Toward Leidy Peak

We drove into Ashley National Forest along Ashley Creek, and toward Leidy Peak.  We were checking out the road to make sure the snow is gone before we try to get up there with a horse trailer. 
The last 10 miles of the road to Leidy Peak trailhead is still blocked off with an avalanche gate.  We parked and took a 6 mile walk along the creek. 

Daisy was there, on the lookout for elk.  We didn't see any,

but we saw and heard bluebirds.found a few early wildflowers,

such as violets

and Marsh marigolds. 

We made a litter survey along the road and found that beer cans outnumber soda cans 12:1.  Usually we travel on hiker or game trails, avoiding the leavings of careless litterbugs. 

Part of our walk was along the old Carter Military Road, traveled from 1881-1884.  The road was used to bring supplies between Fort Bridger in Wyoming, and Fort Thornburg near Vernal, Utah.  This was just after the Utes were moved to a reservation in the Vernal-Roosevelt area.  Settlers were concerned there might be an uprising such as the 1879 Meeker Massacre (11 men killed by Ute Indians) in Colorado.  Of course, the Meeker Massacre probably happened because the Utes feared their grasslands were going to be taken away from them by a huge influx of miners to the region, and they feared that U.S. soldiers moving into the area planned something similar to the Sand Creek Massacre, where 70-163 Indians, 2/3 of whom were women and children, were killed. 

On the old military road, you can still see the boulders that were moved out of the road bed and piled along the sides to make way for wagons.