pack up and take one last look at the Hague Creek valley.  It's one mile down to the Poudre, and we follow that river one more mile down.  It's a peaceful walk, relatively flat.  The River is wider and looking more wild.  We reach the Corral Creek Trail.  This is where we head uphill to the trailhead, where the car is parked.  We decide to walk a few hundred yards down the Poudre to take one last look.  I know about three miles away the trail crosses the water and continues down, into the Big South, all the way to highway 14.  Maybe a future trip.

As we hike up we notice a raging creek, Poudre Pass Creek.  This is the outlet of the Long Draw Reservoir, close to where we're parked.  This is the water slating the thirst of many denizens of the Front Range, captured from the winter snow.  Now it's a torrent; something scary looking.  We eventually reach the car and decide to ride along the reservoir to the parking area at the end of the dirt road.  Back here is La Poudre Pass.  This is the head-water of the Colorado River.  We walk along the path that parallels the Grand Ditch, diverted water from the Never Summer mountain range, and reach the swampy area where the might Colorado originates.  

An interesting aspect here is the path is an entry into more spectacular wilderness.  Something to think about.  Anyway, this area is a real change of pace for those who backpack in the high peaks.  Lots of wildlife, beautiful scenery and many options for hiking.  Something to think about for sure...

Information about the camps:

Cache
Flatiron

One last look up the valley, time to go

And here are shots along the rivers, the Hague Creek, followed by the Poudre...

From the trailhead looking back to where we once roamed...

A look at some possible future destinations

And the headwaters of the mighty Colorado River.

Moose on the Poudre [4: Saturday, July 24, 2010]

Our day two camp will take us to Hague creek, about three miles down river where it dumps into the Poudre.  We then go right (east) up the trail to Flatiron campsite.  The nice thing about this site is it's one of the few in Rocky Mountain National Park allowing fires in an existing fire ring.  

The morning is nice and sunny.  I'm fascinated by the fog.  Down the Chapin valley a large cloud flows up a drainage.  Closer to me I watch some low lying fog develop above the river, flowing downstream like an extension of the water.  I realized from my viewpoint this fog is a collection of all the evaporated morning dew meeting at this stream junction, forced by gravity to flow downhill.

We hike along the Poudre River, north, along relatively flat terrain, in open meadows, and thick forests.   The meadows flow with a growing river, widening after each creek feeding into it, draining the high country far up the hills we walk along.  As we enter forests, the land drops, the rocks squeeze the river, producing exhilarating rapids, a contrast to the mellow meadows we've been accustomed to.  


As we approach the confluence of Hague Creek, the point where we know soon we turn to head uphill to camp, we notice movement in front of us.  We surprise a momma moose and her calf.  The calf bolts into the forest, the momma stares at us.  If this happens to you, don't mess around.  Walk around the animal giving it a wide berth.  Not a good idea to make a momma moose mad!  It's an amazing animal up close; like the size of a horse.  This area is a great one for chance viewings of wildlife.  Lots of elk, deer and moose.


We make the turn for the Mummy Pass trail, and after a few hundred yards we break right to the trail taking us to Flatiron.  Hague Creek is healthy and not unlike the terrain we encountered along the Poudre the night before.  We're at 10,000' of elevation, experiencing pleasantly warm weather and ample sunshine.


The site fire ring is there as advertised, complete with a pile of dead wood.  Speaking of which, the forest edge is pre-dominantly dead lodgepole pines.  We decide to setup our rain shelters along the forest edge, safely away from any dead tree.  I highly recommend doing this.  The campsite is really nice, on a high, flat area overlooking the valley below, with nice views all around.  Down creek are rolling green hills and mountains far away, and up creek is the pathway to the Mummy's.  Desolation Peaks are back here as well.  We're in a good place, and only about two or three miles away from the car.  Not bad.


