Monday, February 21, 2022

Easy Hike

My Buddy Bill had to dog-sit a friend's lab so we decided to take a short jaunt. We parked at Willow Camp and head down the Willow trail to old 131 and spend some time exploring a bit at bridge 16.


Charlie took the lead as if he knew where we were going. He is pretty good at being the trail leader for such a small dog. The temperature was a brisk 10 degrees with a slight breeze from the west.
Willow Trail is section #14 on our Trail Challenge and is a short .5 mile walk. In the summer months, it is a busy horse trail. Hiking is allowed on it all year 'round. Though during the summer the horses have the right of way and hikers are expected to have their dogs controlled so as not to spook the horses.

Willow trail is section 14 on the challenge form. Our plan was to just to take it easy as the trails were tricky and frozen with all sorts of rough tracks in it.



Willow Trail 
in IRChrome



Old 131 was much smoother. It is groomed for cross country skiing. Though it was too slippery and icy for that.
We wore our YakTraks and had no trouble walking on the hard flat surface.

At Bridge 16 we walked up and explored the old campsite H that has been removed and placed on higher ground.  This was done to protect people from getting trapped in flood waters from the Kickapoo in heavy rains.

A wise move since the campsite was on the bend of the river and at the end of a very steep valley with a small stream that runs through it. During a heavy rain event the water would flood the campsite from two directions during a flash flood.

Behind old Campsite H



Charlie had other ideas when we turned around to head south on old 131. He wanted to head over the bridge and continue on.

I do love the IRChrome filter. White is white and foliage that has chlorophyll in it is red and the sky is blue. I thought it would be fun to experiment in the winter with it and I was surprised by the amount of plant life that reflected red.



We walked south towards Star Valley Road and stopped to look at the ponds. We noted x-country ski tracks across the pond on the east side. Bill wondered out loud about walking out to the little island and taking a look at it.
I pointed out that if he fell in it would take ages to get help. We nixed that idea.

Here is Bill taking a break and sharing a bit of apple with Charlie.  It has become a thing in the past two years to bring an apple in our pockets or backpack and share bits with our little trail guide.



We made a discovery that could be fun this spring. If one were to walk back to Camp C, they could see into the back side of the west pond. This could be helpful while birding in the spring. I plan on coming back and exploring the ponds while the waterfowl come to visit. Last spring I saw a pair of Trumpeter Swans.



Star Valley Monument
taken last spring




The rest of the hike was rather uneventful. We enjoyed the walk up Star Valley Road. We tried to figure out a plan for next week, it would involve a point to point hike in an area we haven't ever seen in the winter.


It wasn't too demanding of a hike and only was a couple of miles, but we knocked off two more sections.

5 comments:

  1. I was surprised at the amount of trees that showed up red too, very interesting:) So glad you have Bill to hike with!

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    1. The pines for sure showed up red and the red bushes I think were dogwood!
      I can't wait to to back to the ponds and practice some quiet time just watching birds!
      Yes, Bill is the best pal.

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  2. I really like the photo with the IRChrome filter!

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    Replies
    1. Thank you. I am so fascinated by Infrared photography, it lets me be the kid who imagines trees and things in a different color...as I did when I was little.

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  3. Great color & hike!! You guys are off to a good start crossing sections off.

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