Today's hike

A nice bunch of hikers (about 8) tested out some of the new trail routes to the south of our County Seat.  Few if any of us had used all the switchbacks, ups and downs, of this rather complex trail.  Finally, we got to a point where our never-before-puzzled leader decided to turn back the way we came up and down.

 Where we stopped at about 3.5 miles or more, it dawned on the oldest person on the hike that he once brought a group over a hill behind us and down a deep gully to our southeast.  So he and Dennis decided to explore that trail-less route and hopefully find the cars (not too difficult since it was clear that the vehicles were to the East).  So, the main group followed the leader who followed the trail.  Dennis and I didn't see them at noon, when we arrived at the parking place with minimum difficulty (almost all downhill). We pasted a note on a windshield and hoped that their trek was pleasant.  Their up-hill treks probably were rested by the down-hill stretches.

On Wednesday at 9:30, you may join us in a much shorter, but also interesting site close to town.  The plan is to locate an historic Indian site (camping and hunting probably) from way back in our South Fork history. This is on the lower reaches of Sentinel Mountain, starting at the area behind Doc's ski store.  Most of you have been near this location, but only one case of actually seeing it is known, and that has not been relocated recently.  This is not a long hike, but requires alert eyes and location techniques.  As you know, the Ute people, who still visit here frequently, were the masters of the mountains of Colorado and Eastern Utah.  I believe that this campsite was one of the "vacation outposts" of a leading hunter.  Join us and let's see what you think.  

We'll be careful with the weather:  if it looks like snow, please dress appropriately.   Whether we locate the old site or not, we'll try to be back to the cars no later than noon.  Please join us if you have good eyes and strong legs.  We won't have more than about 2.5 miles of walking and looking.  This is a hike with a scattered search mission.

Coming Events:

Next week(November) we will go along with the national time change.  This will let us start a little later, by setting our watches one hour back.  In other words, we'll be hiking, snowshoeing or Norwegian skiing- X/C, depending on which covering appears on the ground.  That means than NEXT WEEK (not this Wednesday) we will depart the visitor center at 10 a.m., (unless you are informed otherwise).  If you want assurance, call me at 719-873-5239 before 9:25 a.m. on hike day or before.

Thanks to Dennis Shepherd, whose camera functioned when mine ran out of energy.

More photos by Barbara Thiesfeld