Mid January and we were missing the park, we headed to the Upper Paddock Creek Trail. There is a nice parking spot just past a drainage bridge, large enough to get just one car off the road.
Just a stark and brisk day to be in the park, but what else could you expect from an early January day. With surprisingly little snow we headed out to get a few miles under our feet and see how the landscape has been doing this winter. I having done the part of this trail during the late summer was excited to see what the differences would be with the passing of the seasons.
We started at the trail head off of the Scenic Loop Drive and slowly descended into the valley. Passing across fields we encountered the most interesting pit of mostly dry mud, trekked over an array of animal prints and poop, leaped across a mucky creek bed, contemplated taking the old trail that had eroded into a steep bluff and found ourselves flanked by painted canyons and standing on grassy table tops with dried and not so dry creek beds below us. A mile and a half in we were in an unrecognizable different world than where we had parked out truck. We took a few moment to take in the beauty and enjoy the weather before turning around and heading back to civilization.
No wildlife today, a trail that is accommodating to those who do not hike much but may pose challenges to very small children.
Just a stark and brisk day to be in the park, but what else could you expect from an early January day. With surprisingly little snow we headed out to get a few miles under our feet and see how the landscape has been doing this winter. I having done the part of this trail during the late summer was excited to see what the differences would be with the passing of the seasons.
We started at the trail head off of the Scenic Loop Drive and slowly descended into the valley. Passing across fields we encountered the most interesting pit of mostly dry mud, trekked over an array of animal prints and poop, leaped across a mucky creek bed, contemplated taking the old trail that had eroded into a steep bluff and found ourselves flanked by painted canyons and standing on grassy table tops with dried and not so dry creek beds below us. A mile and a half in we were in an unrecognizable different world than where we had parked out truck. We took a few moment to take in the beauty and enjoy the weather before turning around and heading back to civilization.
No wildlife today, a trail that is accommodating to those who do not hike much but may pose challenges to very small children.
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