Page 82 - Volume 3 - Walks In The Black Range

blown on the breeze as stringers from the Silver Fire made their way down the mountain. Another nearby building, that's built into the hillside and still had its glass window and tin roof back then, is just the cobblestone walls now.
Continuing to follow the road which eventually turns into a single track trail, it’s a good idea to watch for the few remaining tree blazes and remember the trail is never too far from the creek. At close to 3 miles a large tributary comes in on your right, stay to the left following the path across the main creek again. In a little over 3 miles you will enter a stunning gorge with volcanic cliffs towering hundreds of feet over your head.
Effects of the fire are most obvious approaching the gorge. Where once a lush forest concealed all but the tops of the 500 foot high cliffs of bare igneous rock from view, now the entire buttress of stone that is the north wall is visible from quite a ways back. There are surviving trees however, so the view isn't entirely bleak.
The gorge is one of the most spectacular places that I know of in the Black Range, and making it even better, as if in
confirmation of how special this place is, are ancient pictographs beneath the overhanging walls at the base of the cliffs.
That day as we walked further up the narrow canyon, I spied a tom turkey walking up the steep hillside on my left. My male Scottie, even as I tried to discourage him, went in pursuit. Well, we were all more than a bit surprised when this huge bird took to the air and flew over our heads back down the canyon. Just a little reminder of how wild this place is. Shortly after, we crossed into the Aldo Leopold Wilderness. The stream runs over bedrock through most of the section of the gorge and there are a few more small cascades before what’s left of the trail turns to follow an alternate branch that comes in from the northwest, to begin climbing up the mountain. On early trips this was a dark heavily forested area, where a few aspens began showing up. There were blazes on the trees and little tread on the ground and we turned around at a very old corral. Now, this area, all the way to the ridgeline, appears to be heavily impacted by the Silver Fire.
Walking back, with our necks craning at the immense rock towers on either side of the canyon, we took many photographs, but I knew that none would really do this place justice. You would need much better photography equipment, but really it's better to just be there.
Stay left at the confluence of these two streams
North Percha Road and Private Inholdings
Aldo Leopold Wilderness