Goose Creek Trail, Part II

Click here for Part I.

After a couple of hours of meandering and shooting pictures, Ginny and I were ready to turn back and head for home.

Well, somewhat ready.  Remember that dog dominating a boulder on the outbound leg?  She'd been replaced by one VERY pooped puppy.

Ginny's climbed a 14er before, so I'm not sure why this hike wore her out so much.  But it definitely did.  I even had to carry her slung over my shoulders for part of the return trip.  She kept just lying down on the trail and refusing to take another step.  Poor thing was stiff-legged for a couple of days afterwards, too.  But she's back to normal now.

Zak and Taryn would probably love all the opportunities to climb rocks here.  But they wouldn't love the five-mile hike to get to this part so much.

Just a slight shift to the left or right, and the jumble of rocks would take on a different look and feel.

Sometimes my gut tells me a scene looks better in sepia.  So I go with it.

The only thing missing was John Wayne riding down the trail pursued by a pack of Injuns.  Can I say "Injuns"?

Part of me hopes I eventually get to see every hidden gem in this state.  Part of me hopes I never run out of new ones to visit.

I saw this lone tree seemingly growing right out of solid rock on the outbound leg of our hike, and couldn't wait to get back to shoot it.  The angles in the rocks mirroring the slope of the tree's crown and the jagged crack emanating from the trunk just mesmerize me.

Another lone tree growing out of some more rock.  But this time with a bonus vista!

The cabins that housed the men working on the dam-that-never-was back around the turn of the last century were in fairly decent shape.  Well, except for the roofs.

Some great directions from a trail summary on UtahTrails.com (I know, not in Utah) helped lead me to something I really wanted to see -- one of the spots that give the Lost Creek Wilderness its name.  The creek disappears underground 11 times along its journey.  How awesome is nature?

When I see fence posts miles away from anything, I'm always curious what the heck a fence in the middle of nowhere was intended to keep out.  Or in.  And oh, yes -- sepia.

After a unexpectedly rough return trek we made it back to the shore of Goose Creek, then the final mile back to the trailhead.  Six hours out and back to cover somewhere between 10 and 12 miles -- hard to be sure with our various little side trips.  With little elevation gain I wouldn't call this a particularly difficult hike by most standards.  But for some reason, it kicked both our butts this day.  Despite the butt-kicking, at roughly a two-hour drive from southwest Denver it's a place I definitely recommend checking out if you haven't already!