I packed up camp and headed northeast toward the tri-point at about 7:30 local time. The roads got narrower and less traveled as I proceeded. I passed exactly one car, soon after I left the campground, then didn’t see another (human) soul for the next four hours (during which time I covered about 20 miles). I did see many other animal souls, from antelope, deer, and elk to hawks, woodpeckers, and prairie dogs. About 3 miles from the tri-point, I realized that the road on my map was, in reality, a faint farm track that curved over hill and dale in a magnificent and remote mountain meadow (above). Sure enough, as I drove along, at about 3 mph, I was encountering all the things I was supposed to on the map: intersections with other dashed lines, fence lines, spotty forests, intermittent streams.

I followed the “road” down a big hill across a meadow and came upon a wet area. Not wanting to chance getting stuck in the mud out in that piece of wilderness, I stopped, about 1.5 miles short of my goal. As I opened the door to start a walk with the dogs, a herd of giant elk blasted out of the stand of aspens about 100 feet to my right. I scrambled to get a picture of them, but they were gone as I snapped the shot through my buggy windshield.