It was Wednesday, our third full day in camp. Anything needing repairing today will just have to wait until tomorrow. Today, we were going for a hike.
Our destination was the remains of the Tallman Ranch, built in the 1870s by Swedish immigrant Anders Tallman. The total hike down the Buffalo Trail would be around four miles with 600-feet of vertical.
We drove Gap Road to the trailhead where road crews were out installing new washboard ridges in the gravel roadway.
The hike to the ranch was mostly downhill on what was once a road. Along the roadway, we saw gilded aspen and passed the unnamed remains of a former homestead.
A fork in the trail led to the Tallman Ranch, whose buildings are still remarkably well preserved.
The home was locked, but we tested the front porch swing…
…and walked down to a small dam-built pond that covers the Tallmans’ old potato patch.
We followed the Mountain Lion Trail back to the Buffalo Trail and began retracing our steps back to the trailhead. We tried to spot the Phillips Homestead which the Park’s Historic Places brochure indicated was in the area, but no luck.
We took it slow and easy on the walk back to the car. The foliage and the terrain provided a glorious setting for ogling the beauty of nature. I’ve often wondered if the pioneers who lived out here appreciated the setting’s beauty or did they only see the landscape as an array of obstacles to overcome.
A word of warning to anyone following in our footsteps. The park’s trail names are lies. Approaching the trailhead, we spotted a few rabbits…
but on the entire length of the Buffalo Trail, we spotted nary a single bison. We also failed to see a cougar on the Mountain Lion Trail, which was fine. Maybe tomorrow we’ll head down to the park’s visitor center and file a complaint.
Or maybe we won’t.