Friday 9-12-25 Willow Campground, Meadow Loop Trail & Reading

 

Camping at Willow Campground

 

We had another outstanding day at Willow Campground. We woke up to the temperature of 39 degrees and got up to 64 degrees. 

I slept in until 7:45 am. I rolled out of bed and got dressed. The Wave3 had warmed up the Minnie. Larry was already up and had pulled the drape closed in the kitchen area. I made maple brown sugar oatmeal and we added raisins to it for breakfast. After breakfast we got ready to go on a hike.

Larry uncovered the motorcycle and took it from it's carrier. Then he put my pouch in the tote box. We folded our hiking poles so I can carrier them to the trailhead. Then Larry started the motorcycle. Then I got on the motorcycle. I didn't wear a jacket because it wasn't too cold and Larry would protect me from the cold. The ride was about three miles up the highway to Little Laramie Trailhead. No one was in the parking lot. Larry parked the motorcycle and got the pouch out. I put the pouch on and unfolded our poles. We walked to the hiking trail map to see where we were and where to go. It wasn't the greatest map. We decided to do the Meadow Loop Trail, which was three miles. We hiked part of the Little Laramie River Trail for about a half mile. The river ran along side of the trail. We had to hike a steep hill for a half mile. I was glad it was a gradual half mile hill. The river kind of went away but it was very peaceful. The hike took us up and down hills through the forest. The signage wasn't that great. We didn't know what trail we were on but Larry had it on his GPS. This area there wasn't as many down trees as we have seen on the trails at the campground. The three trails kinda intertwined with each other. We hiked part of all the three trails. We started on the River Trail (2 mile loop) and moved onto the Meadow Loop (3 mile loop). We were 1.5 miles into the hike and got onto the Lodgepole (1 mile loop). Then we were back on Meadow. By the end of the hike we had hiked 3.25 miles and hiked for an hour and a half. It was a beautiful hike.

 

Hiking in the Snowy Range area

 

The hiking trails in the Snowy Range area

 

On the way back to Willow Campground Larry decided he would drive the road to the highway, which was four miles. The road was very rough because of chuckholes and the road was deteriorating. It was so rough even the other vehicles were going very slow. We drove past Barber Lake and Libby Recreation Area. We saw a lot of aspens changing colors for the fall. In the valley there was a community of homes. We were wondering how they got down there. We figured they must of used the rough maintenance road by Barber Lake. It was a beautiful ride.

We spent the rest of the day relaxing with a book.

In the afternoon a storm front headed our way, there was thunder, it got darker and the wind came up. We put the motorcycle on the carrier and got it all covered up. We also put the solar panel inside. After all that we only got a small amount of rain but somewhere close by I am sure they got drenched. 

We didn't go for an evening hike because Larry's little toe was hurting and he wanted to give it a break from walking. I just finished my steps by stepping in place. I ended up doing 12,000 steps. We had an awesome day.