{"id":689,"date":"2015-05-02T13:30:17","date_gmt":"2015-05-02T19:30:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.magicwolf.com\/wanderings\/?p=689"},"modified":"2017-02-28T21:59:23","modified_gmt":"2017-03-01T04:59:23","slug":"misty-mountain-hop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.magicwolf.com\/wanderings\/misty-mountain-hop\/","title":{"rendered":"Misty Mountain Hop"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"IMG_2060_1\"<\/a><\/p>\n

So I’v<\/em>e decided what I’m gonna do now<\/em>
\nSo I’m packing my bags for the Misty Mountains<\/em>
\nWhere the spirits go now<\/em>
\nOver the hills where the spirits fly<\/em><\/p>\n

-\u00a9 1971 Led Zeppelin<\/em><\/p>\n

Decompression!<\/span><\/strong><\/h4>\n

Sometimes I like to trot off on little solo trips into the bush to clear my head; away from towns and people-populated areas.<\/p>\n

I cut through Rockerville<\/em>, which is a tiny ghost town (except for one restaurant which still operates) hidden in the wooded median of the highway. Rockerville<\/em> was founded in 1876 as a result of the gold rush; it was originally a mining camp. Sadly, widening the highway to a 4-lane effectively killed Rockerville, and most everything in it closed decades ago.<\/p>\n

Them Thar Hills<\/span><\/strong><\/h4>\n

It was overcast last weekend which made for some otherworldly-looking scenes back in them thar Hills that reminded me a lot of Yellowstone with the rising steam, except no geysers or boiling mud shot out of the earth!<\/p>\n

Usually when I go out like that I have no set plans, no places to specifically be. <\/em>I just load up my ever present Thermos of coffee and…go!<\/p>\n

\"IMG_2040_1\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

I found myself somewhere around French Creek<\/em>. It was drizzling, but not enough where I’d get soaked so I parked Hhrbie and took a little hike. I didn’t plan to go there, I just spotted the sign and whistled in there on a whim.<\/p>\n

\"Starting<\/a>

Starting out.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"IMG_2043_1\"<\/a>

Red cliffs towering overhead on the French Creek trail.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"IMG_2044_1\"<\/a>

This is French Creek, I believe. I crossed it several times. It’s dry right now – which is a good thing or my hike would have ended abruptly – about 10 minutes after it started!<\/p><\/div>\n

Portions of this trail (except for the towering red cliffs and hills!) reminded me a lot of wandering around by ‘the gravel pit’; a place I would go in northern MN in the fall.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_2045_1\"<\/a>

Tiny white flowers peeking out of the ground.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"IMG_2047_1\"<\/a>

On the way back to Hhrbie, mist hanging in the air.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"IMG_2046_1\"<\/a>

Ponderosa branch taking a shower.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Herd<\/a>

Herd of pronghorn, milling by the road.<\/p><\/div>\n

There were few people or vehicles back where I was last weekend. I spotted literally hundreds of deer, a few buffalo, some turkeys and a herd of pronghorn. The white-butted critters peered at me curiously as I coasted by, and were in no particular hurry to wander off the road, and that was fine because I wasn’t in a hurry, either!<\/p>\n

\"IMG_2055_1\"<\/a>

Towering rocks, off into the distance.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"IMG_2059_1\"<\/a>

Misty Mountains<\/p><\/div>\n

Sometimes it’s nice to just go wandering and see where you end up, with no plans, no specific goals or destinations!<\/p>\n

\"IMG_2051_1\"<\/a>

Cheerful purple wildflowers.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Decompression trip!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":703,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[44,151,11],"tags":[154,51,155],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/www.magicwolf.com\/wanderings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/IMG_2060_1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.magicwolf.com\/wanderings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/689"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.magicwolf.com\/wanderings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.magicwolf.com\/wanderings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.magicwolf.com\/wanderings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.magicwolf.com\/wanderings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=689"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.magicwolf.com\/wanderings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/689\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.magicwolf.com\/wanderings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/703"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.magicwolf.com\/wanderings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=689"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.magicwolf.com\/wanderings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=689"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.magicwolf.com\/wanderings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=689"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}