13 great iPhotos

Tonight's big sight . Don't miss Shaw Mesa moonlight

21 walked up a creek

DSC03794

Trail and Talus

Above the trail

Marilyn the Alpine lady

lunch stop ahead

lunch on the Yurt deck

a rose is a rose, is a rose

Rockets?

Shallow Cr. Valley

Two roses are twins

Isn't this delicately pretty?

Thanks to the 21 hikers this Monday.  Up, over, and above Shallow Creek, near Creede. 

GSD Safety Tip - Mountain Lion Encounter

GSD SAFETY TIPS - July 2016

Mountain Lion Encounter

We Are Not Alone When Working Alone in the Field

 

     It can be easy to become complacent about the wild animals that are living in the outdoors where we work when you are going out day after day.  Unlike some areas with several large predators, the Black Hills National Forest of South Dakota and Wyoming has only one large predator of concern for field going personnel.  That predator is the mountain lion and recently, while conducting Black-backed Woodpecker surveys, I found myself within a football field’s distance from four (a mother and three older juveniles)!  Initially, I only saw the mother as I was coming up the ridge and that made me stop in my tracks.  I then quickly realized that she had 3 juveniles with her.  The training I received on what to do in such an encounter kicked in and the situation ended in a non-aggressive manner with myself and the animals going on our own way.  Having this encounter has motivated me to share and reinforce the “what to do” list in the event of a mountain lion encounter.  The following information was found on www.mountainlion.org

 

1.      Make yourself appear as large as possible.

Make yourself appear larger by standing close to any other members of a field crew you may be with.  Open your jacket or other outer garments.  Raise your arms and wave them slowly.

2.      Make noise.

Yell, shout, or bang something against a tree.  Speak slowly, firmly, and loudly to disrupt and discourage predatory behavior.

3.      Act like a predator yourself.

Maintain eye contact.  NEVER run past or from a mountain lion.  NEVER bend over or crouch down.  Aggressively wave your raised arms, throw stones or branches, all without turning away.

4.      Slowly create distance.

Assess the situation.  Consider whether you may be between the lion and its kittens, or between the lion and its prey or cache.  Back slowly to a spot that gives the mountain lion a path to get away, never turning away from the animal.  Give the mountain lions the time and ability to move away.

5.      Protect yourself.

If attacked, FIGHT BACK!  Protect your neck and throat.  People have successfully utilized rocks, jackets, tree branches, walking sticks, packs, and even bare hands to turn away mountain lions. Never “play dead” to try and stop a mountain lion attack.

 

     During my encounter, I stopped moving forward after initially seeing what turned out to be the mother mountain lion.  I immediately started to observe the lion’s movements and saw there were three additional smaller lions (which I determined to be her juveniles).  At this point, the group of four lions was walking across my field of view and not towards me, so I decided to maintain my position.  The wind was in my favor and I remember being glad for that.  As they were working across my field of view, I decided to pull out my cell phone and record video so that if they were to start approaching me, I might have a record of anything that might happen.  Because the lions were a decent distance away and did not appear to know I was there or take interest in me, I decided to not draw attention to myself by making noise.  It wasn’t until I saw the video from my phone afterwards that I realized the adult lion looked in my direction before deciding to continue on.  Several minutes after the lions passed out of view, I slowly hiked back to the truck.

 

Special Thanks to Brian Dickerson, Wildlife Biologist at the Rapid City Lab for sharing his story and writing this month’s safety tip.  You can view Brian’s video of the encounter at:

                                                BHNF Mountain Lions

 

ATV work day

The ATV Work day will be a ride from Shorty Springs to Perry Creek.  Normal time, leave the Visitor’s Center at 9:00 am on Friday, 7-15-2016.  Hope to see you there.

Baldy Cinco Hike July 13, 2016

Seven hikers met at the Pass at 9 a.m., headed up the Continental Divide Trail/Colorado Trail.  Then they veered off to climb Baldy Cinco. They came down, descended the canyon, and drove to the ice cream, then home by about 4:30.  

