W. Fork, N.Branch Old Spanish Trail first hike of Spring

Six of us gracefully skimmed over the nearly treeless route of the Old Spanish Trail.  San Juan Mountains to our W/SW; Sangres to our E/NE; Greenie Mtn to the south.  A refreshing breeze kept us cool.  Two pronghorns decorated the hillsides as they exercised their protective duties.  One even showed us the way back to the cars.

 

We'll try to have an equally delightful hike next week on Monday, 10 a.m..  It's Spring, so we'll take nominations for hike times and destinations.  Just send me a name/place of the hike you'd like and we'll put it on the agenda.

 

--Doug Knudson

 

 

1850s wagon ruts

 

Wagon ruts from Santa Fe

 

Up to the San Juans

 

Ancient, simple plants

 

Do you like lichens like I like lichens?

 

Sangre de Cristo back "fence"

 

DSC09999

 

It's big country

 

Hill-top ornaments

 

Penitente Photos

An even dozen enjoyed a beautiful-sky day walking the big loop around Penitente Canyon.  We heard and saw four or five big funnel clouds of sandhill cranes gaining altitude and heading North. A bald eagle soared near them, apparently wondering why all the hubbub. 

 

On the way up the trail

 

A relic Ponderosa pine earned appreciative comments

 

Nice lunch tables

 

Marilyn helped us see faces in the rocks

 

This hardy tree keeps trying to make something out of a rock, year after year.

 

Next week, 10 a.m. at Visitor Center.  Snow or no snow, we'll go somewhere beautiful. --Doug Knudson

Monday

Good Sunday to you.  Let's get together for a good hike on Monday.  The ski area has forecast no snow but the expect about 5,000 skiers for Monday and Tuesday.  A good reason to hike in the low country.

 

Preliminary plan:  Hiking boots and a ride to Penitente Canyon will welcome in the Spring.  Low altitude; good views

Meet at the Visitor Center in South Fork for car-pooling before 10 a.m. departure.

In the unlikely case of a new foot of snow, put a couple of snowshoes in your travel trunk.

Bring a friend for a pleasant hike.

--Doug Knudson

Hiking pictures

Here are Linda's pictures from the snowy hike last week.  Remember, we will be ready for another one tomorrow (Monday) at 10 a.m.  I'm advocating the Boulder Field, where we can adjust to conditions and conditioning according to the depth of snow and temperature.  It is mostly flat ground. --Doug Knudson

I meant to send these earlier but the snow on the mountain has been calling! Have a good snow shoe hike tomorrow in this wonderful snow. I will be headed back to Texas to retrieve the spring break children and head back up. Thats the plan but weather and people have the potential to change everything.

Take care and thanks for coming to my neighborhood for snow shoeing last week.

Linda

Breathtaking Hike on Monday Feb 23 (Iwo Jima day)

We knew it was snowy when we got into the V.C. parking lot and the Chief of Police was hand-shoveling the walkways and one of the patrol cars was nearly buried in that white stuff.
We saw no other likely prospects for the venture. We missed one phone call from a prospect (sorry!).

Dennis and I proceeded to Linda Treibly's house. She had her shovel going and her car parked on the street. The three of us donned snowshoes and walked a 50-minute loop along Alder Creek, then up along golf course trails that we couldn't really see, then back to Linda's.

That was less than an hour of walking on and through knee-high fluffy stuff. For some reason we didn't take another loop in a southerly direction.

Now that we three are partially conditioned, two are headed out of town. I'll be here next Monday for what could be our deepest snow-shoe hike of the year. See more of you at 10 a.m.
at the Visitor Center.

Linda took a couple of photos somewhere between the tiny snow flakes. We'll send them to you, if possible.
--Doug Knudson

Aha! 6 late Photos

These handsome folks got buried somewhere in my computer yesterday.  I pushed a strange button, and there they stood, full of smiles, and admiring the scenery of our hike on Coller State Wildlife area.

 

Behind these folks--Rio Grande flowing under ice with the splendid palisades behind it. 

Unusual picture:  7 men and two hard-hiking women #6 is hiding in her yellow coat.

 

Up a bit from the river.

 

Looking down-stream--Del Norte Peak on left, part of Beaver Mountain on the right (the burned hill from 2002)

 

Limber pines

 

Limber cones and 5-needle cluster on left; rounder cone with 3 needles is Ponderosa Pine

 

Bringing Del Norte Peak a bit closer.  It won't be many months until we'll be standing on top of it.

 

Beautiful cool day, a few flakes, a good hike with nine nice people walking along the Rio Grande

Perhaps you'll notice the lack of pictures. The process of transfer had some slip-up that, seems to prohibit recovery of the images. Maybe some of the other photographers who were clicking away and can send some.

We hiked much of Coller State Wildlife area with 9 strong pedestrians. It's a "flat" hike, always with a cooling breeze (on the way back). We got to play in a few sheets of snow lingering in the shadows.

John Treibly tested various alternative ground covers and is qualified to inform us which is best: gravel road, railroad track, loose pebbles and rocks, moist top-soil, downed trees, crusty snow, twiggy shrubs and sticks. In his profession, he understands the importance of proper ground cover and someday, you may get a chance to hear him present analytical data in this regard. He also demonstrated the advantages of sitting on large cottonwood logs during lunch-time while others chose grassy but damp seats.

Join us next Monday for another hike or snowshoe trip. The weather will determine the type of equipment to bring. It's really about time for winter, isn't it?

