Peaceful Valley
July 5, 2016[Best_Wordpress_Gallery id=”22″ gal_title=”july 5 burn scar prehike”]
Good morning everyone!! Just got back from an early morning hike with your morning conditions report. Currently it’s a very comfortable 74 degrees in the valley with a forecast of high of 97!! Yikes, going to be a warm one for sure! The flow at the Cheesman dam was 297 (cfs) and up to 497 (cfs) at the Trumbull Station. Similar to yesterday, the flow around the Decker’s bridge is about 360-380 (cfs). After talking to a few local guides about the Trumbull station recordings, the consensus was that it tends to read a little higher than the actual flow. The clarity has improved, considering we finally avoided some of the heavy afternoon storms we have been getting for the last few days. Last night the dry-fly action was pretty great! Hopper-dropper patterns along with a double-dry rig pulled up several fish later in the evening. The weekend crowds are gone and their is plenty of room at all four of our local campgrounds and cabins. Don’t forget! You can book all your campground and cabin reservations right here. Just click on the “Services” or the “things to do” tab and start exploring the South Platte River Valley.
In preparation for Thursday’s all day outing in the National Forest, we hiked about half the distance we will be hiking on Thursday, today. At about 5:30 this morning we headed out of Trumbull to the east and climbed about 1,000 feet up the to the edge of the “Hayman” fire burn scar. Thursday, we will continue from where we stopped today and climb the remaining 1,000 feet or so to the top of the range. Along the hike this morning, we came across some very fresh Elk tracks, but to our dismay we did not actually get to see an Elk. As we climbed higher and higher and approaced the burn scar, I couldn’t help but notice the resiliency and tenacity of some of the desert plants, cactus, and noxious weeds that seem to thrive in little soil, minimal water, and direct desert sunlight. I took a few pictures of some of these plants so you can see exactly what I mean. Continuing to the highest point of today’s climb, we were treated to some spectacular views of Cheesman, Scraggy, and Green mountains. Stay tuned for the upcoming photos and report from the big climb happening on Thursday. That’s it for now folks! Enjoy your day and remember to do something nice today for someone else! Take care
Chris
