After turning back to Highway 16 (the scenic road) yesterday, we headed back east to try to find the Tie Hack Dam and Reservoir. Supposed to be very scenic, nice lake for fishing or boating, camping, picnicking. Had trouble finding the cutoff for it and ended back in Buffalo. Stopped at a store to pick up some things, asked for direction and went back to find Tie Hack. As we drove back up into the mountain you could see the pine rust fungus eating the trees on one side. Could not get a good picture but imagine a pine tree that is rust colored, almost looks burnt, and the needles that have fallen around it on the ground coat the ground in a reddish color. Very weird looking.
Spectacular! Very scenic, restful. Lots of folks enjoying the day. Hiked a little around the lake, came back the other way and walked over the dam, then headed back home. When we started out a couple hours earlier the mountains did not show much smoke from the wildfires but as the day wore on - smoke was starting to obstruct our long distance views.
 |
| First glimpse of lake from parking lot |
 |
| People with their toys having fun |
 |
| A look back towards the dam |
And, what is with the name? Here's what Wikipedia says: A specialty form of logging involving the felling of trees for the production of railroad ties was known as tie hacking. These lumberjacks, called tie hacks, used saws to fell trees and cut to length, and a broadaxe to flatten two or all four sides of the log to create railroad ties. Later, portable saw mills were used to cut and shape ties. Tie hacking was an important form of logging in Wyoming and northern Colorado and the remains of tie hacking camps can be found on National Forest land. So there. Can see why this name - the amount of trees is amazing. We did not see any evidence of forest fires, new or old.
 |
| Our path we followed until we had to climb pretty steep |
 |
| Two girls playing out on the water on their kayaks |
 |
| A big batch of thistles - no where else |
As we were walking along the path, 2 teenage girls came gliding by on their kayaks. Then a group of 4 more came by. In the distance was a father with 3 young children on a small row boat, fishing and giggling. People all along the banks fishing, even standing on top of the dam fishing. When we got on top of the dam and looked below, we saw a father and small girl fishing by the down stream of the dam. And people hiking along trails below the dam. The lake is very deep, has trout and bass in it, not sure if it is stocked each spring by the fisheries, was created to monitor the Clear Creek as it meanders through the mountains and down into Buffalo. Back in 1908 the town was flooded by Clear Creek and that's when the dam was built.
 |
| More kayakers coming along |
 |
| Fun - almost made me go get a kayak and play too |
No comments:
Post a Comment