Wednesday 9-10-25 Camping, Hiking, Reading & Walking

 

Camping in Medicine Bow-Routt National Forest

 

We woke up to the temperature in the high 30's. The cab was 42 degrees and Centennial, which is about two miles from Willow the temperature was 44 degrees. It was perfect weather to camp. About 5:00 a little rain came in, it lasted a few minutes. We're in the mountains so we expect little showers now and then, they last a few minutes.

I got out of bed at 7:30 and made biscuits for breakfast. Then we got ready for a hike. We were ready by 8:15. We hiked from the campground' s bathroom. We hiked up a small hill and climbed over and walked around fallen trees to get to the Spruce Trail. We hiked the trail until it intersected Corner Mountain Loop Trail. There was a trail sign for both. We decided to take Corner Mountain Loop. Corner Mountain Loop was 2 miles long. It took us up and down hills and through the forest. Some of the hills were steeper than others. There was a lot of fallen trees in the forest. Larry read a review about a mouth ago, that said they had to climb over downed trees. We saw where some trees were recently cut but we didn't have to climb over any trees. The trail was very nice. We heard the chipmunks and the squirrels in the trees. A couple of places we heard them dropping pine-cones from the trees. I hike behind Larry because I'm slower. One place a squirrel ran right in front of me across a downed tree and up another. It was so fast it took me by surprise. It was a small gray squirrel. We saw the aspens changing colors for the fall. We were almost done with our hike and were close to the parking area for the trail when we met a couple. We said we were almost finished with our hike and the gentleman said they were just beginning. They were about a half a mile into the two mile loop. When we were by the parking area we said hi to another couple. These two couples were the only people we saw and both of them were about our age. It was a beautiful hike. By the time we got back we had hiked for two hours and 2.75 miles.

 

New growth in the forest

 

Downed trees caused by a storm

 

Freshly cut tree on the side of the trail

 

We made it back just in time because we got another short rain storm (mountain storm). We relaxed for a half hour and then I made soup for lunch. 

We spent the rest of the day relaxing with a book outside. While we were reading a cute little weasel came down the hill to see us. We weren't sure what type of weasel it was and I didn't have my camera. It stayed around a little bit to see if it could get any food, then it climbed up the hill and disappeared. Later on we googled different weasels in the area. We found out it was a least weasel because it was light brown with a short tail (the tail didn't have a black tip). Below is a picture from the web of a least weasel.

 

Least Weasel (the smallest weasel in the weasel family)

 

It was a gorgeous day with blue skies and puffy clouds. When it was time for dinner Larry barbecued hamburger patties. Today we didn't have an afternoon shower or evening.

After dinner we went for another hike to see where the trail we want to hike tomorrow is. We started off on the same trail as we did this morning. We climbed up the hill by the bathroom to the Spruce Trail. Then hiked up another steep hill until the Spruce Trail and Corner Mountain Trail intersects. Then we turned around and came back to the campground. The only difference was we took a trail that had a sign saying back to Willow Campground. The sign was on a fallen tree. It came out by two campsites #10 and #11. It was a lot easier then climbing over trees by the bathroom. I also seemed faster. Then we walked to the entrance to get an envelope because we probably will stay another two nights. We hiked for an hour and did 1.5 miles.

When we got back to the site we put our chairs away. If we want to use them tomorrow will get them back out. I ended up doing 13,000 steps.