We were pleased to have Dr. Mike and George from the Creede area back with us.  George's new knee seems to be functioning very well.

The numerous Columbines and millions of other, smaller flowers decorated almost every square inch of the alpine tundra, except the trail and the scattered big rocks.  

This hike is always beautiful.  Today's sunny skies (after New Mexico fire smoke was blown eastward) were clear and lovely.

This hike offered a rare high-altitude view of vast alpine landscapes, with high mountains surrounding us on all sides, as if they formed a distant rocky fence.  What a beautiful, high-altitude landscape is ours.  I hope to continue to visit it more frequently.

Remember the moonlight night picnic and walk in the moonlight this weekend.  This is a special event related to the nearly full moon on top of Shaw Mesa.  We appreciate the natural moonlight as we walk on virtually flat ground.  Contact Dennis Shepherd if you've forgotten the details: dennis.shepherd@gmail.com

We plan on hikes next Monday and Wednesday at 9:00 a.m.  If you would be so kind as to check your e-mails the day before you may find occasional changes such as this one which was started at 8 a.m. due to the long driving distance and the ice cream plan (which we enjoyed).

6 of the 7

Columbines

Has-been

Nice combo

Alpine Paintbrush

Bistort

Sky Pilot?

Wetterhorn/Matterhorn/Uncompahgre Pks    visible from Snow Mesa

2-color columbines

Purple fringe

ATV Work Day

The ATV Work day will be a ride from Shorty Springs to Perry Creek.  Normal time, leave the Visitor’s Center at 9:00 am on Friday, 7-15-2016.  Hope to see you there.

Embargo Creek Hike

We started this Monday hike at Embargo Creek, a few miles below Cathedral Campground.  About 20 hearty hikers took the upward climb well on the still usable logging road.  Agua Mansa massif rose up in front of us, then the road turned right paralleling thedistant bottoms of the cliffs  

Several species of trees covered most of the ground around us, but it looked as if the Forest Service had conducted a thinning project of much of the thick stand of trees.  Some of the biggest were White Fir.

Few flowers were still showing off along the roadway.

A couple of sharp-eyed hikers saw a bear heading away from the group--apparently intimidated by the mass of humanity invading his space.

Wednesday hike:

Weather permitting, we will hike on Wednesday morning and afternoon.  The aim is to summit Baldy Cinco and one hiker has an idea related to ice cream at Freemon's in the afternoon.  This 13,300' hike will trim you up for higher hikes.  

However, it is flexible, in that we will be above timberline and can keep eyes peeled for each other.  Just getting above timberline gives everyone big-time views of the country-side for miles around.  If you don't feel like trying the peak, you can stroll on the Continental Divide Trail/Colorado Trail at a fairly level, easy pace.

You will also get up close to the remnants of the big forest fire from a couple years ago.

We will probably make contact with fellow hikers doing long distances.  Most of them like to talk about their feat.  Most will be eager to answer questions about their distances, their overnights (good and bad), etc.

Recommendations:

1. Several hikers expressed preference for an 8 a.m. starting time from the Visitor Center.  I think that is a good suggestion, due to the distance we have to drive.   SO--BE THERE FOR 8 AM DEPARTURE.

2. We will start hiking at highway 149 where it crosses the Continental Divide. There is parking for 4-7 vehicles and some will be there, as this is a pick-up spot for hikers and their families.

3. Wear boots or rugged shoes.  The trail has some rough rocky spots.  (If you're used to climbing through rocky spots with your favorite shoes, please take note that this isn't a smooth trail in some places and take responsibility for your care.)

4.  The temperature at 13,000' is lower than in South Fork. The precipitation is often chilly.  Prepare. Last year at the end of June, we threw snowballs at each other when we made the summit.

5. Bring a little money (>$5) for ice cream at the only restaurant in the area (or ask me to bail you out).

Up we go!

Cliffs of Agua Mansa 

It's good to have happy hikers

The lunch log

3 very fit hikers

That's a leaner. How long?

