I went up to Aldrich Butte today- parked my car
under the power lines on Shelly Lane.
Here is a view looking west from the top of Aldrich Butte. Click on the picture to see a waterfall coming down the cliffs on the east side of Hamilton - below the clouds:
On the way back down, I decided to try to find Cedar Falls. I found the Cedar Falls trail easily. As you get near the creek the trail comes to a T, going right takes you down to the creek bed where you need to cross to get to Cedar Mountain and the falls. I decided not to cross the creek today, and instead turned left at the T onto a well defined trail that looped around the west side of Aldrich Butte. It brings you out to a logging road right next to the powerlines.
I walked down it right back to my car for a nice little loop.
The cutoff trail had some big trees:
Along the trail, I had an elk encounter with 3 big animals, but I was too slow with my camera.
Soon after I saw this thing:
At first I thought it was a tree stand, but when you get closer you see it's a feed box with an eave over it- still had some feed in it. There were some cigarette butts nearby. I didn't think until later to look for a wildlife camera.
If this is for hunting, it seems pretty unethical. Backcountryhunter what do you say?
