Читать книгу The Hiking and Camping Guide to Colorado's Flat Tops Wilderness - Al Marlowe - Страница 9

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THE FLAT TOPS

The Flat Tops Wilderness Area, located in west-central Colorado, is about 150 miles west of Denver, about 100 miles east of Grand Junction, and about 60 miles south from Craig. It is a popular destination for both residents and out-of-state visitors, bounded by Interstate 70 on the south, State Highway 13 on the west, Rio Blanco County Road 8 on the north, and State Highway 131 on the east. It is 267 square miles spread across four counties: Eagle, Garfield, Rio Blanco, and Routt. The boundaries fall within two national forests: White River and Routt. Several hundred miles of trails give hikers access to the area.

The wilderness is unique. It compares with no other mountain range in the state. Only the Columbia Plateau of the Pacific Northwest is similar. There are no tall spires, no fourteeners, found in the Flat Tops. Rather, it is a massive block of rock pushed upward and planed level, its surface punctured here and there by peaks rising a thousand feet above the high plateau.

Flat Top Mountain is the highest point in the wilderness at 12,354 feet.

The land doesn’t test you the way other mountain ranges will. There are few steep-sided peaks. At an average elevation near 11,000 feet, it doesn’t starve you of oxygen as climbing a fourteener would. Still, the second largest wilderness in the state offers challenges. A visitor could spend a season and not hike every path. From a distance, the Flat Tops Wilderness lives up to its name. Traveling along State Highway 131, between the communities of Toponas and Yampa, you view the plateau to the west, appearing nearly flat. Here and there, incisions were made in the massive block, formed by stresses deep within the earth during the formation of the Rocky Mountains. Rivers and creeks that drain the land enlarged and deepened the cuts.

Along the west flank of the White River Uplift, the geologic name for the Flat Tops, sedimentary rocks have been folded. Solid rock and overlying sediments deposited by ancient seas were pushed upward by forces of plate tectonics. The sediments conformed to the core rocks in the same way a bedspread drapes a bed. At the edges, the rocks were folded. At a rate imperceptible in a single lifetime, the exposed sediments eroded, and then were swept away by wind and rain, leaving only remnants of folds along the west flank of the Flat Tops. You will find this uplifted, folded, and eroded structure, known as the Grand Hogback between State Highways 13 and 325 near Rifle Gap Reservoir north of Rifle. Along Interstate 70 between Glenwood Springs and New Castle, red sediments sloping steeply to the south give additional testimony to the forces that built the Flat Tops.

The Forest Service estimates that more than 170,000 visitors come to the Flat Tops each year to enjoy the wilderness. They come in all seasons for a variety of reasons. Some visit the excellent mountain lodges. Many come for the fishing and hunting. Backpackers and horsemen travel the trails in the backcountry. And while the number of visitors seems large, as in many places in the backcountry, if you get any distance from edges and trailheads, you encounter fewer people, allowing each individual or group the privacy desired.

History

The written record of the Flat Tops is sparse. Early Spanish explorers traveled the southern and western areas of the state. The Pike Expedition (1806-7) and Long Expedition (1819) explored east of the Rockies. The Western emigration that began following the exploration of the Louisiana Territory took several routes, all of which passed either north or south of the Flat Tops. Very little if any record exists of early American or European explorers venturing into the area other than a few fur trappers.

It is thought by some that humans first used the area about ten thousand years ago. Ute Indians were the most recent Native Americans to inhabit the Flat Tops. For more than two centuries, they traveled and hunted from southern Wyoming to as far south as Taos, New Mexico. Having acquired horses by 1740, they could easily have ventured into the plateau to hunt.

Whites settled the region in the mid-nineteenth century. In 1878, Nathan Meeker was appointed agent for the White River Agency, located near the town that bears his name. His ambitious but ill-advised plan to reform the Ute Indians, changing them into farmers rather than hunters, ended in disaster. Chief Douglas and 25 to 30 Utes set fire to the agency on the White River on September 29, 1879, killing Meeker and 10 other men. Major Thomas T. Thornburgh brought a small force of 153 soldiers from Fort Steele, Wyoming, too late to protect the agency. Near Milk Creek, northeast of town, Chief Colorow and nearly 400 Ute Indians ambushed the force, killing Thornburgh and 12 soldiers. Even though the Indians won the battle, they lost the war when the Army moved them to a reservation in Utah three years later.

