The Cheyenne, Wyoming winter can needle a person. You know the feeling. Caged and cramped, it seems like everything and everybody is poking and jabbing, random acts of accupuncture. “Give me a break!” Consider a spring break to Utah’s Needles, the southeastern district of Canyonlands National Park. These skyward pinnacles of red rock won’t needle [...]
Just imagine. Before turning in you step outside. The cold is bracing, refreshing. Listening intently, you quiet your breath. There isn’t a sound, just the faint stir of wind in snow laden pines. As eyes adjust to the night the sky becomes alive, rivers coursing through the pulsating glow of the Milky Way. Orion hovers above, [...]
She told me she wanted one more hike before the snow flew. She wanted to take her friend who wasn’t sold on outdoor excursions. Her criteria were tough: * A destination so stunning, so gorgeous, so interesting, so grand as to be beyond words * A trailhead within two hours drive of Cheyenne, Wyoming * [...]
North Fork Trail, hiked July 4, 2011. The deep snows of the past winter have delayed entry to the highest of the high country this summer. This mid-level trail opens a way to the snow’s gift: a bounty of wildflowers. On the eastern side of the Snowy Range, the trail, for most of its four and a [...]
The trail circling Turtle Rock at Vedauwoo is undoubtedly the most popular trail in the Cheyenne, WY, area. And for good reason. It’s close, easy and fascinating in its mix of geological artistry and biological wonder. On any given weekend throughout the spring, summer and fall it’s thrumming with college age kids, seniors and young [...]
The word “gulch” brings up scenes from a cartoon. A dry desolate wash, replete with a bleached cow skeleton, where (gulp!) our intrepid hero Goofy is about to be dry-gulched by a gang of stubble-faced villains. Not an inviting picture. And nothing like Hewlett Gulch. Hewlett is an inviting ramble up a pleasant creek, a little [...]
The Teton Crest Trail draws trekkers from all over the world. It’s one of the top ten alpine hikes anywhere, Switzerland, New Zealand and Patagonia included. But it hadn’t drawn me. Something got in the way. Permits. I’m from Wyoming. I like my freedom. I want to camp where I want to camp when I [...]
Spring, in our foothills, is the metallic call of the sleek and shining redwing blackbird perched on the flaking old tuft of last year’s cattail. It’s the full out, web-extended urgent brake of the northbound teal throttling down to rest a night in an overfull pond. The nose of a spotted fawn peering up through [...]
The Pole Mountain area, now a scene of play and renewal, has a history of struggle and tumult. For decades warriors trained, grunted and groused; “readied, aimed and fired“, detonating explosives that tore the quite high country air. Civilian Conservation Corpsmen sweat and labored, building roads and planting the forest we enjoy today. Miners blasted [...]
There is a canyon on the north end of the Medicine Bows that few know. Its shadowed walls hold hidden secrets, discretely placed, hushing those who encounter them. Here the solid remains of an ancient dune field, nestled into the granite range, have been exposed by tumbling waters. The creek has carved a canyon, filled with [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
“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 [...]
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 [...]
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, [...]
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, [...]
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 [...]
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. [...]
Veduawoo and Pole Mountain is Cheyenne’s back forty. We love to play up there, all with our different passions: fishing, four-wheeling, camping, hiking, climbing, hunting, skiing, sledding or just messing around on the rocks. The rocks are monumental sculptures, painted with lichens in green, orange and black. The beavers have crafted jewels to reflect the sky. [...]
Highlights: This short hike is long on attractions: interesting geology, abundant moose and beaver, boiling brookies, but most of all, fascinating archeology. Location: In the southern Snowy Range, west of Foxpark, entering the Platte River Wilderness Elevations: Official, four wheel drive trailhead, 8,850’; Douglas Creek:7,950’. Two wheel drive trailhead on FS 580, 9,188’; Douglas Creek:7,950’. Distance: From official trailhead, [...]
