Rafting the Cache la Poudre

The other day I went into the Room of Doom, through the Maze, down the Devil’s Staircase. And that was just the start. After Decapitation there was Cardiac. I nearly ended in the Pine Box.

It was my wife’s idea. She said our 35th wedding anniversary needed some adrenaline. That got me worried. What did she have in mind? Rafting the Poudre. Twelve miles of Class III and IV rapids with scary names. On what was the highest water day of the year, so far. My wife, Matty, is the cautious one in the family. Except when it comes to raft trips.

She booked a half day trip (“The Plunge”) with Mountain Whitewater Descents, one of four outfitters that guide Colorado’s only “Wild and Scenic River” from Ft. Collins, Colorado.

At noon Melissa, a petite, athletic woman with a black pony tail and one of their most experienced guides mustered us for the briefing. With moments of dark humor we were reminded, in short, that this was not a water park, it was the real thing. We were part of a working team, not just riders. Our paddling would allow our guide to steer. Our ready response to commands would allow the guide to steer in the right direction.

We were told what we should do if tossed out of the raft, becoming an accidental swimmer. Swim feet Read the rest of this entry »

White Rock Canyon

Highlights: A sandstone canyon sporting two tall rock pillars inscribed with glyphs from the cowboy era, a laughing stream and a lush growth of pines.

Location: Near Arlington on the north edge of the Medicine Bow Mountains.

Total Distance: One to two miles down and back.

Elevations: Rim, 8280’; Floor 8060’

Maps: USGS White Rock Canyon quad; Medicine Bow National Forest Map

Trailhead: Take I-80 west from Cheyenne about 90 miles, exiting at Arlington, exit 272. Turn under the interstate then go west along the south service road. At the third forest service road, FS 111, 1½ miles from Arlington, turn south. Continue on gravel FS 111 about three miles. Just after entering the forest take the right fork into a parking area. The canyon sign has been removed by vandals.

The hike: This is a little adventure more than a hike as there are no trails to follow. It’s better this way! From the rim you’ll spot two sandstone pillars across the creek. Your mission? Scramble off the canyon edge and cross the vale to find the spires. It looks easy until you discover how well hidden they are among the tall pines. After inspecting the inscriptions you’ll want to follow the creek downstream (East Fork of Wagonhound Creek) to the narrow canyon gates where there are more glyphs from turn of the century cowboys and travelers. The walls here are nearly 200 feet tall. While there try to figure out how this white sandstone came to exist in sight of the massive granite bulk of Elk Mountain. Return the way you came.

Pointers: Please don’t even think about defacing these old etchings or of adding your own. Even oil from your hands is damaging. This is one of few records left by these early arrivals, the ancestors of some familiar names in Laramie and Cheyenne today. We have many other ways of “making our mark” in the 21st century.

Coyote Ridge in Ft. Collins Open Space

Itching to get out and stretch your legs? Restless? A warm breeze, a few daffodils, robins hopping about the yard will do that to a person.

But here on these high plains all our favorite tramping grounds are bound in snow or slippery with mud. What’s a person to do?

Drop about a thousand feet. It always surprises me how much warmer it is, how spring comes a few weeks earlier in Ft. Collins, Colorado. And they’ve got a vast spread of foothill ground preserved for hikers, runners, mountain bikers and horsemen.

Coyote Ridge Trail makes a pleasant spring walk, especially for young kids with their folks or grandparents. It’s also a gateway to a bodacious run of gear grinding single-track for mountain bikers.

Prairie dogs surround the first mile of trail as it makes a straight, broad path through their colony. Accustomed to people, they pop in and out of their burrows, raise tails in alarm and pipe out a good squeal just to keep in practice. Some of the kids I watched were squealing back in delight. Read the rest of this entry »

Walking from winter to summer in six hours: Hiking the Grand Canyon in Spring

This spring break we walked from winter to summer in just less than six hours. Breakfast was in the crunch of icy snow. Supper was prepared in the give of soft sand, an 80 degree sun baking the winter freeze from my old bones.

The quickest way to summer is not to drive south but to walk down. Down into the welcoming heart of the Grand Canyon.

We’ve done it for ten springs now, a family tradition, taking different trails from the south rim down to the river. In one sense it’s a trip through deep time, walking down this layer cake of rock through ever older sediments. But in another sense it’s a fast trip from Canada to Mexico. The rim is in the Canadian zone of Ponderosa pines while the river flows through the Sonoran zone of cactus and mesquite. In six hours we walked south across the North American continent.

The ideal hike to meet the inner Grand Canyon

While there are nine trails snaking their way down the south rim, only two are maintained. They join at the river to make a loop. Here’s my prescription for the perfect spring break backpack.

