Almost 40 miles of Forest Road riding today on Yagi,
Leaving the Six Mile Campground area, Yagi and I got on WY 230 for almost five miles to the turn for Prospect Peak Road which is on BLM Land.
The road itself is nicely maintained dirt and I made my way on Prospect Peak Road till the demarck point where the BLM put up a sign saying basically: Rough terrain ahead, drive at your own risk!
Hmmm. I kept going and did find trails leading off down into a ravine or gulley which I elected not to take as I was riding alone. It would probably have been doable since later I saw an SUV go down one of those sketchy looking trails but oh well.
I continued on and almost reached the last flat spot before the hill run to the end of Prospect Peak Road. There were however, a whole bunch of cows blocking the way. I tried getting near them and beeping the horn, which usually works to clear the cows from the path.
This time however, I realized that while the front portion of the herd parted, I found myself looking at one big mean looking bull. So, I turned around and left the herd, hoping to come back later.
I found a trail that lead to the border of the Medicine Bow National Forest so I did get some riding done within that forest:
The GPS showed I'd hit private property soon if I kept going so I retraced my way back to BLM land and again tried to reach the end of Prospect Peak Road.
Success! The herd had moved on and I was able to park Yagi where the road splits right and left up two neighboring hills. The hill to the south looked pretty steep near the top so I elected to walk up the hill for pictures of the Platte River below.
An SUV with two adults and a kid showed up while I was on top of the south hill. They were looking at the views as I descended from the right side hill and walked up the left side hill.
As I got to the top of that hill, the SUV and its passengers was driving off and I saw it disappear down one of the sketchy trails I mentioned before.
The right side hill had turned out to be pretty easy to walk on so I geared up and rode Yagi all the way to the indicated end of Prospect Hill Road. There was a trail leading away from the hill, which I took, and ended up near the warning sign.
I retraced my route but elected to follow a side trail which I though would lead me to a closer entry path into the National Forest from the campsite. Alas, that was not the case. No signs either to warn me that I would end up on private property as I made my way back to the highway!
Oh well.
Rode the highway back to the campground and made some lunch.
After lunch, it was more trail riding with Yagi. This time exploring the main trail again and diverging onto FR 424 and 423 so to see where they would lead. Lots of rolling hills, sage brush and tall grasses with clumps of pine and aspen trees to provide some shade.
There's also lots of rock outcroppings such as this one dotting
the landscape around here.
The view from one of the hilltops accessible by vehicle
via FR 423.
The area has been hit heavily by the Pine Beetle infestation unfortunately so the sight of dead pine trees is somewhat of a detraction from the bucolic scenery.
Road around until I either bumped into private property lines or the boundary to the Platte Wilderness Area and had to turn around back to the main trail.
Got back to the URRV with no issues and just rested the afternoon away. Winds are not too bad today, not like the howling winds of yesterday!
2 comments:
Pine beetles and their European cousins bark beetle seem to wreak havoc all over. In the last years our forests have been heavily affected by these little buggers. Very sad but (at least in our neck of the woods) the spread is a result of rising temperatures and dry spells over the last years.
I've not done any research SonjaM on the cause of the spread by the Pine Beetle infestations...I had heard though that it was the lack of really cold winter snaps (which kills them) that has helped said spreading.
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