Goldilocks View

Exploring Deep Creek Wilderness Management Area for the first time, we followed obscure game trails into the hills. 

From Square Top Mountain, we had a great view of Strawberry Reservoir and the surrounding mountains.  The area is wide open and wild, with very little sign of human impace.

The butterflies were out.  Green ones,

and orange ones, flitting over the first spring flowers. 

Daisy cooled her belly on numerous snow patches remaining in the shade,

and swam in beaver ponds along the north fork of Deep Creek.   We saw deer and elk melting through the aspen,

and hawks, soaring and perching.
Goldilocks would have given the day her stamp of approval.  Just right.

Pre-Hunt Solitude

The last week of August, we rode in Deep Creek Wildlife Management Area, about an hour's drive east of home.
The trail begins by crossing Currant Creek. Getting wet is always a pleasure for Daisy and Boss.

We followed an old two-track up past these reddish cliffs,

past a springy area where streambank wild hollyhock [Malvaceae (Mallow) Iliamna rivularis] grow.
In a large aspen grove, we came across this old shelter. It might have been built by men who once grazed sheep here, or maybe by hunters who used it for a blind.

At the high point of the ride we had great views, to the east (above),

west,

and south.
In all, we rode about 10 miles and 2000 feet elevation gain and loss. Although we saw some fishermen at the trailhead and a group of hunters (scouting or bow hunting, because gun season had not yet started), we had most of the ride and the land to ourselves.