Hikes Near Silverthorne

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Our next hike would require us to venture out about 30 miles south of Kremmling. The Acorn Creek Loop Trail is 4.7 miles with 1000 feet of elevation gain. There were a handful of cars in the parking lot. Even the view from the parking lot was pretty nice. The first 3/4 mile of the trail went fine. We found the one geocache hidden a bit off the trail without a problem. When we hit the split where the loop portion starts and stops, we headed to the right taking the loop in a counterclockwise direction. This allows us to tackle the slightly steeper part of the trail going uphill. The trail through field was rather overgrown with wildflowers but it’s beauty made up for the fact that they were scratching up my legs. Chris’ long pants had an advantage over my shorts.

Mountain Range from Parking Lot

Similar to Dandelion but Different?

Heading into Sea of Red Flowers

After the field, we entered a quarter mile section of woods that was pleasant but it too was a bit overgrown. I suspect that even though the trail is obvious and we did come across several groups of people, I’m not sure how official the actual loop portion of the trail is. When we emerged from the woods into another open area the views of the surrounding mountains was spectacular - at least once we got past the section with some power transmission lines. The trail continues to climb until about 2 miles in when we reach the high point of the loop.

View Near High Point of Trail

Isolated Flower

Back into the woods for another half mile before coming out into a pretty field. A group of 6 hikers coming the opposite direction asked if we had seen the bear! Apparently we had just missed it and it was heading away from our trail. That doesn’t mean that I didn’t keep looking over my shoulder just to make sure the bear hadn’t seen us and decided to stalk us.

Just Missed a Bear Here

Beautiful Wildflower Meadow

Being on the downhill portion of the hike was quite easy. We found a fallen tree to act as a bench to eat our lunch. There are a couple of creek crossings but the water level was pretty low so they didn’t pose a problem.

Butterfly Feasts

Up the Trail

Carefully Crossing Creek

We eventually got back to the end of the loop and only had the 3/4 mile back to the car. We came along an older couple that had all sorts of questions about hiking in the area. We gave them a few pointers on using AllTrails but warned them that we have only been in the area a little over a week so we we no experts. This was a pleasant and fairly easy hike. Long pants might be advised.

A Trio of Butterflies

Snow Still on Mountains

We still had lots of time and some energy left so we headed back north on Colorado Route 9 about 2 miles and take a right onto Ute Pass Road. A large parking area is at the top of the pass and the Ute Pass Trail heads both to the northwest and southeast. Both directions have geocaches and both directions are rather strenuous climbs. We pick the portion to the southeast since there were two geocaches within the first half mile of trail in that direction. It was a tough half mile to that second cache. We gain over 300 feet in that half mile and the fact we are just under 10,000 feet in elevation doesn’t help with our breathing. We take our time, find the 2 caches and are given a wonderful view.

Beautiful View from Cache Along Ute Trail

We could have simply turned back and taken the main road back into Kremmling, but this road would drop us out just west of Hot Sulphur Springs and it would be a 10 mile drive back to camp. This route would allow us to make our drive a loop and more importantly, we could go for one last geocache. On the way to the trailhead for the Williams Peak Trail, we saw a huge complex of buildings. It was a bit of a surprise since we seemed to be in the middle of nowhere. It turns out we were passing by the Henderson molybdenum mine. The mine is one of the largest producers of that element which is used in all sorts of products. Just up the road from the buildings was a huge pond. It definitely didn’t look to be natural. When I look at it on Google Earth, it is nearly 900 acres in area but seems to be quite shallow. It seems like part of the process to extract the molybdenum from the mined rock is to add chemicals to the ground up ore and it will float off the desired element.

Approaching Henderson Mill

Large Treatment Pond

We found the trailhead for the Williams Peak Trail. It doesn’t look like this trail see much use at all. The cache we were going for was only about 1/2 mile up the trail but this trail was extremely overgrown and we had to take care to watch our footing to avoid a spill down the hill. We the last quarter mile was not too bad and with little elevation change. We made it to ground zero and began the search. The hint told me to look between 2 small spruce trees, but since the cache was hidden in 2007, I suspect the trees were much bigger, I spotted the container and was amazed to see how good of shape it was in. Nobody had found this cache in almost 3 years!

View Along Williams Peak Trail

Last Found 8/15/2019 - Almost 3 Years Ago!

We started the journey back down and we’re amazed to hear voices. A mother and 10 year old son were out walking their dog. I think they were nearly as surprised to see us although they did have the advantage of seeing our car in the parking area. We chatted with them and told them why we were up here. The boy seemed interested in the idea of geocaching so I handing him my Garmin and we headed back to see if he could find the container. We were only a few hundred feet away so it wasn’t a huge commitment of time. He made the find with only a slight hint. Who knows, maybe we have converted another family into geocachers?

Williams Trail Near Lonely Geocache

Butterfly

Large Seed Head

The next day, I headed back into the BLM land just north of camp for another mountain bike ride. I had done a bit more research into some of the trails back here and had a loop trail in mind that would start out the same way I had gone a week earlier. The additional distance got me to an even higher vantage point but there were several section that were simply too steep and rocky to actually ride the bike.

Desolate Surroundings

Follow the Trail

I found the trail I needed to head back on and started down it. Even portions of this were simply too steep to safely ride down. I knew if I ran into problems here, getting help would be a challenge so I errored on the side of caution. The last portion of the “trail” was simply down a gully of a deep wash. Since it had been dry, the wash wasn’t wet or muddy. I could tell from the tire tracks in the dirt that it does get used occasionally, but given how high up the banked curves the track go, I could tell the riders here are on motorcycles not mountain bikes. I did manage to make it down the wash and found a way back to the trail I was familiar with and headed back to camp. It was an interesting ride but not one I feel the need to repeat.