Get up in the dark, dress warmly and stumble to one of several overlooks to watch dawn’s light show. Sipping hot coffee adds to the pleasure. As the sun eases up over the horizon, it highlights ridge upon ridge below you. A giant condor, recently reintroduced to the park, may heighten your wonder.

This year my son decided to reintroduce the pterodactyl. He bought one at Walmart, complete with red streamers and yards of string. Read the rest of this entry »

Cross Country Skiing at Happy Jack Ski Trails

“Shooshhh, shooshhh, shooshhh,” the snow whispers to the skis. “Shooshhh, shooshhh, shooshhh….”

A gentle compress of snow hovers on each fir’s flat needles, as if to cool the overheated exertion of a summer’s growth.

This forest, dry and rocky and ignored in summer, has been enchanted, spell bound. The sun, gazing soft and low from the southern horizon, casts countless long blue shadows, holding all enthrall. Only an occasional jay breaks the silence, a grey squirrel arcs across the quiet.

Finding a rhythm, cross country skiers breathe deeply. Inhalation of the crisp air brings exhilaration.

They have discovered that the crimped down, cramped out, wind-scoured days of a grim Cheyenne winter hold a precious treasure. While others are merely enduring the bleak, broke days of January, February and March, soldiering on until spring, these lucky few have found a reason to smile. They’ll be on Pole Mountain again this weekend.

With long, north facing terraces covered in pines, Pole Mountain captures and holds the snowfall. “The snow this year has been great,” reported Ellen Axtmann, coordinator of the Medicine Bow Nordic Association (MBNA). “We are having the best snow year we have had in years!” Read the rest of this entry »

New Year’s in Rocky Mountain National Park: You can set up the year just right.

My friend Sue said that the way you spend New Year’s Day is how you will spend the rest of the year. “Chinese tradition,“ she said. Wow. So how could I have a really great day and set fate on a roll to a splendid year?

Picture this: effortlessly gliding across a sparkling snow field under towering peaks beneath a bluebird sky. That was my plan. Cross country skiing. Why not Rocky Mountain National Park?

The afternoon of the first of twenty-ten I rushed into the visitors center, out of breath, having successfully run the gauntlet of Estes Park shops without spending a cent. The snowy-haired ranger looked at me like I was nuts. Wrong side of the park. Not enough snow on this side. Rarely is.

“Do you have snowshoes? The snowshoeing is very popular, up and around Bear Lake.”

“Well, yes,” I replied without enthusiasm. My snowshoes are huge. Made to carry a fully loaded behemoth across an ocean of deep powder. They weigh, I think, thirty pounds each. I don’t like them.

“Well, good,” he said. “Go up to Bear Lake.” Ok, so maybe I’ll get some fine sunset photos of that ships-prow of a mountain, Hallett Peak. Maybe the Tribune-Eagle will like them. It was an hour to sundown.

As I drove up the clouds came down, swallowing all traces of mountain. This could be Kansas with a low ceiling and pine trees for all I could see.

I found a place to park and hoisted the mighty snowshoes, poles and pack. Forgot to bring water. Great. “Don’t eat yellow snow.“ Famous Eskimo advice. Laden with gear, stumbling toward the trails across the icy parking lot, I would not let twenty-ten fizzle due to lack of effort.

Snowshoes strapped on, I pushed off. Heave ho. Heavily plodding up the hill, the tubular frames of the shoes banging into each other as I waddled, legs further and further apart. That was bad enough.

But everyone was be-bopping around me. Sweet college girls with tiny little snow shoes. Young fathers with toddlers bouncing in packs on their backs with tiny little snow shoes. Spry old ladies, yes, with tiny little snow shoes. These people were having a lot of fun. Read the rest of this entry »

The Winter Pilgrimage to Sedona

I understand that in the middle ages people didn’t take vacations. They took pilgrimages. These were journeys, long or short, with a destination of spiritual import. Relic remains of holy men and women were a special draw. Central to the trek was a hope that something divine would happen to them

There was interesting company, too, and a warmer climate, some new scenery and the possibility of new cuisine but the object was a renewal of faith.

It seems that’s the reason that a lot of northern retirees head to Sedona.

People go to Moab to rebel; to Aspen for elegance and grace; to Las Vegas for the rush. People go to Sedona for something spiritual.

I love red rock country. The great walls, towering pinnacles, blue skies with hidden remnants of the ancient ones. Add some rare desert critters and the chance to get warm in winter and I’m ready to go. Fiends who head to Sedona for a warm up every winter couldn’t understand why I had never been there.

