Grizzly Jeep Trail
The Flat Tops trails are often little more than bumpy roads, but Grizzly Jeep Trail offers a bit more fun. We were looking forward to it, so we finished White Owl Lake and started Grizzly Jeep Trail on the western end. The warning signs about high clearance and four-wheel drive made everyone drive a little faster.
The trail was pretty mellow at the start, and soon we were at the collection of buildings at the Grizzly Cow Camp. We'd had a great lunch there on a previous trip, but it was late in the afternoon. Still, we all got out to explore. There are lots of buildings there, and the forest service building that was locked up before was now open. It was cool to think of cowboys staying there many years ago. Someone wrote "AUG. 47." in the cement on the porch. The whole area was really cool.
After that, the trail got pretty fun. There was a creek crossing, and then rocky sections next to scenic areas. A few good, loose hills mixed with rock ledges meant we all had fun. The lake was gorgeous as the trail passed right next to it.
Our fun didn't last as long as we wanted it to, though. We got to the end of the trail at Coffee Pot Road and had a discussion. Though we had other trails we could do, the shadows were getting long. Walt decided to head back out Coffee Pot Road to his hotel in Eagle, and Matt and Monica decided to head back to camp to see if Julie was there.
She was there! She decided not to try to catch us, which was probably a good decision. Her tent was set up, and we caught up on our adventures for the day. The campsite ended up being perfect, and we enjoyed dinner at the big fire pit before checking out all of the stars. We listened to coyotes all night, and we couldn't have wrapped up the day any better.
Report from a Different Day