Scarlet gilia

Rocks and trees by Embargo Creek

Flower Photos from the CDTrail area

Thanks to Nina Smart, we have an answer to my flower question.

That bright blue flower belongs to the Gentian group and is that groups most intense color.

It has two common names:  Parry Gentian and Mountain Gentian.  We caught this one on a good day, with no rain.  When it rains, it closes up and the outside color of the petals is dark greenish-white, so is inconspicuous.  This one was not at all inconspicuous!

For you historians, this gentian has a relative with a famous name (he almost became President):

Fremont Gentian.  It has white flower of smaller size, narrower tubular shape and lives in moist sub-alpine areas. We probably saw some.  

John C. Fremont collected it somewhere in the West in 1842-43. A few years later, he came back to our home territory and got stuck in the snow up near Pool Table Mountain. He made Christmas Camp in deep snow, then came down Embargo Creek with his crew and all but one went South to Taos to recuperate, some of them at Kit Carson's house.

(In 1856, Fremont ran for President against James Buchanan. Some historians say he lost because he opposed slavery, while Buchanan remained neutral on that question.)

Thanks for joining us Nina.  You are welcome at any time. —DMK

Flower Photos from the CDTrail area

BLUE but not in my books

One-headed daisy

Alpine Clover

Butterfly found shelter from the wind.

Moss campion

Purple Fringe

Maybe Parry Clover

King's Crown

Purple Fringe again

Dennis' 6 pictures for his branch of the trail

Use as you wish...............
Dennis

first installment (too many pictures for one mailing)

One of Colorado's most beautiful and remote hiking places, this one started with a walk up the Crater Lake trail, which merges with the Continental Divide National Scenic Trail for a mile.  Nine of us split company with two headed on the CDT.  The Crater Lake walk down and back out will await another day. Two found a very scenic resting place a quarter mile from the tarn, while five tackled the steep mountain walks to distant views.   Most of us got to about 12,500' on 3 different peaks and saw great views.

We re-met at our splitting point and enjoyed the downhill walk back to the cars.  (Next set is flowers)

Climbing Ladies

one of our other hikes

An ocean of hikes! We are fortunate!

On the way up

Now, that's wild!

Tarn to ridge-top

Leaning on the Wind

rest out of wind

Hiking high on CDT, Lookout Mtn in the distant background, miles South of our cars.

ATV Rides

NO Ride this Friday (7/8) Next Tuesday we will ride to Blowout Pass and Trail 700. Meet at the Visitor center parking lot at 9AM.

Connie

6 Hike pictures. Yes, Judy found it!

4th of July rose

4th of July hikers

Up the kinda steep trail

Crooked branches on Ponderosa

How about this for the Fourth?

She got to the root of it!

Hikes

We had a nice hike this Monday morning with 7 or 8 regulars. We will have another one for anybody on Wednesday morning. We will drive to the Elwood Pass area and hike up the trail to the Continental Divide (about 1 mile), then decide how to divide up the various forks. Linda has a strong positive wish to climb a pointed little peak with breath-taking views of many miles in all directions.

This requires about 30 miles of driving on good, mostly gravel, road. So, bring some energy replacement packets (i.e. food) and good hiking boots. Those who just want to gaze upon the beautiful flowers coming into bloom can make this a short "hike-and-appreciate" event. The rest of the group can gather you up as we return toward the cars.
You can report on your flower inventory.

This is usually a photographic favorite, with small clumps of timberline conifers and many portrait possibilities of a beautiful landscape. You will be on and near the 3,100 mile Continental Divide Trail (from border to border of Mexico to Canada).

South Fork has already hosted 4 groups this year who are hoping to finish the whole trail. They are using our town for "recuperate and resupply" purposes. The Silver Thread club is collaborating with the Chamber of Commerce and local businesses to encourage these folks in their seemingly Herculean pedestrian efforts.

(Sorry that today's pictures are buried somewhere in the computer that refuse to surface. Judy will assuredly find the flaw in my thinking and dexterity.)