The Oasis in the Middle of Colorado Springs, CO Location:Palmer Park sits right in the middle of Colorado Springs. There are two entrances to the park. To the WEST entrance: take Fillmore east, just past the major intersection at Union Blvd; you will see some medical office buildings, and then the golf course on the left. Turn [...]
This has to be one of the most fun national parks in the country. Children laughing, frolicking in the water, splashing through the next wave. Families building sand castles. Teens flying colorful kites. Seniors watching in beach chairs under their canopies. Kids climbing up the sand, sliding down on their plastic sleds. Dogs playing at [...]
I’ll leave the more serious, camping/backpacking locales for my father to write up.My hikes are of the day variety, nearby places where I can escape into nature for an afternoon or so.So, I’ve decided I’ll write up some of those places, for those out there who just want a place to get some fresh air, [...]
Has winter cramped your soul, crumpled it up like a wadded piece of paper stuffed into your chest? Do you just need to get out? But where to go in April, with the high country still in snow? Try Pawnee Buttes. These two rugged outliers stand away from the retreating bluff, their capstone roofs towering in [...]
Havasu Canyon is a spell binding place where you would be sure to find spring buzzing and blooming around you. It’s not so much south but down, deep into a side canyon of the Grand Canyon, on the Havasupai Indian Reservation of Northern Arizona, a 943 mile drive from Cheyenne, Wyoming. Let me paint a picture [...]
Highlights: An overnight circle-on-a-stick backpack into the high alpine country we see on the far southwestern horizon from Cheyenne, Wyoming: the southern Medicine Bows. Here, above tree line, twelve pristine lakes sparkle in the shadow of North and South Rawah Peaks. Rawah is pronounced Ray’-wah and is a native American word meaning “wild place.” Location: The [...]
Highlights: A fine spring hike to summit the granite crag overlooking Horsetooth Reservoir, Ft. Collins and the endless plains. During a moist spring, wildflowers are abundant. Location: West of Ft. Collins, CO, about 50 miles south of Cheyenne, WY. Elevations: Trailhead, 5,600’, Top of the Rock, 6,780’. Distance: 1.7 miles one way Map and Guide: “Colorado State Parks: [...]
Highlights: This hike is a resplendent walk along the Continental Divide Trail where it weaves together a succession of verdant meadows, each a vast, rich, colorful carpet of wildflowers rimmed with pines, rising and falling along the gentle crest of the southern Sierra Madre Mountain range. Location: West of Encampment, Wyoming in the Huston Park Wilderness [...]
“Men wanted for hazardous journey. Small wages, bitter cold, long months of complete darkness, constant danger, safe return doubtful. Honor and recognition in case of success.” That was Ernest Shackleton’s ad in 1907. This one, run by Backpacker magazine last February sort of reminded me of it. “Want to Make Hiking History? Join our team to [...]
Highlights: This is the mountain that everyone sees but few explore, the eastern most spur of the Medicine Bow Range. While from the road the mountain simply looks like a narrow ridge the top is a pleasant surprise, a long basin with flowing streams, wetlands and floating mat bogs. The 19,238 acres of Sheep Mountain [...]
Visit the Chameleon, the ruler of Curt Gowdy State Park. You’ll find him and Hidden Falls by taking Crow Creek Trail, looping back on Mo’Rocka. Highlights: A lovely little spring or late season trek following Middle Crow Creek to its mysterious Hidden Falls. An optional loop back climbs to the plateau where a great megalith–the Chameleon–rules [...]
Professional education took me to Palm Springs, California in January, 2009. My friend Dan spent time in the area while in the Air Force. “It’s ugly” is all he said. Dan loves granite peaks and pines. But Dan, I don’t think you made it to any of the Indian Canyons. The broad Coachella valley is dry. [...]
New Food for Hikers and Hunters: Pouches is the Word I guess I’m kind of a traditionalist. I’ve been eating the same stuff on the trail and in camp for thirty years. Freeze dried meals. Crackers. Salami. Cereal. Cheese. Some jerky. Raisins. A Snickers bar being the big treat. That is, until last spring. We were mapping [...]