Just as a historian pores through old writings, putting together a story, the geologist studies the record of the Flat Tops in the rock. The story tells of the history; how this area came into existence, what makes it unique. It begins nearly three billion years ago.

Viewing the Flat Tops, one could easily believe it is a permanent fixture on the land. Yet, a close look reveals countless streams, draining countless hillsides. Each of these creeks removes tiny particles of rock, eroded by constant weathering. Before our eyes, the mountains that appear so solid are destroyed a grain of sand at a time. This process of building mountain ranges and reducing them to rubble has occurred several times in this area.

The same events that have created the Earth’s present form were also at work in molding and sculpting the Flat Tops. Scientists have long speculated that the continents we now know were once united in a single landmass called Pangea. This single, massive continent began to break apart by a process called plate tectonics.

As the single, massive continent began to dissociate, the sea moved into the rifts created. Several times, warm seas covered the lowlands east of the Flat Tops as Pangea crumbled.

The theory of plate tectonics suggests that continents, or plates, not only “drift” around over the Earth’s surface, moving apart, they also collide. When two plates crash together, the result is similar to that of two cars bumping—that is, if the collision takes place over eons rather than milliseconds. Fenders bend—sheet metal tears. Land compresses—rock shears.

Continents pushing against each other create tremendous stresses in the land. Compression forces build mountains in a similar way a child might squeeze toy blocks together. The resulting forces fracture solid rock. Continued pressure moves some blocks of rock upward, some are shoved down.

Once blocks of rock are lifted, perhaps several thousand feet above sea level, nature goes to work tearing them down. Freezing and thawing cycles break apart solid rock. Rain and snowmelt remove eroded bits and pieces. Wind scatters small particles of sand. Over hundreds of millennia, once-high mountains are worn into nonexistence. Eroded sediment eventually comes to rest on the ocean floor. Mountains have risen and fallen several times in the Flat Tops region.

Another phenomenon controlled by plate tectonics is volcanism. Oceanic plates are denser than continental plates. On colliding, one oceanic plate moves beneath the other. The denser rock moves deeper, contacting a zone of intense heat, melting the rock. As in a pot of boiling water, bubbles move from the bottom at the heat source, the molten rock boils up, seeking escape. As it rises, continental crust is fractured, creating a path for the liquid magma to spew out and cover the land.

Eruptions away from the plate edges are usually mild, not violent as was Mount St. Helens. Basalt, a thick, black, molten rock coming from deep within the Earth, flows and spreads out over the land in the same way chocolate frosting covers a layer cake. Mount Kilauea in Hawaii, while located on an ocean plate rather than a continent, is such a volcano. The volcanoes of the Flat Tops were similar in activity to Kilauea.

In the past twelve million years, ten or more mild eruptions spread basalt over the plateau. After spreading out over the surface, the basalt cooled, giving the Flat Tops its tabletop appearance. Deep Lake, in the southeast quadrant of the area, was once a volcano on the Flat Tops.

This U-shaped valley gives evidence of the glaciers that formed drainages in the Flat Tops.

Glaciers have also had a part in sculpting the area. During the most recent Ice Age, ending about ten thousand years ago, they worked on the many fractures in the uplift. Gorges were deepened. Deep Creek and the South Fork of the White River had their streambeds carved by glacial action. The thick sheet of ice carved the Chinese Wall near Trappers Lake.

Rubble was pushed ahead of the advancing ice wall. As the climate warmed and the glaciers melted, ridges of rock left behind formed dams creating lakes here and there. Glaciers dammed Trappers Lake more than once.

The Ice Age ended as the Earth’s climate began to warm. Volcanoes no longer pour out smoke and lava. The region has experienced geologic activity, however, over the past ten millennia. Near the town of McCoy, an eruption occurred eight thousand years ago. Just over four thousand years ago, about a mile north of Dotsero, the most recent volcanic eruption in Colorado occurred. The resulting lava flow dammed the Eagle River, creating a shallow lake. Through the ensuing centuries, the river slowly eroded the basalt barrier. The only remaining evidence of the pond you will find is the scattering of black boulders between Interstate 70 and the river, rock that once formed the low dam.

The forces that built the Flat Tops also created an ideal environment for life. The waters contain an abundance of life-sustaining minerals for fish. The vegetation is rich in calcium, enabling elk to grow massive antlers. The land supports the largest deer and elk herds in the state. Wildflowers are abundant, both in quantity and variety.

