Forebay Lake

Distance:  3.4 miles

Altitude Gained: 220 ft.

High Point:  8370 ft.

a mere woodland stroll

easy like sunday morning

picnic by the lake

Forebay Lake is a picnic hike, a walk in the woods.  There are actually three lakes to see: you drive by Haviland just before the trailhead; you walk by a small unnamed lagoon; and the trail more or less ends near Forebay.

Let's call the unnamed lake Damselfly Reservoir. 

 There were a ton of dragonflies and damselflies; both insects lay their eggs in the water so this makes sense.  Together they comprise the Insecta class Odonata which means toothed-jaw and they are aerial predators; they buzzed around us the whole hike with expert skill chomping pesky mosquitos and flies. Well actually, the dragonfly is the true master compared to the smaller weaker damselfly.  Distinguishing the two insects is easy.  When at rest, the damselfly holds its wings parallel to and flattened to the body while the dragonfly rests with its wings perpendicular to the body.

This is a Four-spotted skimmer (Libellula quadrimaculata) that we saw by the lake.  These dragonflies are such professionals in the air that they even mate in flight. 

This damselfly below is the common blue tail (Ischnura heterostecta).  These damselflies may not mate in the air but they configure into a lovely heart-like copulation pose!

http://sites.butler-bremer.com/web/kladage/iwild3431%20Mating%20Blue%20Damsel%20Flies.jpg

We are mildly confused by a few discrepancies we found in Pixler's (and Peel's) description of this hike. First, we never had to ford Elbert Creek or anything like it. According to the book, we would have been able to do this without getting wet by crossing at the waterfall using available logs. What? Where? Wet? Waterfall? Logs? Did we miss a new bridge somewhere? The part immediately following was familiar enough: shortcut through the meadow under a power line, big water pipe, metal tower over the lake. Yes, yes, and yes. But what is this about a bluff southeast of the lake from which one can see the Animas River and potentially the train at the right time of day. We explored southeast and every other direction for that matter: no such bluff, no such views. We did see a gate at the the end of the trail with a "Danger Keep Out" sign posted that is never mentioned in the book. Was the bluff supposed to be that way? Didn't seem like it went toward any views.

Nevertheless, the walk in the woods was worth it. We did have a picnic at the lake, a pretty view in its own right. This is a good hike for anyone, kids and grandparents alike. A walk in the woods if you are camping at Haviland Lake or have a few hours to go strolling to a nice picnic site.

Haflin Creek

Distance: 7.6 miles
Altitude Gained: 2880 ft
High Point:  9500 ft.

felled forest empire

a post-utopic graveyard

young green brings new hope

FIRST AND FOREMOST:

We saw a BEAR!! We startled him suddenly, and he took off up the mountain too fast to get a photo. The most magnificent fauna sighting of our lives without a doubt: the Black Bear (Ursus Americanus). The one we saw was actually brown. We think it was probably a female because it didn't seem too big, but we aren't positive.

We had a bit of foreshadowing in the form of slash marks in this fallen aspen.  We discussed that most likely only a bear could make marks like these.  Shortly thereafter, there he (or she) was. 

Looked like this guy:

(http://dnr.state.co.us/ImageDBImages/21351Vignette.jpg)

Haflin Creek is our best hike so far of the season.  It is a perfect half-day hike when the weather is moderate:  good elevation gain, good work-out, incredible views from the top of Missionary Ridge.  Later in the summer, it is an overheater due to the amount of exposure to sun since the forest burned eight years ago.  It is a highly interesting hike because of the fire damage and the regeneration of flora since.  The fourth edition of Hiking Trails calls it "a great early summer warm-up for Fourteeners."  We find this to be true: you climb, climb, climb, never painstakingly, but those who are not in shape will not love this hike.

For us, it was emotional at times.  We were silenced as we ascended to the level of the former ponderosa kingdom.  We mourned the death of thousands of our great friends, many of their burnt bodies still standing, a testament to their once majestic stronghold in these parts.  We were overcome with nostalgia really.  In the summer of 2002, we lived on County Road 203 directly across the valley.  We first saw the fire within an hour of its birth.  For weeks we did little else than watch it burn slowly down the ridge, devastating the old forest.  We called her Mish (a shortening of what came to be the official name:  the Missionary Ridge Fire of 2002), and she was a very real presence in our lives:  terrible, glorious, unforgettable.

