Taponas Colorado with Flattops in the background. From a walk I did early last fall.
Above is my first view of the flat tops while driving across the flats south of Taponas Colorado in early July. Back then I made a 24 hour drive around the Game Management Unit. I had drawn a "tag" as it's called, to hunt the area in the mid October rifle season. The northern Flattops portion of the Wilderness Area is the summer range of the elk herd.
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Extending into the Wilderness Area like a protruding finger is a series of reservoirs built as public works projects in the mid to late 1930s. It was my intent to access the wilderness by driving up to the end of that finger, hiking through a small portion of an adjoining unit, and down into the area I had permission to hunt.
Barely visible the second body of water is one of the reservoirs. You can see it's very low, long dry summer following a winter with little snow. The wilderness area boundary is between the reservoir and the nearer pond.
On the map it didn't look bad. My maps were old and large scale but one of them showed an unnamed trail cutting through the cliff band known as "China Wall". My thought was that there was probably a seldom used pack trail and I could either follow it or just follow my nose up through any break in the cliff bands.
The parking lot seemed busy. I'd expected anglers but most people were walkers, many had dogs on leashes. Day hikers like I would have expected within driving distance of Denver, not four and a half hours away. I assumed wrongly they were hiking around the reservoir.
I quickly left the trall along the water and cut sidehill heading up and towards what I'd remembered as a low spot in the ridge. Saw signs of elk that had been feeding on very green grass, maybe on the now waterless sides of the reservoir, also saw signs of horses, and in some deadfall this porcupine.
The trail cut through the same gap in the hills I'd been pointing towards, and was full of people. Unknowingly I'd chosen what is probably the most popular day hike in that section of the forest. The attraction was a moderate hike through mostly open country with a nice view from a very flat but very narrow top called The Devil's Causeway. Great name, almost as good as the feature on the back side called Dead Mexican Gulch. It was exactly that back side that held my interest. Prime elk country but in a Wilderness Area, so only a back pack hunt was possible.
Devil's Causway
It took most of the afternoon to get me and my backpack to the top of the hill. Once past the causeway I had the mountain to myself, it was untraveled enough that I could estimate the age and number of horse tracks I saw. (One rider with pack horse) no hikers.
Sniffing around I sought out a level place as close to the edge of the hill as I could find that was flat and would afford me a view of the meadows below. My intent was to take off my boots half crawl in my bag and sit there until dark, glassing the open meadows with binoculars for elk. I had a pretty good view up and down the valley for five miles.
I only had 9 power binoculars not a real scope but with patience and a careful eye tiny dots miles away can be figured out. Do they move? Are they eating grass? Horse? I watched and waited, cooked up some noodle soup on my tiny stove. Nothing. Drank heated water and a couple crackers, still nothing.
Hobbling around barefoot close to my sleeping bag I noticed my sore foot was much worse. Later I was to go to a doctor at a clinic where the doctor recognized a very commonly torn tendon, put the kabosh to my walking for the rest of the year.
Evening view from bivi place
The night was fairly quiet, not much wind, lots of aircraft up high going east and west. This Wilderness is flyover country. As the night got later I listened to the coyotes up and down the valley below. I think I could hear three distinct separate animals. Not as many as I hear back home out where north Denver sprawl meets the wheat fields. Not one bugling bull elk, mid rutt.
I sat up before I could see, waiting for enough light to glass. The light gathering properties of the lens makes it possible to see in darker light than I could with the unassisted eye. Methodically I searched every meadow and lakeside that I remembered from the night before to see if there were any new spots or bumps. I have a pair of 8x40 Nikon binoculars, cost me over a hundred dollars. They are a little heavy but that's ok, so am I.
At about sunrise I heard the unmistakeable sound of splitting wood. Probably the cook at an outfitters camp splitting enough for kindling to get the wood stove going for breakfast for the clients. I know how it is, I never gather kindling the night before either, and when camping there is never enough tinder. There's another way into this valley, a lot longer but flat, a few outfitters operate in the area. Maybe that's why no sign of elk. Sometimes when pressured they wait until full dark to graze and disappear long before light.
Morning view from bivi
The hobble out was uneventful.
Update: A big thank you for the rescue, words and photos can't do the place justice, just another obscure wilderness area.