Top:  Signpost near the Willow Heights trailhead.
Bottom:  A "commemorative rock" at the Willow Heights trailhead.
Click on an image for a full-sized version.

Images (.JPG format):

• SDIM1484 - Part of the group at the trailhead, across the road from where we parked.
• SDIM1487 - Sun-dappled aspen along the trail.  Although it was overcast when we started, the sun came out before we got to the pond.
• SDIM1488 - Looking into the meadow, just before breaking out of the aspen grove.
• SDIM1490 - Looking down-canyon, toward the sunset.
• SDIM1491 - Looking across the canyon toward silver fork and across the meadow.  #1493 is similar but zoomed out, showing part of the group's arrival.
  
• SDIM1494 - From the east side of the dam, looking across the Willow Heights pond.
• SDIM1495 - Elaine, trying to make her way across the top of the overgrown beaver dam.
• SDIM1496 - Another view across the pond - this time from the western shore.
• SDIM1497 - Gordon and Brett, bushwhacking their way across the top of the dam.  #1498 is similar.
• SDIM1514 - Two of the resident ducks converging on a cracker that Brett had thrown into the water.
• WILLOW_013 - Taken by Brett, the pair of ducks simultaneously diving for food.
  
• SDIM1515 - The last vestiges of sunlight on the cliffs across the canyon.
• SDIM1518 - The obligatory group picture.  L->:  Dale, Mike, Bryan, Ron, Brett, Elaine, Bruce, Gordon, Clint
  
• SDIM1523 - A pair of "meese" - a cow/calf (left) and a bull.
• SDIM1530 - The remains of a hunting blind, east of the pond.
  

• Willow Heights Panorama - This is a composite of 12 pictures taken from the western shore of the pond.  (This image is 7400x2475 and is 4.53MB in size.)
  

• See below!

• None this time

• A detailed map with the GPS track of the hike (plus surrounding landmarks, 609k)
  
• The elevation profile of the hike - This shows the ups and downs of the trail.
  

It seems amazing that the summer is (mostly) over by now!  Only a few weeks ago, it seems, we were still trying to figure out a good hike that wasn't still snowed-in, and it will probably be only a matter of weeks before those same destinations get their seasonally-permanent snow once again.

As has been recent tradition, we decided to go to Willow Heights - the basin just up-canyon from Beartrap Fork.  This destination has been favored of late as a "last hike" as it is quite short (2 miles round-trip if you decide to circumnavigate the beaver pond) and only 700-ish foot elevation gain:  Both important factors if you have less than an hour before sunset when you start the hike!

Willow Heights is also quite picturesque:  In addition to the serene beaver pond, one often sees wildlife such as ducks, moose, and the occasional elk and deer.  Being fairly high in elevation, it is oft' bespeckled with fall color by the time the last hike of the year rolls around, providing inspiring sights as verdence gives way to the autumnal transition in the life cycle of the canyon.

"Oft" is the important word here, as there was only scant bespeckling to be seen this time!  (Maybe in a week or so...)

As we gathered this time - like last week - there were threatening clouds about except that they were, this time, to the east.  Paying little attention to them, we headed up-canyon (there being a "3-car crowd" this week) and managed to spot the trailhead without our usual need for doing a U-turn - partly because there were already two trucks parked, marking the spot.

As we hit the trail, there was some evidence of rain earlier in the day as there were still water droplets on some of the leaves, and the ground was somewhat damp, but not really muddy.  As we began our hike we were pleased to note that even those in the lead seemed to be getting less-wet from the leaves than had been the case last week.  As we were climbing through the stand of aspen, we met a pair of bow hunters coming down:  They reported seeing no elk (which, I guess, might have been their quarry) but saw ducks and a moose at the pond.  Having seen "No Hunting" signs up there in the past we again wondered how, exactly, those signs were being interpreted by the hunters...

Up to this point the sky was overcast, but as we finished the steepest part of the climb through the aspen, the clouds broke, illuminating the now sun-dappled white trunks with golden light.  We soon broke out of the aspen grove and entered a broad meadow below the lake, giving us our first view of the hills around Willow Heights - a beautiful scene, but somewhat disappointing in that there was only the occasional patch of autumn color.

Some of the lead group had already begun their circumnavigation of the lake by the time we arrived, so only Dale and Bruce were still present on the west shore when we got there.  After some bush-whacking to cross the beaver dam, we met them and began to throw food at the ducks and take pictures.  After a few more minutes, Mike and Bryan appeared, having circled the lake in a counter-clockwise manner:  It was evident by their soaked attire that they had blazed a trail through still-wet leaves, leading to some reconsideration of others in the group of the idea of circumnavigating it themselves.  After a few more minutes, a dark shape appeared near the far-side of the pond, near the beaver lodge:  A bull moose - followed a few minutes later by a smaller cow or calf.

After taking the obligatory group pictures, a sub-group of us headed off to circumnavigate the pond - this time, in a clockwise manner.  As we trampled through the "reedy" area at the upper end of the pond we began to wonder if it was a good idea, but we seemed to generally be able to follow the path of the others that had come through a few minutes before and managed to avoid getting ourselves too wet from the leaves.  Finally breaking through, we acquired the trail on the far (eastern) side of the pond and followed it to the area with the remnants of the hunting blind where the rest of the group was waiting.