While the construction of the Flat Tops has ended for now, the area does not remain static. Nature acts continuously, remodeling and then destroying what she has built. It’s kind of like the highway construction projects that are always ongoing. A look at the Colorado River in Glenwood Canyon confirms what we know. The river is never clear. It appears as chocolate milk each spring or after a summer thunderstorm, evidence that Nature constantly erodes the land the river drains even as we watch.

The processes that gave us the Flat Tops and the Colorado Rockies also left valuable minerals in the state. Gold deposited by hydrothermal solution in numerous locations throughout the state attracted prospectors to Colorado hoping to strike it rich. The yellow metal, along with silver, molybdenum, and other minerals have contributed to Colorado’s economy for more than a century. Several companies mine coal along the Yampa River drainage, east and north of the Flat Tops. With the exception of a small number of oil wells and minor placer gold deposits, the Flat Tops is nearly devoid of economic minerals.

With few resources to exploit, the area remained pristine. Few roads ever penetrated the wilderness on the Flat Tops. The sides are too steep. A short snow-free period of just four or five months and the high altitude make ranching impractical other than summer grazing.

This high plateau has long been recognized as a place worth preserving. Old US Forest Service maps show it as a primitive area. The Trappers Lake area narrowly avoided development early in the twentieth century though. Arthur H. Carhart, a landscape architect working for the Forest Service, convinced his supervisor, Carl J. Stahl, that the lakeshore should be preserved rather than developed for summer home sites. Carhart’s dream later became a model for wilderness legislation. After years of debate, Congress passed the Wilderness Act of 1964. President Johnson signed it into law, preserving the Flat Tops. In 1978, Congress enlarged the boundaries, expanding the wilderness to its present size.

In the four thousand years since the eruption at Dotsero Crater, little appears changed in the Flat Tops. A wilderness visitor today will enjoy the same magnificent vistas the Ute Indians saw while hunting in the area a century and more ago. Elk still roam, sending their resonant mating calls echoing across the high glacial valleys each fall. Colorado River cutthroat, though threatened, still swim in their ancestral waters.

Flora and Fauna

Colorado’s largest deer and elk herds live in the area. Because of large herds the Flat Tops is a popular hunting area. Hunter success rates on deer range from 20 to 60 percent, depending on the season and game unit. Elk hunters average from 10 to 40 percent success. Every year, a few lucky hunters take trophy bulls in the wilderness.

While deer and elk are the most common big game, they’re not the only large animals that are found in the Flat Tops. Though not common, bighorn sheep live here. Bear and mountain lion also live in the wilderness. Because both are shy, you’re not likely to see either.

The White River deer herd is the largest in Colorado.

Coyotes are as widespread here as in other places in the West. You’ll hear them serenading the moon most often at evening or dawn. The coyote’s song makes a wilderness trip complete.

The Flat Tops is home for many small animals. You’ll find cottontail rabbits and snowshoe hares. Porcupines are likely to appear anywhere. Chipmunks may invade your camp. And pine squirrels will disturb the peace with their annoying, mindless chatter in the pine and spruce forests. Field mice will be attracted to any tasty morsels you may have in your camp. These tiny tan creatures are most active after dark, when they feel safe from predators. Another small critter you find—you’re more likely to hear it rather than see it at first— resembles a mouse. You’ll occasionally catch a glimpse of a vole running through tunnels in the grass and leaves. They’re darker than mice and have very short tails.

Moose were transplanted into the state beginning in the 1970s. They are seen frequently in the wilderness.

The many high lakes and ponds are attractive to two furbearers: beaver and muskrat. Beaver become active at dusk as they begin swimming about the ponds. After dark, they work hard—well, they’re busy as beavers—downing aspens to build and repair dams. Muskrats are much more casual about life. You may find these small, gray rodents at any time of day.

Birds are found on the Flat Tops in abundance. Songbirds include robins, chickadees, Steller’s and gray jays, and warblers. Occasionally, you’ll hear the deep croak of a passing raven. Woodpeckers include hairy and downy, as well as flickers. Should you plan your visit in one of the many campgrounds, you may want to take a hummingbird feeder. Two species, the broadtail and Rufus, will be attracted to the nectar.

Red-tailed hawks are one of the more common birds of prey you’ll see on the Flat Tops. With a bit of luck, you may see a peregrine falcon. You may also spot a golden eagle soaring high above the plateau, using its incredible vision to sight a tiny meal.

