A marker at the Willow Heights trailhead.  Click on the above image for full-sized version, or click here for a 2005 picture of the trail information sign.

Images (.JPG format):

• IMG04037 - A view through the trees and into the clouds, just before the trail breaks out into the meadow.  In 2005, this picture was taken from a a point few tens of feet further up the trail.
  
• IMG04039 - The rest of the group, making their way across the meadow.
  
• IMG04040 - Willow Pond, shrouded in mist and clouds.
  
• IMG04041 - Elaine, feeding the duck:  There was a second duck, but it never really caught on to the fact that there was free food...
• IMG04043 - The rest of the group, across the pond, having some sort of philosophical discussion.
• IMG04055 - Dale, on the west shore of the pond.  The beaver dam may be seen along the waterline on the left, and some of the cloud-covered peaks on the opposite side of the canyon are visible in the background.
  
• IMG04059 - From the east side of the lake, a view across and down-canyon, showing a cloud-covered peak.
• IMG04062 - A view farther up Willow Fork, into the clouds.
  
• IMG04065 - A view across the meadow just below the pond, showing the cloud and snow-covered peaks across the canyon.  Similar is #4066.
  
• IMG04069 - The obligatory group picture.  Because the group had largely separated at the beaver pond, it was dark before we decided to get the group picture, so we had to make do with the available light.  L->R:  Dale, Elaine, Ron, Gordon, Clint.  Another attempt is #4071.
  

• The elevation profile of the hike - This shows the ups and downs of the trail. 
  
• A detailed map with the GPS track of the hike (plus surrounding landmarks, 174k)
  

This is a composite of smaller pictures.  Please note that due to size, they may not display properly on some browsers and you may need to use an image viewer like Irfanview to view them properly and zoom in on some of the details.  Note that details (exposure, time, location, etc.) are noted in file's EXIF "Comments" field.

• Willow Pond Pano- A wide-angle shot from the west shore of the lake.  Dale is visible on the extreme right edge of the picture and the rest of the group may be seen on the opposite shore.  (1534k, .JPG)
  

The day did not look promising.

As we met at the parking lot, it was sprinkling occasionally and there were clouds obscuring the higher peaks:  Just below the cloud level, one could see some white from newly-deposited snow on the ground.

Being one to try to hold onto tradition and attempt going to Willow Heights as the final Wednesday Night Hike of the season, we decided to see what it looked like, anyway.  As we drove up the canyon, the clouds and darkness persisted - but we kept not seeing snow on the ground.  When we broke out into the wider part of the canyon at Mill D forks, we could see that the ground was white above about 8500 feet or so with the clouds being around 9000-9500.  With the very light drizzle and the lack of snow on the ground at the trailhead, we decided to see what it looked like.

The trail itself was slightly muddy - but not too slippery, and a thin coat of snow could be seen only in those area where clearings in the trees had allowed it to hit the ground:  It was somewhat odd to see these conditions - but still have relatively little fall color present.  When we got to the lake, a light fog was blowing across it and the ridges just above were being partially obscured by clouds, but the higher peaks were completely hidden. 

In past years, we'd always seen several ducks on the lake - and this year, somewhat to our surprise, was no exception.  Seeming to have emerged from somewhere near the beaver lodge, they made their way in our direction - one of them being spurred into action when it realized that Elaine was throwing small crackers into the water.

Dale was the first to cross the beaver dam - a task slightly complicated by some plants that had wilted and were crossing the trail- and I soon worked my way over there, too.  While the rest of the group stayed on the "trail" side of the dam and wandered about a bit, Dale and I decided to try to circumnavigate the lake, wondering if the area with the heavy plant growth at the north end would be passable.  As it turned out, there was no real problem other than the fact that the trail through the thickest part - normally somewhat indistinct - was lost completely in the snow, requiring us to crash through the the growth.  At about this time, we heard from the rest of the party:  Being that it was already past sunset, they decided to start the descent, hoping to avoid doing as much as possible of it in the dark.

After a few more minutes, Dale and I got back to the trail, deciding to forgo the side trip to the hunting blind, and pausing at the edge of the meadow I took a few pictures of the mountains across the canyon.  In a few minutes, we caught up with the rest of the group just as they entered the trees on the opposite side of the meadow.  As it turns out, several of the group had forgotten flashlights, but between Dale and I and our flashlights, we managed to spread enough photons around to light the way - particularly important for the steepest, rockiest part of the descent about 1/3 of the way up the trail.

Upon returning to the trailhead, we realized that we'd forgotten to get the traditional group photo:   Now that it was now very dark and moonless, we had to resort to "alternate" means of lighting to get this picture.  Afterwards, we made our ways to the bottom of the canyon and then we all converged on the  Rocky Mountain Pizza Company for dinner and some live Bluegrass music, concluding the 2006 Wednesday Night Hike season.

According to the book"The Lady in the Ore Bucket" by Charles Keller, Willow Heights was originally known as "Willow Patch Fork" (in 1888) and was the site of the 160 acre homestead of Julius Kuck who had filed three mining claims in the area, hoping to make quick money (to finance his law education) in minerals and timber.  Kuck's wife found the winters to be too difficult and, after a few years, left him, taking his daughters with her and divorcing him by 1909.

In about 1920, after several years as a hermit, Kuck deeded this land to Frank Bagley (one of his mortgage holders) after the destruction by fire of one of his mills at Mill D (see the discussion about Mill D North.)  and Kuck continued to live on the land.  In 1934 - when Kuck was 74, the cabin burned down and injured him.  He rebuilt, only to have the cabin burn again in the winter of 1937, severely injuring him, and he, dragging a few possessions, managed to get through the deep snow to the ranger station at Days Fork.  He spent the remainder of his life in the county hospital, dying in September of 1938.  He now rests across the street from Gordon's house.

Bagley, who owned the land after 1920, ran dairy cows in the area of Willow Heights:  Supposedly, the cement floor and foundation of the barn can be seen to the right of the trail when going up.

Comments:

• Because all of the images were originally taken stored in raw binary format, they have been down-processed to .JPG for web posting:  If requested, different color/contrast/brightness may be applied and/or higher-quality uncompressed versions may be available for most of these image.
• If you want one (or more) of these images and wish some sort of adjustment (color, brightness, exposure, etc.) please let me know:  All of these image have been processed in some way.
• These images are in chronological order.
• No-one ever said that all of these images (or any of them) were good.  Some of them may have definite focus/exposure "issues."
• EXIF data is present for most of the images, showing time, date, and precise exposure conditions.  Recent versions of Irfanview will show this in the "View->Image Information->EXIF" tab.  Note that cropping/noise reduction required the use of another program which may have removed some/most of this EXIF data.
• Images suffixed with "h" (if any) are half-size.  This was done for images that were somewhat out of focus (due to misfocus or camera/subject movement associated with long shutter times) or those that required some extra noise reduction and had lost some detail anyway.
• All images taken using a Sigma SD-10 camera and were taken using the 18-50mm zoom lens, except as noted in the EXIF data.

Go to the 2006 Wednesday Night Hike page, or main Wednesday Night Hike index page.