Cache la Poudre River If You Can

Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers are doing Islands in the Stream

Yesterday, Saturday, I drove west on tiny, curvy Rist Canyon Road from Bellvue, Colorado, USA for about ten miles. I managed to dodge the rock outcrops and I also managed to keep my Explorer between the ditches traversing curves where sunlight apparently never shows up to melt the snowy ice. Then north on Stove Prairie Road. Conditions were ditto. Another five miles brought me to Poudre Canyon Road. I turned back east following the Cache la Poudre River down to Ft. Collins.

My intention was to enjoy a few stops along the way. I was successful.

Cache La Poudre is French for where the powder is hidden. Trappers working for the American Fur Company were delayed in the canyon during a snowstorm. In order to lighten their load, they buried several barrels of gun powder so they could get to the Green River in Wyoming.

The name stuck. It replaced Mini Luzahan, meaning Swift Current in Sioux.

East-facing slopes still retain snow, while the west facing slopes are essentially bare.

There are 226 wild and scenic rivers that make up the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System.

The Poudre River was designated as Colorado’s first and only Wild and Scenic River in 1986. The system is 76 miles long.

The sky was that inimitable blue. The temperature was a little above freezing and the air was still-to-howling…