Waterfowl find the area attractive. Mallards and teal use beaver ponds to raise families. Another game bird found on the Flat Tops is the dusky (blue) grouse. You’ll run across these birds on the edges, openings close to timber. Wild turkey have been successfully introduced in the region and do well wherever they find feed in winter. Moose have also found the Flat Tops favorable in the past twenty years, the result of introduction by Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW).

The Flat Tops is an area having large open meadows and immense stands of dense timber. The most common trees are spruce, fir, and lodgepole pines. You will observe large numbers of snags—standing dead trees—in the wilderness. Back in the 1940s and ’50s, an invasion of spruce beetles killed many trees. Even after nearly fifty years, many are still standing. They’re also a potential hazard in high wind.

Flat Tops visitors may question the reason for so many dead standing trees in the wilderness. As with all living things forests have finite lives. The life span of a forest may be measured in centuries, even millennia rather than years. A forester with the Colorado State Forest Service informed us that a healthy forest should have 60 to 150 trees per acre. As the number increases, trees compete for nutrients from the soil and for sunlight. Trees that are stressed become susceptible to disease, which leads to infestation of tree-killing insects such as pine and ips beetles. Unless a beetle-killing freeze occurs, they will survive to lay eggs on other nearby trees.

Unhealthy and dead trees are also susceptible to fire, whether caused by lightning or by a careless visitor. Several major fires have occurred in the Flat Tops in the past few decades. In 1979 the lower Derby Creek drainage burned. The Ute Creek fire of 1993 destroyed many acres of trees near the head of the creek on the northwest side of the wilderness. Lightning strikes caused fires in 2002 that burned the west slopes along the North Fork of the White, spreading to the Big Fish Lake area, and Trappers Lake. A second fire burned the Lost Lakes area south of Ripple Creek Pass. We can’t do anything about naturally caused fires but visitors can exercise caution with cooking and campfires.

Aspen groves are scattered all over the Flat Tops, especially at the lower elevations. They are a special attraction in the fall. Then, entire slopes will appear as a solid yellow or gold. Along streams and lakes, willows grow profusely. Sage also is found, usually on low elevation slopes.

Because of plentiful moisture, grasses are lush on the Flat Tops. Interspersed in the grasses is a multitude of wildflowers. Hidden among openings in the aspens, you’ll find columbines, the state flower.

Color varies with the season. July brings a variety of species and colors. Red, pink, white, blue, and yellow flowers often appear as a multicolored shag carpet. Blue flax, red elephants, lupines, and countless others decorate the wilderness. Fireweed’s pink blossoms spring up along cuts and bare areas. Paintbrush adds reds to plain green weed patches in small openings in the timber. By August, yellows predominate. Daisies, sunflowers, and even dandelions color the hillsides. Whatever the season, throughout the summer, you’ll find a variety of colors.

Climate

Because of its location, the Flat Tops receives an abundance of precipitation, making the region an angler’s paradise. The plateau is the first obstacle any eastward-moving weather system encounters in this part of the state. The topography creates its own weather. Prevailing winds are from the west. Air moving from the west is forced to ascend to cross the wilderness, cooling in the process. Cooling condenses the water vapor, producing clouds that soon reach their dew point, bringing precipitation. This is a frequent year-round occurrence on the Flat Tops.

Winter snowfalls are abundant. Often, by early November, the plateau is inaccessible. The mantle of white rarely recedes before the following summer, in June or even July.

Summer afternoon thundershowers are common. The day may begin with clear skies but by noon, the first clouds form. Moments later, lightning flashes and thunder resounds across the plateau. The shower that follows may be brief but intense or it can be a prelude to several days of rain. Be aware, though, that snow can fall at any time of year, even in summer.

While the region does receive more than its fair share of precipitation, summer also brings pleasant warm, dry periods. Even at 11,000 feet, the days can be hot. Daytime temperatures range from the 40s or 50s to the 80s. Lows can vary from below freezing to the 50s.

Big game hunting seasons begin with archery in late August and extend through November. Though August and September are still summer on the calendar, the prudent hunter will prepare for the extremes. The first significant snow may fall in September, though it usually melts off in a few days. Jack Frost makes his first appearance then, too, bringing the first fall color to the high country.

