Sierra had another birthday party to attend today. Since my days off are changing and I only have a one-day weekend, Noelle told me to go have an adventure to myself. I made the drive through cold fog and drizzle and ended up in beautiful 65 degree weather in the Poudre Canyon of Northern Colorado. From there I drove west to the Youngs Gulch Trailhead.
On the drive in I found the Greyrock Trailhead absolutely crammed with cars. Luckily, the Youngs Gulch Trail does not seem to get quite as much use and there was plenty of parking to be found. I quickly gathered my pack and hit the trail with mountain scenery and blue sky.
The trail climbed gently up a hillside and away from the creek that was swollen with snowmelt.
Soon, I made my first crossing of the creek on a substantial bridge.
As I climbed further up the canyon, I noticed lots of spring wildflowers in bloom.
The trail never seemed to steer very far away from the creek, and crossed it many times.
Most of the many stream crossings had a log bridge, or at least an improvised bridge of some type. There were however, two crossings where I couldn't help but get my feet wet. One had a this log stretching across the creek.
I didn't feel confident enough to use it though. A map of the Youngs Gulch Trail shows that the canyon it follows makes a right hand turn as it ascends into the mountains. I never noticed the turn and so when I reached the very obvious end of the trail, I was a little bit surprised.
I ate a snack on a log there and drank some water before heading back the way I had come. The trip down the trail offered a different perspective of the mountain scenery.
After I had completed my hike, I made a short drive further up the canyon to check out the Mishawaka. It was packed and so I turned around and stopped at one of the picnic areas along the Cache la Poudre to check out the view before my drive north.
The water in the river was the highest I've seen it and lots of kayakers and rafters were taking advantage of the conditions.
No comments:
Post a Comment