Our flat area is suitable for tossing a frisbee.  We have a nice, short steep trail down to the creek where we can lounge in the creek, get water and just relax.   The trail does continue up the valley, however it is un-maintained so it's not always obvious.  Up the valley are more huge meadows.  We saw another moose browsing on willows, with a nice backdrop of forest and mountains.  Amazing.  This is the way to go to the Desolation Peaks.  We didn't get a chance to go there this day, but if you do, you'll find out why they are named as such.  The hike is excellent, mostly meadow, some of it wet, mixed with some nice forested stretches.


At the end of the day the sunset was amazing, turning the sky red, and reflecting off the creek, looking like shiny jewels strewn along the meadow.  This is when you want to kick back and relax.  During this time of year, with the dry spell we experienced, it's a pleasant way to spend the evening.  This night is warm, the Moon full and our fire is raging.  Nothing like playing midnight frisbee in the middle of nowhere.  A great way to cap off an excellent day.


Next post I'll cover the way out and our visit to the source of the Colorado River.  Now enjoy these pictures.


This is more or less what we looked at on our hike to Flatiron.

 Yeah, this moose is awfully close to us.  Don't get these critters mad!

The forest is nice and cool.  The river starts to get rowdy at this point.

 

And what would a wilderness trip be without the mountains.  I think this is a view of Hagues Peak.

 
 On the hike we saw this crazy tree.  I couldn't resist taking a shot.

At dusk lots of deer appeared out of nowhere to check us out.  This is the place to be if you want to see lots of wildlife.

A nice view for the day's end.  Sunsets out here are amazing.  We sat out here for quite some time, relaxing and basking in the waning light.

Hiking the Poudre Valley [3: Friday July 23, 2010]

Okay, I'm back - a busy couple of months but had to come back and finish this blog.  This place is amazing and here in the dead of winter, sub-zero outside, all I need to do is think about those few days along the river and I feel warm all over again.  Continuing with the first day there at the Cache campsite we hiked up the valley a second time with a difference.  We hike up valley further then the last hike.  We see more ridges as if the valley is built from lateral ridges, one on top of the other.  At one point I catch a view up valley which is relatively flat, and can see probably a mile up-river.  Distance such as this looks so cool when it's wilderness.  You get a sense of something huge, yet deceivingly close.


We decide to at this point to hike into the forest towards Specimen Mountain.  This area is closed to camping; deemed a research natural area.  We joke the place is used for government, bizarre experiments and head uphill. We walk along game trails, remaining along a slightly uphill contour.  In here trees are very much alive; noticing more sub-alpine trees, shade and lots of cool looking ground cover like kinnicknick.  After a while of this peaceful hiking we break-out into a meadow separating our ridge from the next.  We climb uphill in this field to a saddle with a continuing meadow downward, away from the Poudre valley.  We cross the meadow into the forest to head back to camp.  More game trails, highways actually, are followed; we get to camp as we move through bunches of dead lodgepole.


Later towards evening we hike to the confluence of the Poudre and Chapin Creek.  It's a nice area, rolling moraine covered in grass and mini boulders.  It's here we catch a glimpse of a wider Poudre River downstream.  As dusk approaches the Moon rises over the Desolation Peaks.  We're high and dry looking at sunlight from the sunset light up the high points.  Back at camp I watch Venus setting over a faraway ridge and observe it winking in and out as it cross just above the ridge, filtered by the forests.  Then it disappears for the night; something I've never seen before.  While this is happening, two bull elk come out to feed in the meadow.  As dark approaches, I setup my sleeping bag under the stars, look at the bright, nearly full Moon, listening to the babble of the river nearby.  A nice way to finish off the day.  Next entry will discuss the moving to the next campsite, Flatiron.

Here is where we see the sunset light shine on the mountains next to us:

A view down river, where we'll go tomorrow (Saturday, July 24, 2010):

This here is some of the Rolling Moraine we encountered from time to time:

Goodbye to this place, a new camp awaits us next.....