Scott Chandler
Wildness is a necessity- John Muir
- Joined
- Jan 4, 2014
- Messages
- 1,099
6/26-6/28
After a month of fairly unexciting times work wise (hard to believe as a wilderness ranger) I had a long weekend to fill. Considering I prefer to play away from where I do my business, I wanted to get away from the Bighorns. A month before I had driven through northern Colorado and been beckoned by the mountains out there. So fairly last minute I looked at my wilderness map and decided to investigate the Mt Zirkel Wilderness.
An entirely too long drive (that is the big issue with the Bighorns...everything else that is cool is 4+ hours away it seems) saw me nearing my target.
In my quick research I found a trailhead that looked like it might yield some nice results: the Lake Katherine TH. Upon getting there I discovered that I should have looked at the scale of the map I found because the end of the trail was only 3 miles in. Oops. Great for tonight, maybe bad for the couple days to come. Oh well, I arrived at the TH as two other groups were readying and dilly dallying might cost me a nice campsite.
So off I went and boy was it pretty.
I decided to forgo Lake Katherine for that night and went to the end of the trail at Bighorn (ha!) Lake.
Looking at maps I knew that the CDT sat up above me somewhere. So even though the trail ended here...maybe getting up on the cliffs would be doable and I would be able to do more extensive exploring. I scouted out a possible path up before passing out. Well sorta passing out. A group of deer sure liked my camp that evening and kept waking me up. I even had a buck with a nice rack staring in my tent at me and later licking at a spot where I'd peed. Crazy animals.
The next morning started out gorgeous.
After tromping through the woods I found the way up; a slide currently almost full of snow. Going around the snow got me up to the ridge. Steep, but doable.
Topping out on the ridge yielded a view into the Lake Katherine drainage. Kinda took the breathe away.
The views from the ridge were nice as I headed towards the "summit." The ridge itself was even a pleasant walk.
Not only was my selected trail short but it also happened to be between two more rugged spots of the range. Awesome mountains towered to the south and north, and I had mellow walking where I was. Aside from snow and snowmelt gardens it was pretty nice walking.
Above Bighorn Lake.
Mt Zirkel and company taunted me to the north but worsening snow drifts and changing weather turned me away.
So I wandered along the CDT for a bit before heading back down to my peaceful camp.
And the next morning I flew down the trail, pausing for flowers and hiking up to Lake Katherine.
I decided to take the scenic route back the Buffalo, no point in getting home early right? So I made the drive through Rocky Mountain National Park. All I can say is wow and I want to get into it!
So yeah, great times. I now have even more of a desire to explore Colorado. Hopefully I'll get to soon but fore now I have to settle with my Bighorns. Patrols start this weekend so good things are to come!
Featured image for home page:
After a month of fairly unexciting times work wise (hard to believe as a wilderness ranger) I had a long weekend to fill. Considering I prefer to play away from where I do my business, I wanted to get away from the Bighorns. A month before I had driven through northern Colorado and been beckoned by the mountains out there. So fairly last minute I looked at my wilderness map and decided to investigate the Mt Zirkel Wilderness.
An entirely too long drive (that is the big issue with the Bighorns...everything else that is cool is 4+ hours away it seems) saw me nearing my target.
In my quick research I found a trailhead that looked like it might yield some nice results: the Lake Katherine TH. Upon getting there I discovered that I should have looked at the scale of the map I found because the end of the trail was only 3 miles in. Oops. Great for tonight, maybe bad for the couple days to come. Oh well, I arrived at the TH as two other groups were readying and dilly dallying might cost me a nice campsite.
So off I went and boy was it pretty.
I decided to forgo Lake Katherine for that night and went to the end of the trail at Bighorn (ha!) Lake.
Looking at maps I knew that the CDT sat up above me somewhere. So even though the trail ended here...maybe getting up on the cliffs would be doable and I would be able to do more extensive exploring. I scouted out a possible path up before passing out. Well sorta passing out. A group of deer sure liked my camp that evening and kept waking me up. I even had a buck with a nice rack staring in my tent at me and later licking at a spot where I'd peed. Crazy animals.
The next morning started out gorgeous.
After tromping through the woods I found the way up; a slide currently almost full of snow. Going around the snow got me up to the ridge. Steep, but doable.
Topping out on the ridge yielded a view into the Lake Katherine drainage. Kinda took the breathe away.
The views from the ridge were nice as I headed towards the "summit." The ridge itself was even a pleasant walk.
Not only was my selected trail short but it also happened to be between two more rugged spots of the range. Awesome mountains towered to the south and north, and I had mellow walking where I was. Aside from snow and snowmelt gardens it was pretty nice walking.
Above Bighorn Lake.
Mt Zirkel and company taunted me to the north but worsening snow drifts and changing weather turned me away.
So I wandered along the CDT for a bit before heading back down to my peaceful camp.
And the next morning I flew down the trail, pausing for flowers and hiking up to Lake Katherine.
I decided to take the scenic route back the Buffalo, no point in getting home early right? So I made the drive through Rocky Mountain National Park. All I can say is wow and I want to get into it!
So yeah, great times. I now have even more of a desire to explore Colorado. Hopefully I'll get to soon but fore now I have to settle with my Bighorns. Patrols start this weekend so good things are to come!
Featured image for home page:
