Wednesday, August 5,
2015 Day 8 Routt National Forest, Hahns
Peak Lake N.F.C.G. site 10
155 miles
This was the day we were to go to Jack’s Gulch N.F.C.G.
about 15 miles away and spend the day there relaxing. Marsha was concerned about hauling the Oliver
up the mountain over the unpaved curvy roads with steep drop-offs. I wasn’t worried about it, but I didn’t want
Marsha to worry so we decided to go about half way to Dinosaur National
Monument, which puts us in the Steamboat Springs area. Sitting out at the fire this morning, we both
used a national forest directory (I have lots of books like that) and we looked
for a quiet place to stay where I might be able to fish. We both came up with the same answer, Hahns Peak Lake campground. It was on C .R.
129, 30 miles north of Steamboat Springs.
C.R. 129 follows the Flat River valley and is full of hay fields and
ranches, surrounded by mountains on each side.
If the campground didn’t turn out, there were two state parks nearby.
The campground did turnout OK and we got a beautiful
site. 
After arriving at the sign for the campground turnoff, we followed a winding, narrow, dirt road through a forest of jack pine for 2 miles to the campground. Along the way we came across a half dozen sheep in the road (livestock sheep, not wild sheep). We weren’t too shocked. There is a lot of free range out here and cattle in the road is not uncommon, especially on back roads. But sheep in the road was new to us.
Anyway, we continued on and found a nice pull through open
at site 10. It was the only site in that
loop available, and it was probably the best.
All the others were pretty much out in the open with no trees. Right after we got onto the site, it started
raining, out of nowhere. Marsha grabbed
her umbrella and I grabbed a raincoat.
We were trying to spot the trailer on the site so it aligned with the
picnic table and was on a level spot.
Marsha is my spotter so she has to stand outside in the rain while I get
to sit in the truck with the windows open and raining in. I have to be able to hear Marsha yell “STOP!” After about 5 minutes of rain, it stopped and
the weather was a nice sunny day.
The site was pretty level front to back, but side to side
was off. By the time I got the
stabilizers down, and level, the curb side wheels were off the ground. Once we set up, we noticed we could hear
sheep noises on the mountainside across the lake. It got louder and louder. We could see them through the trees and it
looked like a giant herd moving through the trees, all in the same
direction. Basically, it was like a
cattle drive, but with sheep. We got out
the Nikon Monarch 3 10X40s and saw hundreds of sheep and a black one slowly making
their way across and up the mountain.
There was even a shepherd on horseback and 3 sheepdogs herding
them. The sheep were extremely noisy until
after dark, when they somewhat quieted down.
It was really quite a thing to see and experience.
There was no cell or internet at this location. So blogs can’t be posted. I try to get ahead by using Word to compose
them and paste them later when I get a signal.
We’ve gone 3 days without internet now.
Our ride today took us along CO-14 and then onto US-40. We went through several mountain passes and just before getting to Steamboat Springs, we crossed the continental divide. Some of these passes were long, hard climbs, with those "Use low gear" signs on the other side. Some of the downhill were 7 miles long. I think some of the uphill were too. The truck jumped out of cruise control quite a few times because it couldn't maintain speed up some of the hills. And it had nothing to do with being a Ford, for you Chevy and Dodge people.
There was a family down by lake watching me fish and I put on a good show for them. They were impressed by how graceful fly casting is. They were also impressed by how beautiful trout are. It was a lot of fun and I almost wanted to stay another night, but we decided to move on for other adventures tomorrow.
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