The Cruise

The election didn't go the way that I was hoping but did go the way that I expected.  Our fragile democracy continues on--only because the big bully got his way and won.  The changes that are coming will hurt many of the people who voted for the president-elect, but it will take time for that recognition to kick in.  Laughter is my medicine; watching the Daily Show's commentary on YouTube has helped me to keep moving on.  

The cruise was a great success.  My mother loved every part of it, and we enjoyed being able to share that time with her.  

Sunrise

Mom and the monkeys

Piranha pedicure in Costa Maya

Cozumel port

Roatan,Honduras wildlife refuge

Bicycle Shuttle, Cozumel port

Harvest Caye

We are back to a Wisconsin gray November.  We've already completed some projects to get the house ready to sell in the spring.  We also have started sorting through what we will be taking to Colorado after we move.  We won't do any serious home searching until after our current one is sold. 

Crag’s Crest Trail

While staying in Grand Junction, we took the opportunity to drive up to the Grand Mesa National Forest and hike a national recreation trail, Crag’s Crest. We left our airbnb at 7 a.m., taking Interstate 70 east and then climbed steeply up CO-65 North for 33 miles. On the way, we stopped to let three big horn sheep cross the road directly in front of us.

We started hiking at about 8:15 am. There was only one other car in the parking lot. The temperature was 33 degrees F., and there was a heavy overnight frost. Fall colors were just about peak.

Our first wildlife sighting was a grouse just off the trail.

The trail immediately started uphill. The views were amazing.

After about three miles, we found ourselves on a narrow exposed ridge. This was the most spectacular part of the hike. 

At one point, the trail thinned to one small rock to step on to get to the next part of the trail. Steep drop offs fell to either side. If I was a better blogger, I would have taken a photo here, but I was honestly so glad to get past that sketchy path forward that I was holding my breath and didn’t look back.

After a couple of miles of exposed ridge, the trail dropped below to some beautiful lakes.

The last five miles was a bit of a slog with a mixture of dry meadow and rocky trail through the trees. Callie found some excitement in nearby deer.

This was a loop hike and just over 11 miles with an elevation gain of 1548 feet. We topped out at a little over 11,000 feet.  Completion called for a well deserved cold beverage at Trail Life brewery in downtown Grand Junction.

Colorado: Mount McConnel Trail

 

We hiked about 0.5 miles from our campsite through the rest of the campground and down the campground road leading to the picnic area, where the trailhead is located.  The limited parking area fills up during the day, but there were no cars or hikers in the early morning when we started our hike.

This was a 4.2 mile double loop hike with about 1400' of elevation gain, topping out at just over 8000 feet.  Parts of the trail were marked by fire and beetle kill.  Unlike Dadd's Gulch, where the soil was literally still scorched, there were optimistic signs of new growth on this mountain.

isis

 

The first part of the double loop is the "Kreutzer Nature Trail, which climbed sharply up switchbacks.  Most nature trails in Wisconsin are wheelchair accessible or at least very mild and flat for the mobility impaired or seniors.  This was not that kind of nature trail.

We hiked clockwise, as recommended.  The second loop climbed even more steeply than the first, but then suddenly flattened.  We walked through a stark landscape that evidenced both the fire damage and the renewal of life.  

 

 

Some peaks don't pay off with a big view at the end.  This one did.  So we hiked it again the next day.

Colorado: Mountain Park Campground

Each day at Dutch George campground became progressively hotter. On our last day, after picking up a few supplies at unincorporated Rustic, we drove through Mountain Park Campground, another forest service campground at slightly higher elevation and more shade. To our surprise, there was a non-reservation loop in the back. It was still mid-week and early enough in the day that there were a couple of vacant campsites.

When we returned with the Scamp, we snagged the nicest one.

We were able to spread out and had no immediate neighbors.  The structure on the left of the photo was the campground well house.    Yes, we had flush toilets and access to hot showers in the reservation-only electric loop.

We were happy with our non-electric site.  You can see some sunlight in the photo.  I was able to keep our battery relatively healthy by moving my portable 100 watt suitcase panel around to catch the sun.

We did not have a riverfront campsite, but there were trails along the river which were a minute away.  Again, in the heat of the day, we found ourselves soaking our feet in the cold water.

