Colorado: Feel the Burn at Dadd's Gulch

As I mentioned in a previous post, the further up  Poudre Canyon that we explored, the more we saw the impact of past years of fire. This is something that neither of us had ever seen before close-up, and it made a lasting impact.

On June 15th, 2021, we set off for a hike at Lower Dadd Gulch.  This is a 7 mile in/out trail with an elevation gain of 1482 feet.  Where the trail ended, we continued a mile or so on FDR 259A.

In the beginning, the trail followed the creek.  The landscape was lush and spring-like.

Things began to change during the ascent.

 

Eventually, the earth was scorched all around us, and the smell of char was heavy in the air.  This was not a recent fire, and it appeared that the land would take a very long time to heal.  No small seedlings, no wildflowers, no blades of grass.

 

 

Colorado: Whitewater Rafting

Water sports ain't my thang.  

I never learned to enjoy putting my head underwater.  In high school, I negotiated with the gym teacher to pass the swimming test in advance, avoiding the three week swimming segments in exchange for running laps around the track while the rest of the class swam.  

On the other hand, Julia loves to swim and still swims 2000 yards twice per week at the high school.  So when Julia expressed an interest in going whitewater rafting on the Poudre, I voiced total support--in driving her to and from the pickup spot.  

 

 

 

I'm not sure why Julia rated the red helmet.  I guess maybe she is special.  

Colorado: Cache La Poudre River

I want to finish last spring's trip to Colorado before its one year anniversary, so back to documenting that trip.

After a day of supply, laundry, and dumping at Boyd Lake State Park, we drove up Highway 14 towards Red Feather Lakes in search of first come, first serve campgrounds.  The date was June 14, 2021.

As we headed up the canyon, the signs of past fires became evident. 

We would see much greater damage later in the week, as we continued up the canyon.

In our research, we knew that many of the campgrounds had changed to reservation only, and reservations were not available when we decided on this trip.

A few small national forest campgrounds still held back some sites as non-reservable.  We gambled that we could find a site mid-week.

The first couple of these campgrounds were completely full, which was discouraging.  However, when we drove up to Dutch George Campground, we were rewarded with an open site looking over the water. 

We were happy to find a spot.  The amenities were very basic:  pit toilets, garbage dumpster, and lots of sun for the solar panels to recharge our battery.    No electric meant no air conditioning, and it was warm inside the Scamp even at 6400' elevation.

 

We spent as much time as we could in the shade when given to us or in the natural air conditioning of the river.

Dutch George campground was our home base for several days while exploring the area.  I don't recall what we paid per night, but it was less than the $25/night being charged for the upcoming season.  That's a lot for dry camping, but it seems to be the way of the future, especially in the popular parts of Colorado.

 

Steenbock Preserve

 

This isn't the prettiest time of year to hike the Steenbock Preserve (also known as the Slacks segment) on the Ice Age Trail.

The trail is muddy.  The landscape is gray. Today was very windy. Yesterday was so windy that the Merrimac free ferry was closed.

 

This tree blew over yesterday and blocked the trail today.

There are several types of benches on this segment of trail.  Some of them do better in the wind than others.

Easily fixed

The most beautiful spot on the trail this morning was the dispersed camping location, which is designated for thru-hikers only.  Dispersed camping isn't common on the Ice Age Trail.  The Lodi area is fortunate to have two spots within a day's hike.  Both are tent sites and very different from the Appalachian Trail's mostly three-sided wood shelters.  

Scamp: Four Season Camping?

Here in the Upper Midwest, camping season can seem incredibly brief.  Freezing temperatures during May and  September are not typical but also not rare.  

 

There are some fiberglass trailers, like Oliver and Bigfoot, that keep all of the water and waste tanks within the potentially heated portions of the trailer.  Scamp is not one of those trailers, as the waste tanks are beneath the sub-floor.  In my Scamp, the water tank is located on an outside wall under the rear bed.  The plumbing system would not do well during sustained freezing temperatures.

When we camped at Bryce National Park, the temperature dipped into the mid 20's.  Because daytime temperatures rose up into the 50's, we did not end up with frozen pipes.

Even during Wisconsin's winter with temperatures sometimes well below zero, however, it is perfectly possible to camp in the Scamp when it is treated as a luxury hard-sided tent.  That means to keep the plumbing system empty and/or full of rv anti-freeze.  

On our recent camping trip to Iowa, we kept five-gallon plastic water containers inside the heated portion of the trailer, and used those for drinking and cooking.  We visited the pit toilet in the campground and collected kitchen wastewater in a tub before tossing it outside appropriately.  Nothing down the drain.  

We had electric hook-ups, so we were able to stay comfortable with a small electric ceramic heater.   Comfortable mattress?  Yep.  Comfortable dinette for eating?  Yep.  Several reading lights?  Yep.  The Scamp is a really nice tent even without usable indoor plumbing.

Would I use the Scamp in the middle of winter?  Given Wisconsin's liberal use of salt on the roadways, I would be reluctant to take it anywhere and potentially allow road salt to damage the metal frame.  Even during my brief stays on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, the Scamp incurred some light surface rust on the frame from the sea mist/air.

Lodi Marsh

 

While we were camping in Iowa, the Mobile Skills Crew for the Ice Age Trail Alliance was making improvements to the Lodi Marsh segment.

Previously, the trail moved to the left of the yellow blaze and through some very wet, soft ground.  During the spring and fall, and after any appreciable rainfall, you could count on wet feet while hiking this section.  Trying to go around the wet spots on the trail just led to deeper but hidden wet spots in the marsh.  

The mobile skills crew completed the difficult job of moving the building supplies to the re-route and constructing an elevated footpath leading to higher ground.  I can only imagine how muddy the job was.

I felt guilty just sauntering across the boards a few days later.  But my feet were dry, and I was grateful.