Deep in the Wash

Heading Down the Wash

When we first arrived in Kremmling, Chris went to the BLM field office that is just a block away from camp. She picked up some maps and got information about what there is to do on the various parcels of land since there is a very large amount of BLM land around here. One thing that caught her eye was a place called The Ammonite Site. Chris was asked what type of vehicle we drove since the place is rather remote and requires a high clearance vehicle to get there. We should be fine in our Jeep. It’s only about 16 miles from camp so we head up one morning to check it out. After 12 miles on the US-40 north, we turn on a two lane gravel road which becomes County Road 26. This road is dusty and has lots of washboard sections but isn’t too bad and nearly all cars could make it. The problem starts at the turn 3.5 miles in. The two-track road was marked with a sign so we knew it was the correct turn but the road wasn’t one we would normally drive on unless we have a purpose.

Turn Here

Extremely Rutted "Road" to Start

This narrow, rutted and bumpy road only lasts 1 mile and travels mostly uphill. There are very few spots where there is room to let an oncoming vehicle pass and fortunately we didn’t have to deal with that issue. There was another car there when we arrived so we were not alone but it is a very isolated area. A fence surrounds the 160 acre site probably to keep ATVs out or possibly cattle as well. A trail leads up the hill to the location where most of the ammonites are.

Entrance to Ammonite Site

View of Surroundings

Still More Hill to Climb

Looking Back at Entrance Road

So what are these ammonites we are looking for? They were a type of marine mollusk that went extinct about 66 million years ago. The reason so many of these artifacts are found here is because back in the Cretaceous period this region was covered in water and these lived in the water. It’s believed that this particular area may have been a place where they lay their eggs. Today, all that is left are many dozens of the imprints of them in the rock. It was interesting to just wander around and look for them. They were rather large with the shell diameter being in the 1 to 2 foot range. Many of the imprints are broken and in years before it was protected, many of them were taken as souvenirs.

They are scattered about in a rather large area and there aren’t any signs to point them out to visitors. We simply walk around and keep an eye out for more. The views from up here are pretty nice. The other couple didn’t last all that long and so we did have the place to ourselves. Some of the pieces of rock we found had the impression of small shells that looked more like those we could find on a beach in Florida.

Shell

Multiple Shells

The drive back down was uneventful as well. Rough and bumpy, yes, but no people coming up. It was easier to see much of the road ahead so we would be able to compensate had someone been driving up. I wouldn’t call the Kremmling Cretaceous Ammonite Locality a “must” do site in the area but given we are here for a month, we can afford to take in some of these offbeat spots.

Heading Down Road

No Oncoming Traffic

View on Way Out

Another hike we found that sounded good was close to Silverthorne. Willow Creek Falls has a few different trail options. We picked the one that follows the South Willow Creek Trail. It is a 7.1 mile out and back trail with just over 1100 feet of elevation gain. It won’t be an easy hike since the falls are at just over 10,000 feet in elevation. The trailhead is just under 40 miles from camp and starts in an upscale neighborhood. The parking area only holds a dozen or so cars and there is no parking along the road nearby so we get an early start and hope we don’t need to find a plan B hike. We got to the trailhead and found a few spots still open so we could head out. This trail is pretty much an uphill climb for the full 3.5 miles but it was never so steep that we had issues.

Eagles Nest Wilderness

Log Bridge

Still Some Snow on Peaks

Much of the trail is under the shade of the forest with a few sections that open up into beautiful meadows with views of the nearby mountains. We came across a few people on our hike to the falls. Some were passing us since we were proceeding at a slow but steady pace. Other groups were coming back down but when we got to the falls, there were probably a dozen people scattered around the several spots where we could get a good view of the falls. We enjoyed our lunch we had brought along and took in the views. There were several dogs along for the hike and many seemed to enjoy playing in the creek below the falls.

Rocky Climb Nearing Falls

Willow Creek Falls

Falls and Mountains

Falls From Creek Level

The return trip was much easier but we did have tired legs so we weren’t setting any records. We stopped to enjoy the views along the way. It took us nearly 4.5 hours from start to finish. This was a really nice hike and well worth the effort.

View Overlooking the Valley

Huge Boulder Along Trail

Dragonfly Poses

Butterfly on a Rock

Red Mountain RV Park has been working out pretty well so far about halfway into our month long stay. We have been experiencing issues with the electric service that causes us to lose power a couple of times. Our 50A service has two 120 VAC legs which allows us to draw 50 amps on both legs. We have a voltage monitor that checks the lines for issues and cuts power to the rig if any problems are detected. One of the conditions is if the voltage drops to 104 VAC. Apparently with the excessive heat, nearly everybody in the park has their air conditioners on and the voltage has been dropping down below the low cutoff point. What is weird is that the two lines are often 8 to 12 volts different which implies many of the other rigs are drawing power of the one leg. The fortunate thing is that our 30A outlet in the pedestal  is the connected to the higher leg so I can simply switch to running our rig at 30A which is fine since we don't run our air conditioning. The camp owner has been great trying to get to the bottom of the problem and when another rig pulled in one afternoon and experienced the same issue, we knew it wasn't just our site. It seems like the power coming into the campground is the real problem. The electric company swapped out the transformer feeding the park for a larger one but that didn't seem to completely fix the problem. Fortunately the weather cooled down a bit and we didn't experience issues later in July.