Flat Tops Trail, CO (9/4/2018)

The Flat Top Scenic Trail runs from Meeker to Yampa, an 82 mile run up the White River Valley.  This trip  has been on my radar for a while, but it's remote and requires a long drive.  By staying in Meeker, I had better access to the trail, but still did only half of it.  Side roads are plentiful and add to the mileage and time required.  Maybe one day I'll drive the other half of the trail.

The first part of the trail has some beautiful ranches and homes.

Soon mountains begin to appear, adding to the scenery.

One of the side roads took me into the Sleepy Cat Community and up Sleepy Cat Mountain.

Driving up the mountain, I saw some birds fly into a tree, so parked and walked back down the road to get some bird photos.  While concentrating on the tree, I noticed some movement off to the side.  Turning, I saw a black bear crossing the road about thirty feet from me.  By the time I made the necessary camera adjustments, the bear was entering the weeds at the edge of the road.  Suddenly, a second bear came rushing across the road trying to catch the first one.  They didn't seem to notice that I was standing right there.

With all the wildfires in Colorado this year, I was pleased to see someone offering thanks to the firefighters.

Another side trip took me to Avery Lake, a state wildlife refuge.  Unfortunately, I didn't see any wildlife there.

My longest side trip was to Trappers Lake, the second largest natural lake in the state.  This lake is the source of the White River and normally has a nice waterfall at the outflow.  The drought has resulted in a smaller outflow, so the waterfall wasn't worth a photo.  The Flat Top Mountains surround the lake, making for a nice scene.  Much of the forest here was burned in 2002 and hasn't really recovered.  Large expanses of dead trees are visible, some standing and some downed.

In some areas, serviceberry bushes and aspen groves have returned and gave me some pretty good color.

In addition to the lake, numerous creeks flow down the mountains and into the White River.  Most of them had very little water, but Lynx Creek had just enough to produce a small waterfall.

Local beavers have dammed a creek to create a lage pond.  You can see the lodge in the center of the pond.

There were lots of birds around, but I'll only share two photos of them.

Osprey

Cedar Waxwing

In addition, there were numerous yellow-bellied marmots living on the rocky hillsides.  I stopped taking photos after seven, and stopped looking after nine.