The crowds at the Grand Canyon can scramble a person’s brain. There you are, wanting to take in nature’s big spectacle, having driven all those miles, stuck in traffic, gasping fumes, bus loads of foreign tourists getting their pictures taken, no places to park. Your bambinos just want to get out of the car. Your [...]
Highlights: A short, pleasant, early season jaunt to the top “tooth” of this Front Range hogback, giving generous 360 degree views of mighty peaks, great plains and deep blue waters. Location: Just west of Ft. Collins, Colorado. Elevations: Trailhead at 5765`, Horsetooth Rock, 7256`. Distance: Approximately 5 miles round trip, about a 3 hour walk. Guides: Larimer County’s “Horsetooth [...]
Highlights: Stunning views of four great cirques, carved side by side to crown a resplendent meadow, and higher up, two sparkling glacial lakes. This is a 9 on the 10 point “wow” scale! Location: About 90 miles south west of Cheyenne, south from the Poudre River Canyon in Comanche Peak Wilderness. Elevations: Trailhead at 8930`, Cirque Meadows, [...]
Hike of the Week: Mysterious Albany Trail Highlights: This is a secret trail, not shown on any maps and without trailhead markings, yet someone has blazed most of it with white triangles. It leads to crystalline beaver ponds, up weathered granite hills to sweeping views of the Laramie Plains, and marches on to overlooks down into [...]
What it is: A badlands-type area in the Colorado prairie. Gullies, spires, hoodoos, and sculpted walls carved out of brightly colored clay deposits. Location: About a 5 minute drive from Calhan, Colorado, approx. 30 miles east of Colorado Springs. Take Hwy 24 to Calhan, turn right on Yoder Rd., and follow the signs. Gear: Nothing special. Wear [...]
Highlights: It’s the season for a foray into the Snowy Range, the high country of the Medicine Bow. This trail takes day hikers through the gap between Medicine Bow Peak and Browns Peak, past several crystalline lakes into the expansive tundra behind the range. The fish are jumping and the flowers are high. Location: The high [...]
Highlights: A walk across the length of the 1st Wilderness Area in the Medicine Bows, established in 1978. The trail passes through three distinct areas. The first is through one of the few remaining old growth lodgepole forests in the area with huge trees and a park-like savannah in between. The second crosses some large [...]
Highlights: This trail – a glorious walk along the Encampment River – is a gem, a sapphire. The river is a turbulent, wrestling rush of water, splashing its course down the narrow canyon. The upper reach is in the deep shade of fir and spruce, the lower runs through an open hillside of sun and [...]
North Laramie River Trail Highlights: A rather boring hike to a destination that truly has it all: scenery, wildlife, good stream fishing, a swimming hole and the interesting remains of the old Rainbow End, a lodge and string of cabins that was a popular resort for those seeking cool canyon solace and leaping rainbows from the [...]
Highlights: A mountain trail that follows the spine of the Sherman Mountains, traveling through conifer forests and open meadows, passing rugged rock formations with frequent expansive views. Location: Near the summit rest area of I-80, on the eastern side of the Pole Mountain Unit of the Medicine Bow National Forest. Elevations: Summit Trailhead 8689′, high point 8856′, [...]
Five of us backpacked from Wire Pass, down the Buckskin, then down the Paria to Lee’s Ferry. We did it over four days, entering Wire Pass about 7:00 on May 10th, 2005. Perhaps my son, Ryan, said it the best: awesomely brutal and awesomely beautiful. If we had known just a few things the hike [...]
Entering Wire Pass, the sky overcast, a step into mystery, walking into a secret door, down into the unknown, into the unknowable. Our voices seem boisterously loud. As it joins the Buckskin it widens into a hushed gallery. Ancient petroglyphs adorn the right hand wall. Graceful big horns parade and scamper across the wall. Hunters [...]