Pebble Creek

Today Colin and I hiked the Pebble Creek Trail, a 12 mile shuttle near the northeast entrance of the park. The trail began climbing immediately and continued to do so for the first two miles of the hike. Green grass and bright wildflowers grew among the trees through which we hiked. At the top of the climb, we had a fantastic view of the mountains surrounding us.

The beginning of the hike

Meadows along the way

Enjoying the nice view at the top of the climb

We continued on, through several meadows and small sections of forest. After about 4 miles, we came to the first of four river fords along the hike. At this point, we noticed a cold wind blowing and dark clouds behind us. We wondered whether we should turn around or keep going. We finally decided to keep going, because the sky in front of us was much brighter and we did not hear any thunder. 

One of four times we forded windy Pebble Creek

After fording the river, we entered a burned section of forest. The trail followed alongside the river until we came to the second river ford. After that, we continued through burned forest for a few more miles. After hiking about 6 miles, the terrain opened up, and we got amazing views of the dramatic mountains around us. 

Burned forest

About 6 miles in, we got some great mountain views

We continued on, fording the river again, and finally entered a huge meadow. We saw dark clouds behind us and heard thunder rumbling in the distance. We quickened our pace to get into the woods and out of the open meadow before the storm reached us. When we got to the woods, we climbed up a ridge and then down the other side to the parking lot, about two miles total. We got rained on a little, but for the most part, we were lucky to avoid the storm. 

The storm closing in on us