Adventure Travel Photography Blog
On my way to Buck Gulch Trail, number 772 in Pike National Forest of Colorado’s foothills, I came across a sign “Shooters: Be Considerate. We Live Here. & Been Shot”. Hmmm I thought, I’m going on a hike just two miles away!?! My drive continued past a homemade shooting range in a burn area from the High Meadow Fire that raged out of control in 2000.
Happy Hiking!
I looked through my guide book for a short hike. Something that would be four hours or less at a slow pace. I found a four miler (one-way) located on off County Road 68 in Pike National Forest. Trail number 663, also known as Rolling Creek, begins at an elevation of 8,200 feet. According to the guide book and map at the trailhead, Rolling Creek Trail gains 1,400 feet in four miles and terminates at the Wigwam Trail.
HAPPY HIKING!
After a slow start to the morning, VANilla, Petey, and I drove past miles of prairies and pasture lands before eventually arriving at Devils Tower National Monument. The towering rock formation stands 1,265 feet above the river level and dwarfs everything around it including ponderosa pines that surround its base.
According to scientists, the tower was formed when a mass of molten rock welled up within the earth’s crust, then cooled, and was later exposed by erosion. The mass looks as though it is made up of several columns.
ON THE ROAD AGAIN!
For a rainy day spent mostly in VANilla, I couldn’t have wished for anything better. There had been reports of a mama grizzly bear with two cubs roaming around the Jackson Lake Lodge area. On our way to our hike yesterday, a handful of cars and rangers were camped out alongside the road, so this morning around 7:45 I ventured to the same general area along with several others. I was willing to wait up to an hour, but much to my pleasant surprise, I only had to wait about five minutes. During the next 15 minutes, I think I took 83 shots. Every now and then, I just set the camera down and watched both the bears and the spectacle of photographers.
ON THE ROAD AGAIN!
Another lovely day in Grand Teton National Park! We beat the crowds to the Spring Lake Trailhead which we followed through burned forest, ferns, around a lake, and up Cascade Creek to Hidden Falls. The falls were ferocious, splashing down the rocks and spraying us from fifty yards away. With the shade and the spray, there had to be a twenty degree temperature difference from the direct sun.
ON THE ROAD AGAIN!
I had a very quiet day today. I had been attempting to fight off a migraine the last two days which wasn’t working well, so I simply slept in this morning and Max took the day to go to Yellowstone. She had never been there and being so close, she wanted to swing by Old Faithful with or without me. Given I felt bad, had already been there, and plan on going again sometime next week, it seemed like a perfect solution. It sounded like her day was more eventful than mine. She saw bison, a black bear and a bull moose in velvet.
ON THE ROAD AGAIN!
With Sunday morning, came another hike in Grand Teton National Park. This time Max and I took the Granite Canyon Trail where we followed the Snake River, raging with whitewater, through meadows of wildflowers and forests of pines and aspens. I found the hike intriguing simply due to the different greenery found here compared to most mountainous areas. It feels unusual to pass by ferns beneath a pine tree.
ON THE ROAD AGAIN!
After coffee with Carrie this morning, Max and I headed into the park and took Steven’s suggestion to hike Death Canyon Trail in Grand Teton National Park. The first 1.5 miles of the trail led us through meadows of wildflowers with views of the Tetons to the west, across several narrow streams which required leaping ability, and up to a shaded overlook of beautiful Phelps Lake.
ON THE ROAD AGAIN!
This morning I reversed yesterday’s drive through Logan Canyon, this time heading North to Jackson Hole. VANilla weaved along the Logan River beneath limestone cliffs where I made a handful of stops. Two stops were at campgrounds that my Reader’s Digest book suggested to see a slab of quartz tunneled by tiny seaworms and to see a Jardine Juniper that is believed to be over 1,500 years old. Both campgrounds were closed. I’m presuming the river was up too high.
ON THE ROAD AGAIN!
I finally tore myself away from Steamboat on Wednesday and traveled to Dinosaur National Monument where I found a campsite near the Green River and tried staying cool in the shade for the afternoon and evening. Today was simply crazy! I don’t even know where to begin. For what felt like a blistering hot morning (though I suspect it wasn’t even 80 degrees) and an afternoon full of thunder showers, I have to say, my day was nothing short of excellent.
I began the morning in Dinosaur National Monument, a park that spans across the Utah/Colorado border. I took a variety of short hikes beginning with a short uphill climb to Cub Creek Petroglyphs where I found some of the largest rock carvings I have seen on my adventures. The carvings included triangles, swirls, and faces in addition to large lizard like animals and a figure that looked like a flute player. The well defined petroglyphs seemed to have weathered the harsh, desert conditions.
ON THE ROAD AGAIN!