Last weekend we were looking for an out-of-the-way outdoor option and this came to mind. We called ahead and confirmed that the refuge was open (although the restrooms were not, which was not mentioned). We've been aware of this wildlife refuge for a number of years but have never been until now. We arrived early and had the place to ourselves. Weather was a mixed bag, from rain to rainbows, and sunhine and rain again.
We missed the arrow pointing left to the trail (guess the grassy ground cover threw us off), instead we ended up hiking straight ahead along the gravel road. Realizing this was not going to loop back anytime soon (if at all), we turned around after a couple of miles. Missing the arrow was for the best, as we would missed the large herd of elk, and the rainbows we saw on the first leg of our hike, plus we got more miles. Upon our return, we located the arrow and the loop trail and decided we'd better do the hike we came to do.
The trail started out as a grassy traverse past a stand of aspen trees, then looped back through forested land. The trail is in great shape. In total we ended up hiking around 8 miles, and we were still the only people there when we arrived back at our car.
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