On this trail, the ghostly presence of the former forest is ever-present.  This used to be a largely shady trail back in the day, an enchanted forest for sure.  Now, as the warning sign at the trailhead reminds us, the corpses of felled giants are everywhere, traversing the trail and falling still all the time.  It is quite a technical trail, actually.  You often have to climb over their big bodies to continue along.

Nevertheless, the cycle of life wages on.   There is as much new life nowadays as there is evidence of death.  Young aspen groves abound, surviving like the fittest species they are. 

And oh, the flowers!!!! The flowers, the flowers!!!! This hike is a tour of wildflowers.  Sometimes post-burn areas will yield tremendous blooms, even larger than before the fire, and this would seem to be the case on Missionary Ridge but we can't be sure.  Either way, we were surrounded by countless wildflowers including mountain balm (Ceanothus velutinus), hundreds of lupine (Lupinus argenteus) and even some red columbine (Aquilegia elegantula)!  It doesn't get much better than this...

If you've never been thrilled to the very edges of your soul by a flower in spring bloom, maybe your soul has never been in bloom. ~Terri Guillemets

If you haven't been on top of Missionary Ridge lately, we recommend you get up Haflin Creek.  It's a good one.

Dry Fork Loop

Distance:  8.5 miles
Altitude Gained: 1290 ft.
High Point:  8680 ft.

yes, it makes a sound

when they fall and we're not there

trees are not alone

The Dry Fork Loop is an easy half day hike that joins up with a stretch of the Colorado Trail.  Pixler and Peel have rated it as moderate, but we beg to differ.  As a hike, it is so easy that it almost gets boring toward the end.  It is quite long and the climb and descent are extremely gradual, even though we went up via Hoffhein's Connection, the allegedly "much steeper" way.  We imagine that it is a fantastic bike ride as the traffic on the trail would suggest.  We like a hike with a little more push, but this one's nice if you are looking to just take an arborary stroll. 

We are always happy to pass an afternoon with the trees.  We saw a diverse array of Colorado beauties:  aspens, spruce, doug firs, a myriad of budding decidious and of course our good friends, the ponderosas.  There is just something about these pines.  They are engaged in some sort of cosmic dance that is blowing our mind.  The ones on the Dry Fork trail seem to be even older and wiser than others we have seen. 

They also seem to be more active so to speak.  Some dance, others do yoga.   And for some reason, this trail has an unusally high occurence of displaced trees.  A fallen tree traverses the path every so often.  Some of them look to have simply fallen over and others appear to have been ripped from the ground by an angry giant. 

Ironically, the forces that bring these beasts down are of the microscopic variety.  These majestic beings can fall victim to a number of destructive little terrorists: parasitic plants like the Dwarf mistletoe (Arceuthobium americanum), deadly root-fungi or Black stain root disease (Ophiostoma wageneri), and of course the hundreds of insect species that attack the ponderosa, most devestating are those in the Ips and Dendroctonus genuses; the beetles.

tunnels or galleries left in the underbark of a Ponderosa

by adults and larve of Dendroctonus ponderosea.

The Aspens are a major presence in these parts too.  Last year's leaves make a patchwork quilt across much of the trail.

But seriously, what causes a tree to grow like this? At what point in its 300-600 year lifetime does the ponderosa pine start vogueing?  Do they just get bored some decades and decide to stretch their branches in a new direction?  Seriously, if any can explain this to us...

What characters! 

 

This photogenic Green Comma (Polygonia faunus) butterfly danced with us a moment before graciously posing for this glamour shot.  These brush-footed butterflies are easy to identify because of their ragged wing edge and the thick dark borders with little yellow spots.  Their flickering bursts of color make the forest feel a little more enchanted.

From out of nowhere, this mysterious game bird scurried across the ground and fluttered up into a pine tree to hide.  It looked a bit like a chicken and had a strange tessalated pattern on its underbelly and hindwings and a distinct crest on its tiny head.  Our most educated estimation is that it is a Scaled Quail (Callipepla squamata), definitely not an ave that we expected to see.

As suggested by Pixler and Peel, we took a short detour east down the Colorado Trail to Gudy's Rest, a scenic stop memorializing Gudy Gaskill, one of the pioneers of the trail.  It is a nice resting point, and it gets a hiker to thinking about the sheer marvel of the Colorado Trail, a 475 mile footpath from Durango to Denver.  The trail is including in Hiking Trails, and although we don't anticipate getting to it this season, it is on our list of things to do (and blog about). 

