Halligan Reservoir
(or go find some little used roads and enjoy some scenery)
| Start-End was Fort Collins. From the Green Dot "pictures start" bowing out and up to Tie Siding - graded dirt county road. |
| Looking southwest towards Rocky Mountain National Park Panorama Click for a larger size |
| First view of Halligan Reservoir The North Fork of the Cache La Poudre River flows in at the bottom left and flows out, partially into an irrigation ditch at the dam (top right). I was told (unverified) that the Colorado irrigation projects are second to California's central valley. |
| Road - yes! Fences, no (not quite), signs - no, driveways - no, power lines - no, buildings - no. Ahhh... |
| The road was reasonably easy for the car (5.5" of ground clearance) though a handful of spots needed a bit of attention to clear. |
| Spotty rain clouds - typical |
| And heading up and out from the valley. No pix near the reservoir. I ended up talking with a group of guys who had kayak'd about eight miles of the river. Putting in upstream where the county road crosses and taking out before the reservoir. Even with the higher water (runoff) levels I think the river was only about 10 to 15' wide for most of the trip - with decent boulders. |
| An, yes, boulders. A decent representation of the rocks of the area. |
| Sometimes fences make for good neighbors. |
| Heading out and up. |
| Farther down the road - after getting rained on by the distant cloud. Panorama Click for a larger size |
| Panorama Click for a larger size |
| Snowball fight - with some tinged brown snow? |
| Heading North into Laramie WY on US-287 Two large storms to the east. |
| After
dinner in the car by the tracks (Union Pacific rail yard) I decided to
head back via Cheyenne instead of backtracking down on US-287. Around
Buford there's a roadside info sign pull-off in the center of I-80. Three signs and one "tree growing out of a rock" |
| The limber pine tree is likely well past 150 years old, though the sign says they can live 2000 years. |
| This tree was growing out of a crevice in the rock when the Union Pacific Railroad built its original main line fifty feet south of this rock in 1868. The fence and cable were provided by the Union Pacific Railroad Co. at the request of the historical landmark commission of Wyoming. |
