Wurts Ditch

Yesterday, August 20, 2018, I was bored so I decided to drive the Wurts Ditch trail, which is 20.2 miles in the woods.  It is rated as advanced but I figured, what the heck.  I took my binoculars, my camera, one bottle of water, and my Glock 9mm and away I went.

It is 7.5 miles by pavement to the beginning on Forest Road 19 and 17.5 miles by pavement back to Leadville.

 
This isn't on Wurts Ditch but was in another area below the Turquoise Lake dam that I found a few days back.

 
About the first 8 miles is an old railroad bed that is flat but very crooked in most areas.

 
Most of the time the route is lined with trees but there are a few spots with great views.




 
The only people I saw was a crew that were installing these snow markers for the snowmobile season.


The trail was flat for a long ways and then it turned to this.

 
It was pretty rocky for about 1.5 miles.  While in this area, I spotted something large and black in the middle of the trail in my rear view mirror.  It seemed to be moving towards me and may have been a bear.  After watching it for a while, I decided to move on.  I also saw two mule deer ahead of me.
 

 
And then the trail turned back into this type. On the flat portions, I was able to easily drive 25 mph and only slowed down for the curves.




Since this trail isn't popular, I didn't see any other folks out there.  A person really needs to trust his equipment not to break down.  Overall, it was a fun trail and I don't understand why it was rated as difficult.

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