Mountain Park campground also had a great mountain peak trail that we could walk to from our campsite.  We liked it so much that we hiked it twice.  But that will have to wait until the next post.

Colorado: Feel the Burn at Dadd's Gulch

As I mentioned in a previous post, the further up  Poudre Canyon that we explored, the more we saw the impact of past years of fire. This is something that neither of us had ever seen before close-up, and it made a lasting impact.

On June 15th, 2021, we set off for a hike at Lower Dadd Gulch.  This is a 7 mile in/out trail with an elevation gain of 1482 feet.  Where the trail ended, we continued a mile or so on FDR 259A.

In the beginning, the trail followed the creek.  The landscape was lush and spring-like.

Things began to change during the ascent.

 

Eventually, the earth was scorched all around us, and the smell of char was heavy in the air.  This was not a recent fire, and it appeared that the land would take a very long time to heal.  No small seedlings, no wildflowers, no blades of grass.

 

 

Colorado: Whitewater Rafting

Water sports ain't my thang.  

I never learned to enjoy putting my head underwater.  In high school, I negotiated with the gym teacher to pass the swimming test in advance, avoiding the three week swimming segments in exchange for running laps around the track while the rest of the class swam.  

On the other hand, Julia loves to swim and still swims 2000 yards twice per week at the high school.  So when Julia expressed an interest in going whitewater rafting on the Poudre, I voiced total support--in driving her to and from the pickup spot.  

 

 

 

I'm not sure why Julia rated the red helmet.  I guess maybe she is special.  

Colorado: Cache La Poudre River

I want to finish last spring's trip to Colorado before its one year anniversary, so back to documenting that trip.

After a day of supply, laundry, and dumping at Boyd Lake State Park, we drove up Highway 14 towards Red Feather Lakes in search of first come, first serve campgrounds.  The date was June 14, 2021.

As we headed up the canyon, the signs of past fires became evident. 

We would see much greater damage later in the week, as we continued up the canyon.

In our research, we knew that many of the campgrounds had changed to reservation only, and reservations were not available when we decided on this trip.

A few small national forest campgrounds still held back some sites as non-reservable.  We gambled that we could find a site mid-week.

The first couple of these campgrounds were completely full, which was discouraging.  However, when we drove up to Dutch George Campground, we were rewarded with an open site looking over the water. 

We were happy to find a spot.  The amenities were very basic:  pit toilets, garbage dumpster, and lots of sun for the solar panels to recharge our battery.    No electric meant no air conditioning, and it was warm inside the Scamp even at 6400' elevation.

 

We spent as much time as we could in the shade when given to us or in the natural air conditioning of the river.

Dutch George campground was our home base for several days while exploring the area.  I don't recall what we paid per night, but it was less than the $25/night being charged for the upcoming season.  That's a lot for dry camping, but it seems to be the way of the future, especially in the popular parts of Colorado.

 

Colorado Trip: Buchanan Pass

 From June 2021

 

Julia's knees were aching after the hike down from Two Sisters, so the next day we chose a more moderate hike.  We drove south from Olive Ridge campground to Camp Dick via Hwy 7 and Hwy 72.  One end of the Buchanan Pass Trailhead is in Camp Dick's parking lot.  Camp Dick is another forest service campground with limited first come, first serve.  We warmed up with a walk around the campground loop.  We did not see any vacant sites.

Buchanan Pass is a 7.9 mile in and out trail with only 941 feet of elevation gain.  The trail follows Middle St. Vrain Creek and is dog-friendly.

Colorado Trip: Crosier Mountain Trail

 From June 2021

Hiking in Rocky Mountain National Park is not dog-friendly, so we stopped at the Visitors Center in Estes Park to get hiking recommendations to include Callie.  One of the recommendations was the Crosier Mountain Trail near Glen Haven, Colorado.  There are a couple of different trailheads for this peak.  We started at the Devil's Gulch Road trailhead:  8 miles in and out and 2116' in elevation gain.

 

It was moderate hiking until the last section when the trail turned very steep.  We passed an older guy from Loveland during the final ascent and later chatted with him at the peak.  He had all kinds of wisdom to share.  One of the things that he told us is that rattlesnakes are not normally found at the elevations present on this trail, but that he almost stepped on a big one near the trailhead the week before.  In his best Clint Eastwood voice, he let us know that he carries a sidearm for varmints and such.  He was kind enough to take our photo.