Lory State Park: Howard/Westridge/Timber/Arthur's Rock Loop

 This morning I made the drive down to Fort Collins and Lory State Park to do some hiking. Today's walk would take place primarily on the Westridge Trail. I parked at the Arthur's Rock Parking Lot and hit the trail, ascending up the Howard Trail. Along the way I passed a goldfinch singing from the top of a tree. 

I climbed the Howard Trail up to its junction with the Westridge Trail. 

Along the way there were excellent views of Arthur's Rock.

Once on the Westridge Trail, there were excellent views west to Long's Peak and the other high peaks.

There was even a nice bench to sit at to enjoy the view.

The trail left the roadbed that it had been following for a bit and traversed a singletrack trail.

Shortly after returning to the roadbed, I left the Westridge Trail 

and followed the Timber Trail past some campsites 

and over to Arthur's Rock where I rested a bit near the summit. 

After my summit break, I started to make my way back to the car via the Arthur's Rock Trail. I admired clusters of wildflowers as I made my way down. 

Once I had returned to the car, I made my way over to Odell Brewing for a beer before heading home. 

Jay Em, Wyoming

 Today Noelle and I wanted to get out of the house and so we headed into Torrington, stopped at the Bread Doctor in Torrington for some goodies and then headed north to the fading town of Jay Em. The town is named for James Moore's J Rolling M Ranch. 

We parked the car on the side of the street in the old, historic business district. While there aren't any businesses currently operating, the area is on the National Register of Historic Places. Here's what we saw:

Nebraska National Forest: Soldier Creek Wilderness: Boots and Saddle-Trooper Loop

 Today, Rosie and I headed back up north to the Soldier Creek Wilderness Area just outside of Fort Robinson State Park. This time we would hike the Boots and Saddle/Trooper Trail Loop.

We set out on the Boots and Saddle Trail and crossed over a branch of Soldier Creek several times before heading away from the water and into the grasslands.

We saw some wildflowers in bloom including:

Thermopsis

Pasqueflower

phlox

We traversed along several small canyons 

and eventually made our way to the site of the Officer's Club.

where there were some old concrete foundations.

From there, we climbed up a ridge and then started to make our way back to the trailhead via the Trooper Trail which we had hiked las week. 

Nebraska National Forest: Soldier Creek Wilderness Trooper Trail Loop

 This morning I drove north as the sun rose over the prairie.

I headed up to Crawford, through Fort Robinson State Park, and over to the Soldier Creek Campground for my hike into the Soldier Creek Wilderness. Noelle and I had backpacked here before, back in 2009 when we were working seasonal jobs at Wind Cave National Park.

I parked the car, grabbed my pack and got Rosie ready for our hike. We would be hiking the Trooper Trail Loop and the walk started with us entering the wilderness 

and a descent down to the namesake creek. 

Much of the beginning part of the hike was down in the valley formed by Soldier Creek.

Eventually, the trail climbed up to the top of a ridge with great views of the surrounding landscape.

The area has burned at least once before, but there were areas of tree, ponderosa pines up on the ridges.

The first half of the trail headed northwest, but once we made the turn we headed mostly southeast back towards the trailhead. After the final descent, we followed a low area back towards the trailhead.

It was a fairly long, but very enjoyable hike through a part of western Nebraska that I need to make it back to.