Roosevelt National Forest: Trap Park Trail

After a restful evening in the tent, we awoke and ate breakfast, packed up camp, and then headed a short way up Long Draw Road to hike the Trap Park Trail. Named for bear traps that had once been set in the meadows there, it was a pleasant area of scenic beauty, easy hiking and abundant wildlife. 

We parked at the lot at the end of a short, but rough road. At the parking area was a nice clump of columbine in bloom.

Besides the columbine, there were many wild strawberries growing near the parking lot. Sierra picked a handful as a pre-hike snack.

After enjoying a few strawberries the hike started with a climb up an old rocky road.

Eventually the road leveled out a bit and climbed gently through a wooded area with a stream tumbling down a steep escarpment to our right. 

Soon enough, the climb ended and views opened up to a beautiful mountain meadow fringed with rocky peaks.

We crossed a stream with thigh deep water,

then started to make our way further up the grassy park.

Even Rosie seemed to appreciate the scenery. She walked off leash, stopping every now and then to look around.

Noelle lagged behind a little bit, stopping frequently to look for birds. She was able to spot this Wilson's warbler in a thicket, bringing insects to its young hidden away.

We continued further up. The views were just amazing.

While the habitat seemed perfect for moose, we didn't see any on our walk. At a second significant stream crossing, less than 1/4 mile from the end of the trail we stopped and ate a snack. Then, we started to make our down the trail the way we had come.

It was a great, easy hike. One that you could even do with small children. 

Roosevelt National Forest: Zimmerman Lake

After watching the Big Boy pass through Carr, we made the drive into Fort Collins to pick up lunch at King Soopers, then headed up Poudre Canyon. Our first stop was at the Poudre Park Picnic Area to eat our sushi and wrap.

While stopped there it was cool to see the rafters floating by on the river.

From there we headed further up canyon where we snagged a campsite at the Aspen Glen Campground. We set up camp and relaxed for a short time. Then, Noelle and I headed further up the canyon, almost to Cameron Pass, where we parked for our hike on the Zimmerman Lake Trail.

We set out on the trail, really just a rough, old road.

Wildflowers were plentiful along the path.

The trail was short, but a bit steeper than I had anticipated. Before we knew it, we were at Zimmerman Lake.

We explored the area a bit and Rosie waded in the cool water.

Then we crossed the dam,

before heading back the way we had come. It was a short 2.4 mile roundtrip hike, with some nice views through the trees. 

Back at camp we relaxed,

made dinner and enjoyed the sound of the rushing waters of Joe Wright Creek.

Union Pacific Big Boy 4014 Passes Through Carr, Colorado

 It's the start of our weekend! Besides our 9-day vacation coming up next week, we are starting to run out of summer days to do things as a family. We decided to head into the mountains above Poudre Canyon west of Fort Collins to do some camping and hiking. On the way there, we opted to detour into the tiny town of Carr, just south of the Wyoming border, to see Big Boy 4014 in action again. This time I took a video of the behemoth passing us by.

Western Nebraska Pioneers vs. Diamond Club Collegians at Oregon Trail Park Stadium

 Noelle and I went to our first Western Nebraska Pioneer game of the 2025 season. It was a make up game for one that had been cancelled last night due to wet field conditions. Interestingly, we haven't gotten any rain in quite a while, so the field conditions must have been caused by sprinkler issues. Anyway, it was the first of a doubleheader of 7 inning games. We watched the Pios win game one in resounding fashion 11 -1.  We had planned on going home for dinner and then returning for game 2, but clouds and wind forced us to reconsider. I took the big lens for the camera and got some decent shots of the action.

Curt Gowdy State Park: Mo' Rocka/Hidden Falls Loop

This morning Sierra and I headed down into Wyoming for a day in both Wyoming and Fort Collins, Colorado. Our first stop was the beautiful Curt Gowdy State Park between Cheyenne and Laramie. I've been out to Curt Gowdy before. In fact, we've hiked to Hidden Falls before. However, this time we would hike a loop on both the Hidden Falls Trail and the Mo' Rocka Trail.

We arrived at the trailhead parking lot and hit the trail. It was already pretty warm at just after 9:30. Right off the bat there's a nice view of a small section of the Granite Springs Reservoir.

From my reading I learned that the Mo' Rocka section of the hike is more in the open than the Hidden Falls part. Since temperatures were expected to rise into the mid-90s by the afternoon in Cheyenne, I opted to hike Mo' Rocka first.

The defining feature of this part of the hike were the awesome views of the rock formation known as "the Chameleon." As we made our way towards and around the monolith, the look of it changed a bit. Perhaps this is how it got its name.

Just before starting our descent down into the canyon where Crow Creek flows through Hidden Falls, there's a nice overlook of the canyon and interesting rock formations. 

We arrived at Hidden Falls to a couple groups of people enjoying the cool, misty air. I spent a bit of time wading through the creek to get to a nice view of the falls.

Then we made our way back to the trailhead via the mostly shady Hidden Falls Trail. We encountered a lot of people heading to the falls as we made our way out. 

Happy Independence Day!