Ever wondered how echoes of military history, the subtle whispers of nature, and the intriguing geology of Wyoming's Medicine Bow National Forest blend together? Join me, Craig the Natural Medic, as we embark on a peaceful hike through Crow Creek loop trail, unraveling the secrets of this mesmerizing landscape along the way! This episode is a true sensory delight. From the rustling melody of aspen leaves to the cool refreshment of mountain water, we take a deep dive into the tranquil ambiance of nature.
Strap on your virtual hiking boots as we trek through this 3.2-mile trail, discovering remnants of a bygone military base, engaging with local wildlife, and curiously studying native plant life. As we navigate through this network of trails that sprawl across the national forest, you'll learn about the region's geology and the charming landscape. Our adventure concludes with a post-hike analysis of my hiking stats, giving you a glimpse of the trail's length and difficulty. Recharge your hearts and minds with this dose of natural serenity, and learn to appreciate the calming influence of nature that this podcast promises.
Hey, what's up friends, welcome to another episode of the Natural Medic Adventures. This is Craig the Natural Medic coming at you from the Medicine Bow National Forest outside of Laramie, wyoming. Lots of trails up here, as I've mentioned before, and I'll never be able to hike them all, probably before it returns winter. But I'm going to try this one today. This one is called Crow Creek. It's a loop trail. It's about three point two miles long, I believe, should take about an hour and a half to two hours, depending how much of Dilly Dally. Come on with me and check it out Now.
Speaker 1:
This whole area used to be a target range. It was a military base I'm not sure of the name of it. Until 1961 it was military base. Then it was turned over to the Forest Service and you can see some remnants right here. Looks like some old signs says KP on there. I don't know what that means. Military term would be kitchen patrol. I wasn't in the military but I do know that at least.
Speaker 1:
And there's a nice little creek right here that kind of runs right around these little shrubs. It's pretty cool, nice pleasant sound and looks pretty clear. So definitely a good place if you need some water at the beginning of your hike. Okay, I'm crossing this bridge. I can only assume this is Crow Creek. It looks pretty clear. I would definitely filter some water from this.
Speaker 1:
Probably we're on the way back. Turn around a water, then, when you get right up here, the trails go to branch off into its respective loops. Am I gonna go counterclockwise or am I gonna go clockwise? I think I'm gonna go counterclockwise because why not keep watching to find out what happened? I'm on the counterclockwise section of the loop. It's definitely getting soupy looking. The clouds are coming down. It's supposed to rain. Hopefully I can get off of the trail where it pours. We'll see, though keep going.
Speaker 1:
Hey, I've walked through several beautiful grows of aspen on this hike and they sure are pretty. Just love the smooth bark and the way the leaves blow in the wind. Surprisingly, right now there is no wind, which is unusual for Wyoming. I keep seeing these little things. If anybody can tell me what they are the little red berries, little tomatoes but if you might can tell me what they are, I would appreciate that, trying to learn my local plants here. It's nice hike. Oh, by the way, if you are enjoying this hike and this week's adventure, make sure to give me the old thumbs up that helps YouTube know who to put this video up to and show me that you approve of my content. Thanks, hey, what's up? I came from there.
Speaker 1:
Crow Creek Loop continues around this little corner right here going that way, but more trails connect over here. You could hike probably for days and days out here and not get bored to not really touch the same piece of trail twice. It's possible. This is just a small section of the medicine bow national forest. Yeah, keep enjoying it with me. Okay, I'm over halfway done on the loop here. I'm on the opposite side of the loop, I guess the west side of the loop, and there's another junction of a trail here so I can goes up here and I came from this way and I'm gonna go this way.
Speaker 1:
Like I said before, there's a ton of trails out here. You could probably walk almost all of them and never walk the same tread of trail in the same, in the same outing. There's so much out here. I haven't passed very many hikers today, but I have seen my first. I guess we'll call it wildlife, because these are wild beasts. Look at them. How, you wild beasts. What are you doing? What are you doing there, buddies, yeah now. Yeah, all right, go about your business. I think to see here, these aren't the droids you're looking for. Okay, you got pretty hair, though got pretty hair almost looks like they're listening to me, but I don't think they are not.
Speaker 1:
A lot of topographic change on this trail has been pretty, pretty flat a little bit up and down. There's some really cool scenery on the side. Look at that cool tree on top of that cool rock. The orange and green and I don't know what other color pink I guess, like in on there, assuming that's granite. Most of these mountains over here are granite, which I said in an earlier video is metamorphic, but it's actually igneous rock. My bad, but hey, I had a 33% chance because there's three different types of rock, whatever.
Speaker 1:
About to get out on the trail here. Just got a few minutes left to walk. Somebody was nice about a little bridge here. Looks like the cowsmen stomping through. Don't think I would get my water here, but nice, nice little trip over pretty little pond down there. I'm guessing it's probably maybe beaver in origin. Looks like there's a dam there's been built, but hey, just like that.
Speaker 1:
Here I am back at the trail junction Behind me. I took earlier and now I'm going back this way Towards the vehicle and going back to Laramie. Always try to get some of that sweet mountain water before I depart. Here goes nothing Looks good, bottoms up y'all. Wow, that's good and clear and clean and cold. Okay, folks, you've come to the end of the episode and I am back safe and sound at the trailhead. There's my vehicle. You can see how misty and cloudy it got up here compared to when I started, about 12 30 today. And, yeah, great hike, not too difficult. According to my Garmin watch, two hours, 12 minutes for four miles and and 1200 or 4.12 miles, all trails slightly different. It says 4.25 at about the same amount of time. Until next time, y'all. Hope you enjoyed this. If you did, make sure you give me that thumbs up, think about subscribing to the channel for more content like this. And, hey, if you get a chance, check out some of those videos that are posted above. Until next time, I'll see you out on the trail. Bye.