South Fork Hike Wonders

We feel so blessed to get to hike somewhere new almost daily!  We have taken several 5-7 mile hikes around South Fork, so we decided to put a few pictures from each into a blog to show some of the wonders we have discovered here.  

The first hike is the Middle Alder trail just northeast of where we are staying.  The aspen groves along this trail are beautiful, with some of the largest trees we have ever seen.  We are used to seeing spindly young aspens, but the trunks on these trees were as big as Denisa.

We only hiked the trail for 3 miles, then decided to bush-whack our way to the top of the ridge for the views.  There are peaks in all directions and trees look healthy in this part of the forest.  Mark also looks quite healthy from all this exercise.  But you can see that the afternoon storm clouds are gathering.

We are used to seeing lots of pine cones on the ground, but these green cones aren't quite ripe.  It should be a good year for pine cones with all the moisture we've had this summer.

We were on top of the ridge when the showers started, and we were lucky to find a rock to hide beside with an umbrella pine over our heads.  We stayed quite dry during the rain, and Mark took a picture of our haven from the storm.

Another day we hiked the Beaver Mountain trail, with the trailhead just a few miles to the west of South Fork.  Again, we feel so blessed to be hiking in 60-70 degree temperatures in July.  We are loving this Colorado weather!  There was a fire here several years ago, and the burnt aspen trunks are still standing.  But you can see that the new growth aspens are more than twice as tall as Mark now.

After a very steep initial section, we were on top of a ridge, looking down into the South Fork Valley. All the trees that we could see as we faced north looked green and healthy.

But when we turned around and looked south in that same meadow, all we could see was a forest of charred tree trunks.  The meadow we were standing in was obviously the fire line.

We have been chasing bluebonnets ever since we first saw them in March in south Texas.  We are still seeing them on the mountain trails here in Colorado.  But the Colorado versions look more like bushes than individual flowers.

Mark has commented that Denisa must be on wildflower overload, as she can just walk right by them without taking pictures now.  But this meadow of orange paintbrushes caused even an overloaded hiker to stop for a photo.

Beaver Mountain trail is open to ATVs, but this picture shows that it is steep and rocky.  So we enjoyed the quiet, away from the noise of those ATV engines this morning.

Our favorite part of the hike was when it opened into a meadow.  We sat down in the tall grass and spotted a doe and her fawn, and then another deer.

But our favorite spotting was a mother coyote and her 4 pups.  The pups were frolicking and Mom was resting when we first found them.  We could see them clearly through the binoculars, even though our zoomed in pictures aren't as clear.

 But mother coyote spotted us in the meadow and watched us intently for quite some time.  Then she called the pups and we watched them scamper away.

We also spotted this ground squirrel, with cheeks so full she looked like she was suffering from chip-mumps.

We hope she was planning to share with the youngster looking longingly from the rock pile back home.

Our third hiking destination was recommended by the visitor's center in South Fork.  Eleven miles west of town is an area called Big Meadow, with a sizable lake just a half mile from the highway.  At one time it was a beautiful area, but the pine beetles have decimated whole sections of evergreens around the lake.

In fact, we found these curious cones throughout the campground, amongst the trunks of old diseased trees that had been cut down.

Upon closer inspection we found the cones protecting tiny evergreens in an attempt to replace the grand old trees that had perished.

We attempted a hike up the mountain on Kitty Trail.  But with the recent fires the trails haven't been maintained and we only found the trail momentarily.  The rest of the time we were bush whacking through charred forest.

The ground cover looks healthy now, and there are massive groves of aspens that are now 3 feet tall.  This was a tough hike, and the scenery was depressingly barren.  But just to keep up the fun, the trail offered some limb limbo opportunities from some horizontal trees.

We had driven six miles up the gravel road and parked beside Shaw Lake.  Even though the hike wasn't great, it's always fun to get the kayak out on a nice mountain lake. The blue skies and puffy white clouds were mirrored on the water for some great views.

Mark hates Denisa's game of taking backwards pictures, but she particularly enjoys this view of the lake as well.

We have really enjoyed finding trails and seeing what mysteries they hold for us.  We are getting some great exercise as we continue to wander His wonders.