This morning, Rosie and I made the drive down to Cheyenne and then over to Curt Gowdy State Park. We entered the park, purchased our entry pass and drove to the trailhead for today's hike near the Granite Springs Dam. Right away there were great views of the surrounding foothills.
Today's hike would follow the Canyons Trail and right away the trail followed a canyon where water flowed out of the Granite Springs Reservoir.
There was a lot of mountain mahogany along the trail, with its unusual feathery fruit.
Once we reached the bottom of the canyon, there were a lot of deciduous trees and a little bit of fall color.
Every now and then, Rosie and I stopped to take a break and drink some water.
Away from the canyon, the trail passed through some meadows with views of the surrounding foothills.
While I had hoped to see some aspens with golden autumn leaves, the closest I got was some Balm of Gilead that was adorned in brilliant yellow.
Soon enough, the trail passed by Crow Creek, right before it enters the Crystal Reservoir.
The view looking across the reservoir was pretty spectacular!
At this point, I figured I was nearing the end of the hike. However, I was wrong. The trail veered away from the water and over to another deep canyon. This one featured a two-track road at its bottom.
The trail followed the rim of the canyon and slowly descended towards its bottom.
I thought it might be interesting to come back at some point to walk the road at the bottom of the canyon. However, when we reached the bottom, we found it to be fenced-off.
We climbed up to the opposite rim and crossed a hilly area. Soon we could see views of the road that we would walk back to the start of the hike. We walked past a developed area where we met a curious magpie.
Then, we walked the road back to the car with intermittent views out across the reservoir.
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