105
Richland Creek Wilderness Area
12/29/2012
The big Christmas snow was a few days behind me and there was still plenty on the ground so I made my way north towards Richland Creek. After breakfast at Denny's in Russelville the north side of the wilderness was arrived at on Richland Creek Rd at 5:45 a.m.. By 6:00 the crunch of the four day old snow was beneath my boots. The moon was full and the skies had been clear on the drive up but clouds had begun to obscure the moonlight. The ground was bright with the snow and my headlamp was barely needed. I made it to the edge of Richland Valley by 7:00 but was not to see the sunrise I expected due to the cloud cover. The temp was 20 degrees yet comfortable.
After some time spent on the valley rim the snow covered slope was scrambled down to the creek side. There was enough water in the creek to make it pretty but still lower than one would like. The outlet of Devils Fork was dry as is typical. On the way to Richland Falls I found some recent footprints from someone who made it out here a day or two ahead of me when the snow was probably more scenic. Then the trail that cuts across to Twin Falls was followed without difficulty. It is amazing to see all the animal tracks in the snow that are usually invisible under normal circumstances. The Twin Falls had a moderate to low flow but the sight was lovely anyway. The clouds began to break around 10:00 and the sun was fully out by noon. This was a beautiful day with the temperature making it to the upper 30's....the snow did not make it too hard to negotiate the landscape. Much of my video footage was taken with my new GoPro Hero 3...so I'm still experimenting with it. Total mileage around 6.5 miles. The roads in were not too bad.