October frequently delivers a lull in weather patterns. Deer and elk hunters often find the day balmy in spite of nighttime freezes. It’s still wise to prepare for severe conditions, though. Late in the month, the season has progressed enough that snow begins accumulating. Shorter days and cooler temperatures mean less melting. Soon, the plateau will be covered in white, inaccessible until the following summer.

The wilderness is closed half the year to all but snowshoers and cross-country skiers. And while high lakes begin to open in May, most trails are still drifted shut. A trip to one of the early opening lakes requires skis or snowshoes. As a general guideline, areas below 9,000 feet are usually accessible by Memorial Day. In June, plan your trips to locations below 10,000 feet and by July, the entire wilderness should be open though you may find scattered snowdrifts. Of course, all this is dependent on the winter snowfall and exposure. South facing areas tend to open first. In dry years, the wilderness may open earlier.

Access

The Flat Tops Wilderness is accessed from four highways: Interstate 70 on the south, State Highway 13 on the west, US Highway 40 on the north, and State Highway 131 on the east. From these roads, the towns of Steamboat Springs, Craig, Meeker, Rifle, New Castle, Glenwood Springs, Dotsero, Yampa, Phippsburg, and Oak Creek offer access to the wilderness.

Interstate 70 runs east–west across Colorado. It is the primary access route to the Flat Tops from Denver, east of the Rockies, and from Grand Junction to the west, 30 miles from the Utah line. The road follows the Colorado River along the south side of the White River Plateau.

From the town of Rifle, go north on State Highway 13 from Interstate 70. This two-lane, paved road takes you along the Grand Hogback on the west flank of the plateau to the town of Meeker, 41 miles from Rifle. Meeker is a good place to fill your gas tank, buy groceries, or a fishing/hunting license before venturing to the wilderness.

US Highway 40, while it doesn’t traverse the plateau, does give access to the wilderness from the north. Craig is 48 miles north of Meeker. On the west side of Craig, State Highway 13 goes south to Meeker from US 40.

From Steamboat Springs, 42 miles east of Craig on US 40 and at the west side of Rabbit Ears Pass, State Highway 131 goes south to join Interstate 70 at Wolcott. State Highway 131 passes through the communities of Oak Creek, Phippsburg, and Yampa, each of which gives access to the eastern areas of the wilderness.

Kremmling, a small ranching community, lies 52 miles southeast of Steamboat Springs and 112 miles west of Denver, also on US 40. It doesn’t give access to the Flat Tops, but 6 miles west of town, take State Highway 134 over Gore Pass to connect with State Highway 131. Yampa is 9 miles north of the 131/134 junction.

In addition to the major state and federal all-weather roads, there is a network of county roads accessing the wilderness. From New Castle, 11 miles west of Glenwood Springs on Interstate 70, a gravel road, the New Castle–Buford Road, takes you north to Buford. In the White River National Forest, it’s Forest Road 244 and in Rio Blanco County, its designation is County Road 17.

Rio Blanco County Road 8 heads east from Meeker and gets you into the north side of the wilderness. Between Meeker and the Lost Creek Guard Station east of Buford, the road is paved for a distance of about 25 miles. At the forest boundary, the road is well-maintained gravel. The road takes you over Ripple Creek Pass and on to the towns of Oak Creek, Phippsburg, and Yampa, another 40 miles east. From Yampa, Routt County Road 7 on the south side of town leads west for 17 miles to Stillwater Reservoir over narrow, rough pavement, which changes to gravel at the forest boundary.

Eagle County Road 301, also named the Colorado River Road, is a good gravel road that follows the Colorado River. It takes off from State Highway 131 near the community of McCoy. This road provides wilderness access from Derby, Sweetwater, and Deep Creek Roads.

Forest Road 600 leaves Eagle County Road 301 at the Colorado River, 1.5 miles north of Interstate 70. This road is the only access to the south side of the wilderness, 39 miles from the blacktop.

Road access is dependent both on maintenance and season. Federal and state highways are maintained in all weather conditions. County roads are cleared where year-round access is needed. Roads that are usually, but not always, opened by Memorial Day are Rio Blanco County Road 8 over Ripple Creek Pass, Routt County Road 7 to Stillwater Reservoir, and Garfield County Road 150 up Sweetwater Creek. Forest Road 600, on the plateau leading to the southeast part of the wilderness, is usually open by July 4, sometimes earlier. It’s best to check with the White River National Forest supervisor at Glenwood Springs, (970) 319-2670, before making travel plans.