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Routt National Forest Camping Weekend
By PK | June 23, 2008
What do you get when you put a 50 year old woman in the woods without any modern conveniences??? One tired, bug chewed, broken nailed, dirty old blond. Would I do it again?? You betcha!!
We left Friday after Dalton got off work. I had everything packed and ready to go. But there are a few things we didn’t expect. I’ll tell you about that as it happened.
On the way there, up on top of many mountains in Routt National Forest, I seen two cow elks. They were so close to the road, I was able to take these pictures.
We got to the campsite with just enough daylight left to set up the tent and unpack. Dalton informed me this was not primitive camping….well, doing without running water and a restroom to me IS primitive camping.
Our first sunset in camp….
We were tired from a long day, all the packing, then unpacking and setting up camp. We carried everything over a small creek so we could set up amongst the trees instead of out in the open, which turned out to be a good thing. During the night we had a visit by a group of coyotes. They yapped and yipped waking us up. In the morning we saw evidence of just how close they were….in the nearby opening by the truck about 60 feet away. We also got another surprise….it was very chilly. I don’t just mean a little chilly, it was 28 degrees. That’s pretty chilly. But Dalton was sweet. He cranked up the propane stove and prepared me come hot coffee!! Awwww!!! At least now we know, it’ll be about 10 degrees colder here at the campsite then it will be in Steamboat. I wonder how much colder it’ll be on top the Flat Tops??
We started our day early and by 7am we were hiking, and what’s the one thing we want to see most on our hike?? ELK, of course! Since this is an undisclosed area where Dalton and a few buddies hunt, I’m not allowed to say ‘exactly’ where it is. It’s all hush, hush. After all, we don’t want anyone else to know where we are going to elk hunt. Our last trip to this area proved to be unsuccessful. But this one wasn’t so….we caught these elks enjoying a little more grazing before heading into the woods for a nap.
Elk are different than deer. They are very reclusive, so much that if you upset their environment, they will leave the area, sometimes for two weeks, a month or permanently. If an elk sees you, they will flee immediately. Getting close enough to take a picture like the first two pics in this article are rare. The elk in Estes Park are different than the elk here in the wild. Those in Estes Park are almost considered tame compared to these elk. The elk in Estes Park and the Rocky Mountain National Park are protected from hunting. These elk are not.
We continued our hike looking for more elk or moose, but was unsuccessful. It was getting later in the morning when elk hide in deep foliage for a nap. I carried my own backpack with snacks and water, camera, and a few other necessities. I could tell the extra weight immediately, now if only it’ll help me lose some pounds!! Dalton said I did really well…just not ready for the Flat Tops. That will take quite a bit of more preparation, though I jumped streams, hiked up steep hillsides, and climbed over rocks.
We hiked till noon before heading back to camp for lunch, then went for a drive to view the Colorado River from high up top a mountain edge. And I do mean a mountain edge….
The hillsides were alive in full bloom…
We drove about six miles to another location, only Dalton read the map wrong… We had seen more elk and wanted to check out the area. That’s when we got lost. We ended up on a four-wheel drive only road, which wasn’t the problem since our truck is equipped. The road we were on went up to about 10,000 elevation and we met snow. Some snow was melting and had blocked the road, making it interesting and impossible to photograph. Too bumpy! That’s when I grabbed the map and told him the road wasn’t going where he had hoped it would. All in all, it was an interesting ride, to say the least!
We furthered our excursion to go see the Rock Creek Stage Station. It was built around 1880 and had many functions besides just a stage stop. It also was the post office, hotel, and home to the Gates family. It was also used for a polling place for the nearby town of Toponos.
Our day was not yet over. After dinner at the camp, we decided to take another hike, this one shorter. We hiked to the pasture where we had seen the three elk. We wanted to see if they returned. When we got there, we seen one large cow elk grazing. She then laid down with only her head visible. We stopped, not knowing what we were going to do. To continue we would have spooked her and she’d run. Whispering, we decided to alter our path, slowly…quietly….watching her intently to make sure she wouldn’t spot us. The wind was in our favor, blowing our scent from the direction we approached.
We took cover behind an old dilapidated log homestead. With our binaculars, we observed her. She must have been the lead cow in the herd cause it didn’t take long before she was joined by another cow elk that came out of the aspens. This one was more cautious, looking over the pasture, several times in our direction. I thought for sure she seen us even though we were in the shadows of the building. But she soon started grazing. The first cow elk got up and started walking towards us. Though she was over 400 yards away, she was closing in. Finally she stopped, turned around and with her nose in the air, headed towards the second cow elk. Whew!! That means we weren’t spotted. We continued watching, wondering if more would show up. And sure enough, a yearling bull elk stepped out of the willows with another cow elk. They had been hiding all along and we never seen them.
It was awesome observing these elk in their natural habitat. I zoomed my camera as far as I could to get this pic. If you look closely, you’ll see the bull elk to the right. The head cow elk isn’t in the picture. She was off to the left grazing. You’ll have to enlarge to see.
Back to camp before dark. The fire was laid, ready for a blaze.
I really enjoyed my first camping trip in the Rocky Mountains and I hope you enjoyed reading about my experiences. Life is grand!!!
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Topics: "Post Cards From the West", Colorado, Colorado Campgrounds, Hiking, Camping, Fishing,, Routt National Forest, Wildlife and Hunting |
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