Lottis Creek Trail

June 26-27, 2012

Tuesday-

This morning Missy got suited up for a hike on the nearby trail: Lottis Creek Trail.    I stayed back in camp with the elderly Budster and had a campfire.   The people next to us in the campground hung a hummingbird feeder.  At first, the birds were fun to watch.   However, their loud buzzing and territorial fighting quickly becomes tiresome.    It is amusing to see some of the hapless hummingbirds fly into our garage, drawn to the colorful kayaks.  

Missy came back limping after about 3.5 hours.  She said the trail was difficult for someone with weak ankles.   Lots of R&R.   (rocks and roots).    She also got some big ol blisters on both heals.  Ouchie.   However, it sounded like a neat hike to try out, so I made formal plans to go myself the next day.

The electricity went out for a couple of hours around noon.   According to the camphost, the nearby road constructors had to cut the power lines when digging ditches (one of the most dangerous jobs in the world, according to my older brother) and laying new lines.     I was a little concerned that this might be a daily thing.  We’d been planning on being able to leave the dogs in the heat of the day for some day trips.  Without being able to count on A/C for the dogs,  they could get too hot.   Hopefully it doesn’t happen again.

After dinner, we had ourselves another campfire.   The camphost told me today that there is now a complete fire bad in effect.   Until now, there was a partial ban whereby fires in established campgrounds were allowed, but no fires for dispersed campers.   It’s terrible to read about the Colorado Springs fire, so I am fine with the necessity of the total ban.   With the ban going into effect at midnight…we had to get our last fire in.   I got out the clippers and made use of the brush trimmings that litter the campground.   Some clearing was done all around the campground before it opened, and the wood was left on the ground for the enjoyment of the campers.

Wednesday-

Today was my day to hike Lottis Creek trail.    Missy had told me about how it had taken her about 1.5 hours to go up 3 miles.  I got detailed descriptions of markers along the way: cows, cowboys, ATVs, an open meadow.    She said the whole trail was creekside, with lots of great scenic pour-over sections to enjoy.   There is a lake at 6.5 miles which is supposed to have lots of fish for the catching.   I didn’t think I’d have the urge to make it to the lake, but I was determined to get further, faster than my twin.   With that goal in mind, I set off with Cassie in tow.  (Or vice versa).

I set off at a brisk pace and kept it for most of the way up.  The trail was narrow and rocky, but it gently gained elevation, so the going was fine.    I made great time, or so I thought.   After 2 hours, I still hadn’t reached the markers that Missy talked about.   I was incredulous that Missy had beat me with her bum ankle, but I assumed that had to have been the case.  I did the math, and it seemed that if the 3 mile marker was still ahead of me somewhere, then that meant I was doing WORSE than a 45 minute mile.  WTF????   My leg muscles were extremely sore and so, defeated, I turned around.   I had planned to stop on the way down at this neat section of 4-5 beaver ponds for a break.  I was hopeful that I’d get to see some of them swimming around.   But alas, the weather turned stormy and I got rained on instead.   Luckily I had an umbrella with me, so I was able to keep moving back towards camp.   After being out for 4 hours, I finally limped into camp.   

When I compared hikes with Missy, it quickly became apparent that we’d taken different trails.  The main thing we both fixed on was the fact that the trail was creekside.  What we didn’t know was: there are 2 branches to Lottis Creek.   Duh!    That explained why I hadn’t seen what Missy had seen.    So now I’m curious about how far I actually went.  Am I in shape enough that I might have gone almost to the lake (6 miles) in 2 hours?   Hmmm.  

 I have to give a shout out to the National Forest Trails.   When we first started thinking about taking our adventure trip, we talked about visiting national parks.  However, when I found out that they don’t allow dogs, I knew we’d have to be camping elsewhere.  So we turned to National Forests.   I can’t recommend them enough!   The trails are usually crowd- free, and they are dog friendly.   And so far the scenery hasn’t disappointed.     I now can’t imagine picking a crowded National Park hike over a tranquil National Forest hike.  

From about 2pm to 4 pm today we had scattered thunderstorms.   It was neat to listen to the thunder.   The rain was light and only lasted about 15-20 minutes.   It was enough to raise the Taylor River from 300 cfs to 304 cfs.    Grrrrr.    After the thunderstorms cleared out, it was sunny and nice again.    Yesterday,  Missy saw a post on MountainBuzz about how the Taylor River was still a fun class 3 run, even with the water so low.    We decided we’d go scout the put-in and take-out after 6 for a future run.    See, the last camphost told us that the road construction stops at 6 pm and on Sundays.  So we figured the road would be clear.    Sadly, we were misinformed.   Either that, or the crews were working late just this once.   Sigh.

30 minutes of waiting each way.   And we were only going 5 miles.    We found the listed site for the put-in, but it was right in the middle of the construction zone.   It looked like the parking area was being used as a staging zone for the equipment.   Missy though maybe there was still a spot she could park the scooter.   See, the tricky part about finding put-ins in Colorado is that the private land owners are fanatical about keeping people off their land.  So trying to put on somewhere besides the sanctioned sites is a serious offense.   At the take-out, there was a map with rapids descriptions and put-ins/take-outs for about 4 sections of the Taylor.   One section listed a put-in at our campsite, Lottis.   However, there were harder rapids for that part.  So we aren’t sure about starting at camp or not.  Plus, there’s barbwire fencing for the cows everywhere that I see.   I don’t know how you get your boat to the river, unless you chuck it over and then do the high jump over the fence.   Maybe we’ll take a closer look tomorrow.   We don’t know if we’ll try setting shuttle and kayaking whilst construction is going on, or if we’ll wait till Sunday.   The only thing we know for sure is that we are definitely going to get us some, finally!!!!!