ATV 8

Looking at some possibly obsolete maps I noticed some railroad tracks that do not appear on other maps. After studying Google Earth, I just couldn’t determine what was there. One thing for sure, railroad tracks did attract people, so it was worth a look. After arriving and following the GPS coordinates of the tracks, it was obvious the tracks have been long removed and a forest service road was in its place. As suspected many of the old farm /cabin sites still exist in near pristine condition along the old rail route.

This is what I’m talking about, real historic sites. As the sign says “Do Not Destroy Your America Heritage”. I wish they would post information about these sites. When was it built ? Who lived here ?

This isn’t on the map ? I know it is not a real “LAKE” but it’s location and size is impressive . This would be a great place to camp !

The fire roads back in this area are not traveled at all and very few signs of any travel on the main roads. It was hard to find a place to stop and eat, too many choices, every place looks better than the last.

Looks like we are going to do a bigger loop that expected since we started early and have plenty of time. The GPS and maps made it quit easy to set a new route that popped us out at Mormon Lake. We did a quick pass through town and popped back into the forest on a different forest road.

Back into the forest heading back to the original route, another Historic Cabin! When you see an area like this take your trash out and any other trash you see. If it looks clean and pristine I think it prevent others from vandalizing it. If it looks like a dump they will treat it like a dump! These are all swell cabins let’s help preserve them.

Going down these aspen tree lined roads was very different than the pine forest. The aspens sure made it brighter. I still have not figured out exactly why different tree grow in places that all look the same and about the same altitude? Very unexpected, more cabins ? These had no sign of life, no wear marks in the grass from people walking but they were too good to be abandoned , maybe ? I’ll pass on exploring these.

We still had time left so we decided to cross FR3 and go on to Mormon Lake Lookout. The very last of the road was closed and we had to walk up, but not too far. The wind was blowing very hard at the top and the temperature was 45 degrees. Looking at the old ranger station it appears most of the damage was structural failure due to the high winds encountered on top the mountain. It was worth the short walk to examine this site.