Something always kept it off my list. Too posh perhaps. (I’ve always avoided places with a Sotheby’s.) Too touristy. Too civilized. The New Age hype also dampened my desire.

But now I’ve gone, and come back. I’ve even sat in several vortexes. Now I know why people loved Sedona.
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Unintentionally lighting a fire for National Parks

A spark, like the arc of fire as steel strikes flint, fell with each postcard. It was the summer of 1961 and the postman brought a card nearly each day. I tried to meet him on the steps.

Glossy spectachrome, some with scalloped edges, some sheer. Photos of the our national parks. The badlands, great buffalo, the solemn faces of Mt. Rushmore, the Devil’s Tower.

My grandparents were on the American Grand Tour, the great road trip of their lifetime. Grandpa Ellis had been preparing for weeks, carefully building cabinets to fit into the back of the turquoise station wagon, each with its purpose, crafting a kitchen on the tailgate. I watched him fit the canvas tent into the side door, pack a satchel full of highlighted maps. Everything had a place, including a box of cigars and a few fifths of Old Overholt rye whiskey.

Two days after the retirement party from “The Overland”–the Willy’s automotive plant where he had spent his adult life bolting together jeeps and wagons–they were free, sprung from the trap, rolling west from Toledo’s steel and smoke across the flat farms sprouting new corn. Window rolled down, arm on the door, smiling face biting an unlit cigar.
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Rock Creek – Deep Creek Trail, WY

Highlights: A lovely, long trail following the creeks of a deep, shady canyon.  It’s a popular place to stretch out because it’s so easy to get to, so well constructed and the surroundings are so peaceful and expansive.  The trail was given National Recreation Trails certification back in 1979 and along with the recognition received funding for lots of neat little bridges.  The recent Forest Service plan recommends the area be designated Wilderness.   An optional spur leads to Crater Lake, a spring-fed gem embraced by towering granite walls.

Location: The northern reach of the Medicine Bow Mountains, near the town of Arlington, 40 miles west of Laramie.

Elevations: Arlington trailhead, 7,920’; Deep Creek campground trailhead, 10,066’.

Distance: 12 to 13 miles from end to end, one way.

Maps: Medicine Bow National Forest; USGS Arlington, White Rock Canyon, Morgan and Sand Lake quads; Forest Service pamphlet “The Snowy Range Hiker.”

Guide: Marc Smith’s Hiking Wyoming’s Medicine Bow National Forest – Third Edition, Bill Hunger’s The Hiker’s Guide to Wyoming.

Trailhead: To reach Arlington from Cheyenne, WY, take I-80 90 miles west to the Arlington exit (#272).    Go south on FS-127 1-1/2 miles to the trailhead and parking.  The Deep Creek campground is on FS-101, which can be reached from WY-130 about four miles west of Centennial or from the Arlington exit by going 1-1/2 miles west on the south service road to FS-111, taking it 13 miles to FS-101, where you turn left and go 1-1/2  miles to the campground.

The Hike: The description will begin at the bottom, at the northern trailhead near Arlington.  Rock Creek spreads out broadly here, a sheen of shallow, silver water.  The canyon stretches for miles ahead, a deep, broad “V” cut 1,000 feet into the rock.  The hillsides are open sage, pierced by rock outcrops; the trail floor soon leads into the shade of a mature aspen grove.   A moldering cabin and tailings pile mark the site a of miner’s failed dream. But yours has just begun.

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The Shelf Lakes

Highlights: A high alpine lark from lake to lake – seven in all — cutting through and along the great white granite of the Snowy Range.

Location: West of Centennial near the high point of Hwy. 130 in the Medicine Bow National Forest.

Elevations:  Trailhead, 10,785’; The Gap, 11,040’; 4th Shelf Lake, 10,860’

Distance: Approximately 2 miles each way.

Maps: Medicine Bow National Forest (Snowy Range inset is excellent), free Forest Service pamphlet “Snowy Range Trails”, USGS quads Medicine Bow Peak, Sand Lake

Guide: Marc Smith’s Hiking Wyoming’s Medicine Bow National Forest

Trailhead: From Cheyenne, WY, take I-80 west through Laramie to exit 311.  Follow Hwy. 130 west (Snowy Range Road) continuing 11 miles past Centennial.  Turn north into the Sugarloaf Recreation Area, pay your five dollar day use fee and drive on for a mile to the popular Lewis Lake trailhead.  You’ll find toilets, picnic tables, grills and benches but no potable water.

The Hike: Come fall many hikers hang up their boots, wanting to stay clear of hunters.  Yet it’s a great season to hike.  The colors are often vibrant.  The cool air is bracing.  And the mosquitos are dead.  So what’s a person to do?

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