Log Chutes Trail

Distance:  small loop 4.7 miles (plus 3.6 round trip from car to trailhead)

Altitude Gained:  880 ft (plus some)

it occurs to us

that the ponderosa pines

have reached nirvana

Now this is our kind of trail:  enchanted friendly forest of old wise ponderosa pines highlighted by the occasional aspen grove.  As the name of the trail suggests, some of these pines are destined to be logs for human use.  But we imagine that when their time comes, they take their death with honor.  They seem to have reached a state of consciousness that our human brains cannot understand.  Some appear to be engaged in yoga or a very slow interpretative dance.

Let it be known that we could not drive all the way in to the parking area for the trail as Junction Creek Road was closed several miles beforehand.  We aren't sure why, perhaps because the campground isn't open yet?  

It made for a nice walk anyway, but because of the extra time, we were unable to do the big Log Chutes loop.  Nevertheless, we got into the woods, which is what we were looking for.  Of the "city hikes" we have been doing thus far, the Log Chutes trail feels the farthest removed from town.  You get the occasional view of the valley and the Fort, but it still feels like you are in the wilderness.

This Aspen ( Populus tremuloides)  grove struck our eye; we loved the contrast of their bare white bodies amongst the jolly green giants.  Aspen trees are incredible!  They are disputably, the largest living organisms on earth.  All Aspens standing together in a grove are connected by an underground root system derived from a single seedling; hundreds of trees all genetically identical...amazing!

We also saw small living organisms, like this Short-horned Lizard (Phrynosoma hernandesi).   

And in our tradition of scat identification, we present the droppings of a Bobcat (Lynx rufus), the most common wildcat species in Colorado.  Their scat is long and cylindrical, containing hair and bones.

(Here's your drama Will:  see how Kristin fords this river with the acumen of a crouching tiger!  Okay, we'll do better next time...)

There was an abundance of running water making music on our hike, reminding us that the snow is melting rapidly.  Soon we will be able to get higher!

Meadow Loop/Telegraph Trail

Distance: 5 miles
Altitude Gained:  880 ft
High Point:  7480 ft

welcome to life

flora, and our gratitude

for painting the day

The Meadow Loop and the Telegraph Trail are two more trail options in the extensive Telegraph system.  John Peel lumped them together in the 4th edition as a suggested hike of their own; we dig.  It's high point is near the top of the next ridge over when you look east from Raider.  You have endless options when you hike around in these trails, but we find this suggestion a good route for discovery when you only have a few hours but you want to climb a little to great views. 

We had a glorous hike.  The spring is coming alive, and so are we.  We absolutely love this planet we're on.  Happy Earth Day!

We think Maggie and Barb Casey feel the same way.  They were on mountain bikes of course, as was every other person we passed on trail.  This athleticism impresses us, naturally.  But we are happy to be hikers.  Hiking, one sees and contemplates more of the treasures the trail has to offer.

up on telegraph

dead trees tell ancient secrets

of Earth's yesterday

These dead trees left standing in the forest to decay naturally are called snags, and we love em'.  We are impressed not only with their astounding aesthetic but also because these seemingly lifeless trees support hundreds of different species in the forest ecosystem!  Mammals, birds, reptiles and insects shack-up together in the beautiful hardwood condos.  Plus, the dead wood attracts mosses, fungi and lichens which serve as food to these tenants while they aid in decomposition, returning vital nutrients to the soil. Ahhhh, the cycle of life!

Our botanical friends are alive and blooming; the smell of Mountain Sagebrush tickled our nose, new Apricot blossoms are everywhere and the Scarlet (or Indian) Paintbrush threw us bursts of vibrant red.  

 We saw some more scat, same as before but older: very hairy, curly-like, tapered ends.  This is the second time in Horse Gulch that we have seen evidence of our feline friend, the Mountain Lion.  Because pumas are incredibly solitary and territorial, we believe we are "tracking" the same cat; the home range of a male is 30-100 square miles and excludes other male mountain lions.  In that case, we feel we're forming a small bond :)  What shall we name him?

    

Our highlight this hike: the Western Chorus Frog (Pseudacris triseriata)

We think this symphony says it all...