Winter Wanderings
When winter comes we continue to hike and when the snows blanket the hills we look for new routes through the forest, trying to link up new known routes to create loops. There are no references to help us with these explorations so we check with Google Earth and do some scouting, but in the end we get an idea and just head out to see what we can find. Many of these ventures end up with good exercise, but little in the way of routes we would return to do. Some will require further exploration when the deeper snows have melted. Two of those routes are shared here.
Dewdrop Range Wandering
The idea was to follow the Dewdrop Trail (which climbs to the top of Red Plateau), but veer to the west at the foot of the escarpment. That trajectory angles west-northwest for 5 km and would be scenic route if it worked out. The day was foggy, but I hiked 0.6 km along the main trail, then turned off to the mouth of Red Canyon. At the bottom of the steep section, I turned west, winding through the open forest on a sidehill.
The route looked promising at first, then I ran into a fenceline, shown here in purple. Any route west would have to cross the fence and with no style, it would be an awkward crossing in the snow. With further exploration and the route looks promising, a rough style may be the answer. In the southwest deserts, hikers use a kind of step on each side of the fence, too narrow for cattle or deer, but okay for humans. I followed the fenceline then angled back, enjoying the winter forests.
The user-made trail concept still has merit but the fence problem will have to be solved to make the Dewdrop Winter Trail a reality. Since it is within the park, any such effort must comply with relevant regulations, but a simple step and some flagging tape may be as much as is needed. I will be back in the spring to further scout the route.
Outer Inks Wandering
On a February day I chose to hike through the forest from the Outer Inks Lake area parking lot. The route was a loop over the ridge and down the slopes to the north, staying through Crown lands (grazing lease), following some established double tracks and some user-made single tracks, but also just angling through the forest in a loop pattern.
The sidehill is fairly featureless with lots of lodgepole pine and a few firs or ponderosa pines. Wolf lichen and witches’ hair lichens cover the lower trunks and branches above the snow-covered slopes.
There were no boulders or rock outcrops so the only change of scenery were stumps, logs, and a few old rootstalks.
Farther along on this bearing are some wet areas, some open areas, and some ponds so it will be now wait for further exploration in late spring. Many of the explorations do not yield “classic routes.” But some are pieced together over time to become new routes which we can show other hikers and/or share online.