Training Hike with John 1-17-10

Training Hike with John M.

A training hike with John and an over nighter for me we start out at the southern parking lot at around 10:30am. We take Longhorn at the Junction and after a brief hike up we stop for a break.

As we were relaxing a man rides up on his horse. Don, a member of the Front Range Back Country Horsemen volunteers his time to oversee the trails and camp areas in the White Ranch open space. After chatting about the park and the importance of volunteerism he gave us a little tip on fishing high altitude lakes and continued on their way. Very nice and a good representative.

We continue on shorthorn until it turns back to longhorn. We pass the upper parking lot on our way to the upper campground. We connect with Rawhide and take that around to the watering

hole and camping spot.




Here we begin the campfire starting championship of 2010. I have had a hard time with the mag starter and hoped that I had it this time. No such luck, it seems so easy watching videos of people doing it. I have to wonder how much higher altitudes and cold temps have on fires and getting them started. I go to the trusty steel wool and battery technique which is not any easier or better than just carrying a lighter. Now I haven't tried using a lighter to ignite the steel wool but if it does, a lighter weighs less than a nine volt battery I bet.

I will get better at the narratives I promise :)





The deer are obviously used to humans here as I was able to get within 20 yds of them without them spooking. If you have the time this is when you can get a view of other predators if you sit back and watch. The old saying find the deer you'll find the predators. This day I didn't have time to try and catch anything on film.