Greetings all! Here's hoping everyone had a great summer and got in plenty of paddling, hiking, biking or whatever and maybe even lost a pound or two.
I did get in a little paddling in the past months. Out here in the southwest and mountain states, if they find a body of water more than 3 feet long they declare it a state park or a state or national recreation area and feel justified in charging access fees. They even have roads out here that you're allowed to drive on but if you stop and park anywhere you're subject to a parking fee. They're even starting to charge at picnic areas too.
I got in a few days paddling at Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area in northeastern Utah. The Green River is dammed here forming the Flaming Gorge Reservoir and the Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area. It backs up 80-90 miles into Wyoming. The Sheep Creek Bay area is at the southwest corner of the reservoir. Here I found Hideout Canyon, the beautiful Red Canyon, Kingfisher Island and Horseshoe Canyon for some great canyon paddling.
I got caught in a nasty thunderstorm way back in Red Canyon. Boomers breaking (seemingly) directly overhead had me convinced I wasn't long for this world, even after I got off the water. When I saw lightning bolts, not in the sky but down in the canyon I thought the end might be very near. Most of the canyon is near vertical walls hundreds of feet high. I did find a short, rocky beach and sat all scrunched up while rain and small hailstones beat on me for 15-20 minutes. I saw my first big horn sheep at Sheep Creek (appropriately named)... an ewe and two half grown kids. Hopefully there's a big horn ram out there waiting to be spotted. He's high on my wannasee list.
Colorado's Vallecito Reservoir in the San Juan National Forest, Twin Lakes in the San Isabel National Forest and Lake Granby and Shadow Mountain Lake in the Arapaho National Recreation Area all have one thing in common. Gorgeous mountain peaks, crags and ridges rising up many hundreds of feet near or at the end of the lakes, some still with snow patches in July and August. Most of the lakes are only 4-5 miles long but paddling towards those views is quite an experience.
I moved into Colorado late June and barely broke a sweat the 3 months I was in the mountains. I guess I averaged 8000-9000 feet elevation during that time. Nights were usually in the 50's and days in the 70's thru August. I doubt if there were 5 exceptions to that rule. September had a number of nights in the teens and 20's.
Grand Mesa National Forest averages 10000 feet with peaks and ridges rising another 1000-1500 feet or so. I hiked at 11300 feet, my highest hiking altitude so far. Grand Mesa has 300 lakes, ponds, pools and mud puddles. Lots of trails provide great views of them nestled in forests of blue spruce.
I do have a great deal of problem sleeping at 10000+ feet. My heart rate must slow down when I start to doze off and doesn't pump enough blood to the lungs and I wake up gasping for breath. After a couple of deep breaths I'm back to normal... and wide awake. That sucks! Also lots of thunderstorms, boomers and hail in this area.
One thing I really hate about the Utah and some of the Colorado National Forests... Cow crap! They've moved cows into the National Forests out here for grazing fees. They call this multi-use of a natural resource. I call it anti-people. There's cow crap all over the place. Cow crap all over the roads. Cow crap at the campsites. Cow crap on the trails. And flies and bugs and stink wherever there's cow crap. Pretty disgusting. I can just see some dummy (like me) slamming the brakes on, skidding on a pile of cow crap in the road and sliding over a sheer 1500+ cliff.
There seems to be a lot of humming birds out here, particularly in Utah. These little buggers like to swoop down on you and hover about 2 feet in front of your face. They do that a lot. The first one came up behind me and the noise from its wings made it sound like a 300 pound bumblebee. I was sitting in the back of the truck reading one evening and a humming bird flew right in with me. It hovered for a couple of seconds looking at me as if asking "OK, where's the food, Jack?" or wondering "What is this strange looking creature?".
One morning, while driving to a trailhead in the Mirror Lake Scenic Area of the Wasatch National Forest in Utah, I stopped for a cow moose standing in the road. She looked at me and then up into the woods. There I saw a bull moose that was moving towards the cow. Once the cow saw the bull was coming she trotted off into the woods on the other side of the road. The bull then trotted across the road in front of me. I think moose are natural to Utah but are now being re-introduced to the Colorado Rocky Mountains. They have a $1370 (weird number) fine for shooting them.
Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park is not the longest canyon, nor the deepest, nor the narrowest nor does it have the steepest walls. But no other canyon combines theses elements as Black Canyon does. It ranges between 1700-2700 feet deep and is 53 miles long, flowing into Blue Mesa Lake, but only the most rugged 14 miles are part of the National Park. The Gunnison River has a gradient of 95 feet per mile. Because the water moved so fast, it was able to carve out the canyon with almost perpendicular walls. On the North Rim, the scenic drive is only four miles. I enjoyed it so much and there was so much you couldn't see from the road I walked the same drive the next day and enjoyed it twice as much. Too bad I couldn't get down to the river for a paddle.
Driving south on CO 550 from Montrose, Colorado you can see the mountains of Ouray in the Uncompahgre National Forest. As you approach Ouray, canyon walls and mountain peaks begin to rise around you. Once in Ouray you seem transported to a village in Switzerland (other than the architecture) with mountain peaks and huge walls rising 1000's of feet above you. The entire drive from Ridgeway to Silverton is spectacular.