Reunited, we headed back down the trail in the dark, taking care to avoid tripping over the many logs and roots and slipping on the occasional patch of mud.  Immediately upon returning to the cars we noted that it was about a minute before a predicted Iridium Flare (from satellite Iridium 38) so we all stared skywards, trying not to be blinded by the occasional passing car.  After the time of the flare had passed without anyone seeing anything too obvious, we decided to wait another minute for the next one - in about the same spot:  This time, we did see a flare (from satellite Iridium 15) - not too bright, but pretty obvious to anyone who might have been looking in the general direction of Polaris at the time.

Note:  Further research indicates that Iridium 38, the one that we didn't see, lost its maneuvering ability sometime around August of 2003 and is currently tumbling.  Because of the loss of control, it is not possible to predict its attitude (or exact orbit) with the same degree of certainty as that of some of the other satellites.  Observations indicate that occasional flashes from tumbling satellites may occasionally be seen, but the predicted time/location of such observations may be somewhat suspect.  (For more "nerd words" about this satellite's failure, go here.)

Piling back into the vehicles, we headed down-canyon and a good percentage of the group reconvened at the Rocky Mountain Pizza Co. where he had pizza and salad while listening to Bluegrass music, concluding another year's Wednesday Night Hikes.

See you next year!

• SDIM1531, SDIM1532, SDIM1536, SDIM1537, SDIM1540 - These consist mostly of the bluegrass group, including Ron playing the "gee-tar."

Because these are "ambient" recordings, one can hear talking, the clatter of the ice machine, and the various instruments of the bluegrass ensemble - warts and all!  Also, I don't know the names of all of the pieces, so some are simply numbered  (If you supply missing/corrected names, I'll put them here!):

• Bluegrass 1 - (name unknown) (2:59, 2.73 meg)
  
• Bluegrass 2 -  "Red-haired Boy" (5:02, 5.61 meg)
  
• Bluegrass 3 - "Bill Bailey" (3:12, 2.93 meg)
  
• Bluegrass 4 - "Kentucky Waltz" (4:27, 4.08 meg)
  
• Bluegrass 5 - "Arkansas Traveler" (2:23, 2.19 meg)
  

According to the book"The Lady in the Ore Bucket"  Willow Heights was originally known as "Willow Patch Fork" (in 1888) and was the site of the 160 acre homestead of Julius Kuck who had filed three mining claims in the area, hoping to make quick money (to finance his law education) in minerals and timber.  Kuck's wife found the winters to be too difficult and, after a few years, left him, taking his daughters with her and divorcing him by 1909.

In about 1920, after several years as a hermit, Kuck deeded this land to Frank Bagley (one of his mortgage holders) after the destruction by fire of one of his mills at Mill D (see a previous discussion about Mill D North)  and Kuck continued to live on the land.  In 1934, when Kuck was 74, the cabin burned down and injured him.  He rebuilt, only to have the cabin burn again in the winter of 1937, severely injuring him, and he, dragging a few possessions, managed to get through the deep snow to the ranger station at Days Fork.  He spent the remainder of his life in the county hospital, dying in September of 1938.  He now rests across the street from Gordon's house in the Mount Olivet Cemetery.

Bagley, who owned the land after 1920, ran dairy cows in the area of Willow Heights:  Supposedly, the cement floor and foundation of the barn can be seen to the right of the trail when going up - if you know where to look...

Most of the above information is from the book "The Lady in the Ore Bucket" by Charles Keller.

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Comments about pictures taken by Clint:

• All images taken using a Sigma Digital SLR camera and were taken using the lens noted in the EXIF data.
• Because all of the images were originally taken stored in raw binary format, they have been down-processed to .JPG for web posting:  If requested, different color/contrast/brightness may be applied and/or higher-quality uncompressed versions may be available for most of these images.
• If you want one (or more) of these images and wish some sort of adjustment (color, brightness, exposure, etc.) please let me know:  All of these image have been processed in some way.
• These images are numbered in chronological order.
• No-one ever said that all of these images (or any of them) were good.  Some of them may have definite focus/exposure "issues."
• EXIF data is present for most of the images, showing time, date, and precise exposure conditions.  Recent versions of Irfanview will show this in the "View->Image Information->EXIF" tab.
  
• Note that cropping/noise reduction required the use of another program which may have removed some/most of this EXIF data.
• Images suffixed with "h" (if any) are half-size.  This was done for images that were somewhat out of focus (due to misfocus or camera/subject movement associated with long shutter times) or those that required some extra noise reduction and had lost some detail anyway.
• If you took some pictures of the hike and send them to me, I'll post them - and give you the blame!
• The video clips, if any, were shot using a Panasonic DMC FZ-8 digital camera, have been re-compressed, and are of lower quality than the originals.
  

Go to the 2008 Wednesday Night Hike page, or main Wednesday Night Hike page or the Wednesday Night Hike Cross-Index page