--Doug Knudson

Hospital Hike Photos

Balmy Monday, February 9, 2015.  Amazing! A lack of snowshoes.  So, we hiked up the hills behind the county hospital to beautiful scenes in a vast area.  From the Sangre de Cristos--the longest (and skinniest) range in Colorado--to the South San Juans and the some of the rest of the San Juan Mountains--the greatest jumble of big peaks in the state.   Del Norte citizens have designed this trail (much longer that what we saw) with BLM backing and it is still under completion.  We will check the cactus out in April and May--two of the species seem ready to produce abundant blooms by late Spring; they have been spectacular reds and yellows in past years.

 

Next Monday we'll meet at the South Fork Visitor Center before 10 a.m. departure.  Is there any hope for deep snow?  If it comes, we'll put on our "big shoes" and walk slowly in deep snow.  If not, we'll put hiking boots on a trail and enjoy it.

—Doug Knudson     873-5239

 

14 hikers used a sunny day in January to visit the hills behind the County Hospital.  Two were new to the group.

 

back side of the hospital.  Upper Left--English Valley where we went last week.

 

The big D peak above Del Norte.

 

Going up to the rim of the hills S of Kevin Off's bison pasture

 

"What a view, with mountains all around!"  --one of our visitor's from Texas

 

That visitor with his famous sister.

 

Life was a struggle among these rocks

 

Alternative route upward--the path not taken

 

English Valley

What with scanty snow, ten of us donned our hiking boots and traveled eastward to English Valley.  The patches of snow there accentuated the beauty of this gentle place and its volcanic past. We even had a delightful English woman accompanying us.

 

However, the request for the story about the valley's name is so far unanswered.  I'll look into it further.

 

Next Monday, we may have a boot hike again, unless we get some much-needed snow.  See you at 9:50 a.m. at the South Fork Visitor Center with warm clothes and either boots or snowshoes. –Doug Knudson   873-5239

 

A score of experienced hikers entering English Valley at 8,600 ft. elevation.  Remarkably, we hiked downhill most of the way.

 

rock ridges slope into the valley—a great place to study geology.

 

Eastern "foot of the San Juans" just north of our parking spot.  These are part of Colorado's largest mountain range (by far).

 

We disturbed about 40 Pronghorns (Antilocapra americana). They exited gracefully and swiftly.

 

The highest Peak of this valley

 

Nice ridge (a dike)

 

Dikes are made by liquid volcanic material finding its way into cracks in the earth's surface.  A few weeks or eons later, erosion removes the original cover.

 

Watch where you sit.

 

The pinyons gave us shelter as we snacked.

 

We weren't the first animals to arrive in English Valley.

 

Lower Sentinel Mtn. on Jan 26

Seven hikers left their snowshoes at home so they could enjoy the ankle deep snow of the lower reaches of Sentinel Mountain.  We also enjoyed wonderful views of South Fork, plenty of tracks of wild turkeys and not-so-wild deer.  Someone also claimed that elk had left behind evidence of their presence.  The major steep segment got us up to good viewing elevation in short order (with some heavy breathing.)  Ponderosa pines of many sizes—including one huge old one—decorate the area.  We enjoyed a few rest periods on the snow-free ground beneath big pine trees.

Marilyn, who just got back from scenic skiing in Steamboat Springs, several times graciously expressed her admiration for our views right here at home. 

Next Monday, we'll have another ambulatory event.  A prediction of snow may come true, which may have us back on our snowshoes.  If not, we'll be using our hiking boots (by the way, we discovered that three of our group are blessed with large feet, wearing size13 shoes).  You are welcome to join us for these fairly short hikes in the white stuff.  We leave the South Fork Visitor Center at 10 a.m.

--Doug Knudson  873-5239

 

DSC09923

 

DSC09924

 

DSC09925

 

DSC09926

 

Mush, you huskies!

Six snowshoers schushed over the snow of Deep Creek.  It was determined that 1.5 miles up the creek were enough, so we stopped for a while, enjoying the scenery, then headed back 1.5 miles.  We were seen by 4 deer on a distant ridge top; they watched us carefully. 

While six is a nice group, we welcome others to join us--no cost. 

Next Monday, unless we get a deep new layer of snow, we may have to hike on dry slopes, without snowshoes.  We have a plan for that, with a hike to get better acquainted with diverse routes here close to home.  In other words, without new snow, come in your walking boots, ready to go up and down a little, on a gentle dry-land hike, without snowshoes.  Meet at the Visitor Center in South Fork before 10 a.m. --Doug Knudson

 

 

 

Snowshoes barely necessary

 

"Porcupine" tree

 

This is why our route is named Deep Creek

 

Happy explorers

 

Resting rock

 

or enjoy the snow.

Lime Creek Snowshoeing

A nice group of six found "just-right" snow, exactly where Wayne and Linda said it would be.  It was nice to be able to follow in the tracks of others--not too deep, not too soft, not too solid.  About 2.5 miles of beautiful forest near Lime Creek, along with open views of Bristol Head.

 

More snow is predicted for tonight (Monday) and tomorrow, so next Monday bring your snowshoes at 10 a.m. at the South Fork Visitor Center.  Visitors are welcome. Some of us will accompany you if you're getting used to your extra big "shoes."  The exercise is beneficial--very beneficial.  The scenery is gorgeous.  You will be warm in short order.

–Doug Knudson   873-5239

 

DSC09890

 

DSC09892

 

DSC09893

 

DSC09894

 

DSC09896

 

DSC09897