You drive out of Ouray up a steep mountain round and come to a tunnel blasted out of the mountain. On the other side is the trailhead for the Bear Creek National Scenic Trail and it deserves its designation. 1 1/4 miles of switchbacks take you near the top and to the edge of a 1000+ foot ravine. An adjacent rock wall 1000+ feet remains in view as you ascend the switchbacks. On your side of the ravine you're walking along a 3 foot ledge against a sheer wall that leads to an old abandoned gold mine. This is a superb trail! Too bad the entire trail isn't this scenic.
In the San Isabel National Forest in Colorado I came to the end of a trail and followed a deer's path up a hill just to see what was there. 2/3 of the way up I glanced across the river and saw my first black bear in the wild. Well, the second if you count the semi-tame sow and three cubs in the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee. This guy was sitting on its butt with legs splayed out, apparently ripping up an old rotted log looking for grubs and such. I could see him clearly but he was too far away for a picture. When I aimed the camera with extended 90mm lens I couldn't even see him.
After a couple of minutes he headed down the steep embankment for a drink of water. I moved down my slope too, trying to get closer. I didn't worry about being heard because the noise of the river would drown out any noise I made. There was little wind so he wouldn't smell me, rank though I may be. But apparently he caught a glimpse of me because he wheeled around and scrambled back up the hill. At the top, he stopped turned around and raised up on his back legs to see what he was running from. I did get a couple of pictures and you _can_ see him.
This guy was about 2 1/2 feet tall (on all fours), pretty black with a tan area across the back of the shoulders and neck and weighed 150 pounds, maybe up to 175. Standing he might have been 5 feet tall but squatting on his haunches he was closer to 4 feet. I think he was fairly young because, while he appeared well fed, he didn't have that round look I associate with black bears.
The big news in the Rocky Mountain National Park is the elk. I came to a meadow and found a herd of 50+ elk not far from the road. Half were cows, most of the rest were calves with a number of young bulls with prongs rather than antlers. And then there was the boss. Much larger than the females or young males, he had quite a rack on him, at least three feet long sweeping back over his head.
Most of the females were laying down and he started checking them out to see who was in heat since early September is the beginning of the rutting season. When he came near a young bull, the youngster got out of his way in a hurry. Most of the females moved off quickly also. I guess they weren't in the mood, yet. I saw the big guy extend its neck as if it were calling or challenging someone or declaring this was his territory but didn't hear any sound. I'd heard heard of elk bugling and at least I got to see it happen even if I didn't hear anything.
At the other end of the meadow was another bull with 20 or so females and larger calves. Another 10 miles and 2000 feet higher another large bull looked after 5+ females, at least that's all I could see. More may have been hiding in the woods. He was bigger than the other two large bulls but seemed to have the smallest harem. I saw a few more females grazing on alpine tundra at 12000 feet. It was very cold and blustery up there too in early September. These pictures turned out great and are now among my favorites. I saw many, many more elk on subsequent visits but nothing equaled the first day's sightings.
I woke up one rainy night to something poking around the truck. For some reason I thought it was a critter trying to climb up into a wheel well to get out of the rain. I banged on the tailgate a few times but the critter was persistent and continued poking around. Eventually it did go away. In the morning I found the driver's door covered with mud and more mud on the roof just above the driver's door. I usually leave the driver's window open an inch or so. I had also left some cinnamon and raison bagels on the front seat. Who left all that mud on the truck? A bear? I dunno. I was sleep in the back with my head by the tailgate with the back window up. I also sleep between drawers of food. So far no problem. I also keep a long pointy knife for poking in a critter's eye if it gets to close and pepper spray.
I got a couple of inches of snow dumped on me one night in early September just outside the Rocky Mountain National Park while camped at 8700 feet. I'd been snowed on in late September in the White Mountains of New Hampshire before but this was my earliest snow ever.
One day I was sitting on a camp chair writing a trip report on the tailgate of the truck. When done I pushed the chair back and got up. Except the chair didn't go back... I did. I lost my balance and fell over backwards... right into a patch of small prickly pear cactus. _Ouch!_ And then, of course, since I was laying on my back, I had to roll over in the cactus patch. More ouches! I picked a few needles out of my butt and a lot more out of my right forearm. I took my shirt off to see I had any on my back and I did... way down on my right shoulder blade where I couldn't possibly reach. Most of the needles seem to have come out since then. I do feel at least one of them still in there when I rub it the wrong way.
So far no grizzly bears, mountain lions, big horn rams, mountain goats, wild mustangs, Mexican gray wolves, wild buffalo, California condors, wolverines, bob cats, rattlesnakes, sidewinders, coral snakes, Gila monsters, tarantulas or scorpions. I have seen a couple of kinds of strange looking cattle. Not angus.
Well, I'm off to southern Utah again. It's mostly at 5000 feet there and should not be too cold yet, I hope. Do some wonderful canyon hiking and then some even more wonderful canyon paddling at Lake Powell. Then, hopefully, over to Lake Mead for some more paddling and a peak at Las Vegas... just a drive through at night to see the lights. The recent financial markets haven't left me with any spare change for the tables. Then down into Arizona and maybe Baja and the Sea of Cortez for the cold months.
Enjoy your winter and be sure to get out often. Winter hiking is great stuff, snow shoeing, cross-country skiing too. Gotta watch out for those pounds or you won't be able to get into your summer gear next year.