Beverly Creek and the County Line trail, July 19 2009

Duncan and I headed up to the middle of nowhere today. This was not intentional. I had a specific destination in mind, but we didn't make it.

The hiking book had what seemed to be a pretty clear description of the trail, but it didn't tie much to reality after about a mile away from the trailhead. I got there OK only because the same parking lot is the jumping off point for 2 other hikes I've done. After that, the rest of the description was off. The elevations and distances they provided were totally wrong. The description says to follow a particular trail, but you should only follow that one for a short time and then turn onto another trail.

I managed to turn onto the correct trail in spite of the book not saying to go that way, but since my elevation and distance were off from what the book said (by 500 feet of elevation gain and about a mile of distance) I decided that I might be on the wrong trail, so I turned around and went home. It turns out I was in the right place, and I had another mile and another 1,000 feet of elevation gain ahead of me. No thanks to the hiking book.

It is a nice area, and the view was good, but the bugs were even worse than last week. (How do mosquitos breed when there's no standing water for miles?) They bit my face so much that my temples of my glasses are digging into my face. It isn't pleasant.

Wildlife sighted: chipmunks, possibly a marmot or groundhog, and a lot of cows. Other hikers saw bears, but I didn't. I also saw elk and deer prints in the dust, and lots of butterflies and moths. One great thing about hiking on a trail used by horses is that when the horse poop dries out, it turns to dust and you get to inhale it and get it stuck in your teeth.

I saw one person on his way out, and only six hikers on their way in. That's the kind of population I like to see on my trails.




Beverly Creek and the County Line trail, July 19 2009