West Fork of West Beaver Creek

Distance: 8 miles
Ascent:  1486 feet   
Route: Not going to provide much information on this as I don't think I would repeat it, nor recommend it.

Description: Left the house knowing there would be precipitation, but still looking at the clear sky above the mountain as we drove away.  It did not take long for the view to change from blue to gray, but unfortunately didn't realize we had not brought along gators until we had already reached Woodland Park.  Reaching our destination we pulled off on the side of the highway, grabbed our packs, and jumped a gate once traffic died down.  {Please note that trespassing is not something we typically do.  I incorrectly assumed that the land belonged to the nearby quarry, and was not worried about a Sunday dash across what I had been told was accessible.}  Probably got about a tenth of a mile in, before having to make a course correction, as Google Earth leaves a little to be desired.  Pushed north and then bush whacked north-west into a saddle,  looking for an easy ascent in order to get back on the intended path.  By the time we were back on track there was a lot of wet spring snow falling, which made for a nice quiet walk through the woods.

We started cutting the trail after leaving the jeep track that runs along the reservoirs.  Lost the path to drifts a few times, but always managed to relocate it quickly by looking for chutes through the next aspen grove.  The region is aptly named as there is plenty of beaver trace, from dams to sharpened tree stumps, but did not catch sight of any movement.  Kept the bear bell out while walking through thicker areas, but really just a quiet and serene trail with only the occasional air traffic to be heard.  After stopping at Gillett falls for lunch, we headed back down, impressed by how our individual conditioning had allowed us to keep a strong pace on the way up and quickly acclimate to the altitude.

a closer will show 3 wolves

This area is located between the large western gap of the RTP or Ring The Peak trail system; which in large part, remains incomplete while permission for property access is negotiated.  That being said, I will probably take fences and private property signs a bit more seriously now, as on our way down we began to hear occasional gun fire.  The sound would echo up the valley making it difficult to anticipate how close we were getting, and then it would stop, and then fire again, but much much closer.  This pattern continued until we were literally on top of it, both of us hit the ground more than once, but could still not see anyone.  Reaching a fork in the road, I looked back and could see that we had passed a vehicle in which two men were firing at targets into a cut out embankment.  One was firing from the driver seat and the other from over the hood.  Our relief that they were not just firing into the woods (which we have come across before), was exhausted when the path we had selected while passing them seemed to end in a large fence.  In fact there seemed to be multiple large fences around us, and apparently a relocated wolf population inhabiting them.  Wolves quietly started dropping down from the hills on either side of us, seemingly not bothered by the gunfire but certainly interested in who we might be.  The cages seemed to start and stop around us, masking the borders of our new predicament.  Backing up on the road, I whistled and yelled at the target shooters to no avail, their ear plugs and firing hiding us from them better than any camoflauge.  The constant rounds made it somewhat difficult to re-orientate, but we took the other stretch from the fork and continued between two of what appeared to be three cages.  Managed to grab the photo below on the way through, the photo above has 3 of the 8 wolves we saw.

Long story short, made it out to hike another day.  Must admit a bit rattled, but laughing as we walked back down the highway to the jeep.