White Ranch & Holy Cross

First, a post-script on the Conundrum adventure... Scott Rappold, whom we encountered in the hot springs, wrote an article on Conundrum for the Colorado Springs Gazette. It can be read at http://gazette.com/in-a-conundrum-over-popular-colorado-backcountry-hot-springs/article/1505138 and includes a picture of us crossing the flooded river, I in my orange hat pulled over red-brimmed cap. (You may have to answer survey questions in order to see the article.)

A couple weekends ago I went camping again. Not all that much happened, but I have some nice pictures... first, Sarah and I spent a night at White Ranch Park, as we did at the beginning of the summer. We slept in our hammocks under the stars, and I was awake when the sun rose: 

That is Denver in the distance, above.

When I went to the bathroom I found a baby lizard trapped in there, so I picked him up and carried him in my cupped hands back to the campsite to show Sarah. When I opened my hands, he just sat there.

After 10 minutes or so I put him down on a rock. He had been very docile the whole time.

Sarah had to work the rest of the weekend, so I went off on my own to the Holy Cross Wilderness north of Leadville. I camped at one of the many dispersed camping sites along Homestake Road, and took a long hike on each day. These images are of the Missouri Lakes-Fancy Lake trail loop...

I am not sure what that thing is -- if it was meant to carry oxygen bottles, or maybe a bag of golf clubs. It was halfway up to the mountain pass. I enjoy imagining that someone tried to drag their backpacking pack up "the easy way" and abandoned the idea halfway through, after struggling over 500 rocks and roots.

It was very rainy in the afternoons and evenings. For a while the sun came out, but it kept raining, so I just stayed in the car.

When it dried out a bit I walked to the river beyond the campsite and waited about an hour for animals to come out to drink. No animals came.

No, I didn't wait that long. Here is a picture of the night sky from my campsite; and below, the same river view at dawn. No animals came out to drink.

I drove to the site of my next hike, where there were lots of misty meadows with no animals in them.

Up there, things were just starting to turn yellow...

And eventually I went home, after hiking about 17 miles for the weekend.

This week Sarah and I are going to Zion National Monument, and I hope to have many photos.

Catching up

"I had a whole conversation with him in the office before he turned around and went away and I finally realized he was wearing rollerblades. I thought he'd seemed taller."

It's 94 degrees in the apartment, so I'm here in the coffee shop (where I just overheard the above) to write. I have had many adventures this spring, and haven't posted about any of them. So here's a start.

 

A shot of Boulder from a hike I did while the trails were all still ice.

  

A strange cloud over North Table Mountain, outside work, one morning.

  

Abby consenting to pose for a picture with the familiar restroom-quiz in New Mexico, where we did in fact go to Santa Fe, stay in a hotel and eat at restaurants, none of which made for very interesting photos.

  

A woman practices slacklining at Cheesman Park, which is my new favorite place. I was lying in my hammock reading a book at the time.

  

Relaxing at Cheesman Park with Kris, and hammocks.

  

One night Kris and I went up to White Ranch Open Space Park to camp. We had our hammocks and ended up setting them up in the horse corral, so that we could see the stars at night. Or possibly just to be silly.

 I went for a couple days up to Fort Collins, where I did two long day hikes in the new open space areas north of the town. Red Mountain Open Space is colorful and dramatic and I recommend it for hiking... it's too bad they don't let you do backcountry camping. I did a 12-mile loop to be back to my car by dark.

 

  

  

  

Pronghorn running away, above.

  

Soapstone Prairie Natural Area, to the east, is another new open space that is probably better suited for mountain biking. It's a bit tedious for hiking, as the trails snaked across the open prairie, taking the longest route to go from one place to another and making detours to go over mounds of dirt. As a hiker I did not want to walk 20 feet out of the way so I could plod over a 1-foot-high mound of dirt. It was a bit silly. However, some photos:

 

  

  

  

  

  

 I had hiked 20 miles on the second day. Above, my feet at the end of the day. They didn't hurt, but they'd been rubbing in my boots and I didn't want any blisters to develop. Unfortunately, after the first few miles, the sticky moleskin pads I put on my heels were coming unstuck, so I resorted to holding them on with tape. I look like an invalid. Mostly I was very hungry and proceeded to eat a can of chili and can of spinach in about 5 minutes once I got back to Jess's apartment.

 I returned to White Ranch to camp on another night, and did some night photography. You can see the lights of Denver.

 

  

 And a cool bug on my hat.

Next, the backpacking trip that Jess and I took to Dominguez Canyons.