Month: July 2018

It has been a couple of weeks since I last posted; very busy weeks they were for me! I attended a motorcycle rally and spent some time at The Lot. Here are some of the details.

This years’s motorcycle rally was held in Gunnison, Colorado, only about 158 miles from home. I arrived Thursday with my camping gear and a few other attendees were already there, including the rally organizer.

The itinerary called for rides on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, then return home on Monday. This worked out pretty well, with rides over many of Colorado’s high passes and a stretch along the Black Canyon of the Gunnison. On Monday a friend and I headed off to the Great Sand Dunes National Park before heading home (my companion was heading to Grand Junction for the night).

About a dozen guys showed up for some or all of the rally. Here is a photo of the Friday group at the top of Monarch Pass:

XS 11 Friday ride group.(Photo by a passerby.)

The rally organizer is at the left side of this photo, Howard Bonser. Harry and Joe are in the foreground, I am at the top off the sign, and Russ and Jeff are at the right.

Here is a group photo from the Saturday ride which included a stop at the top of Independence Pass:

XS11 members at Independence Pass, July 14, 2018 (Photo by Jeff H.)

I did not take a lot of photos this time but did manage a selfie at Great Sand Dunes National Park:

Selfie at Sand Dunes Park.

I arrived home Monday night, then it was back to work on Tuesday. The rally – almost 1,400 miles total – was a great success and I enjoyed the rides and the company.

This past weekend I spent at The Lot, going up for an overnighter on Saturday. I finished cutting a path through the woods near the east side of the lot, opening it up for clean-up. While I don’t like cutting live trees, the only way we would be able to access this part of The Lot and be able to clean it up was to have access for the ATV and trailer, so a path was needed. I tried to put it where the fewest trees would have to be removed.

Path through the aspen grove on The Lot

After completing the path, I loaded up another trailer-full of logs to bring home (and eventually to cut into firewood). I also did a little chipping; Pam wanted a few more chips to use around the yard at home. My work time was interupted by a two-hour shower, very welcome in this dry summer!

The next couple of weeks should be routine (work + maintenance chores), then I do have a long work weekend planned for the first week of August, taking off  August 6 and 7.

That’s it for now. Thanks for looking in!

Pam’s Two Cents Worth:

Global warming deniers should be living on the Western Slope of Colorado this summer.  Normally, at this point in the year, the high desert around us experiences an average of 4 days with temps over 100 degrees.  Counting today, we are at 13 days of over 100 degrees (not consecutive) and tomorrow is predicted to be #14.

Our Arizona friend Hank realizes what kind of heat this is.  Dry heat, right? Dry heat it may be, hot-hot-hot it is.  When the wind blows, the hot moving air almost takes your breath away. Ugh.

The irrigation water for outside watering is still coming through the yard faucet (apparently the ditch that supplies the town hasn’t dried up yet).  So I continue to water the grass (every other day) and the flowers (pretty much every day). I promised myself I would try to keep the Mary Lynn Memorial Garden going through the worst of the high summer.  So far, so good.

Outdoor cat Uno enjoys a warm evening by sitting on the OC-3. (Photo by Pam.)

Happy Trails.

I had taken the week of July 4th (July 2 – 6) off as vacation time. Quite a busy week, as it turned out; I made two trips to The Lot and worked in an additional ATV trip. Here are a few photos and highlights of the week.

The  first trip to Sanderling followed a typical routine; I had taken the ATV and trailer, and proceeded to fill the trailer with a load of firewood logs. I enjoyed a cooler (52 degrees) evening in the mountains. However, smoke from the Weston Pass forest fire (still burning as of this writing) was clearly visible from The Lot. (Colorado has seven fires burning at the moment, the state is super dry this year.)

Smoke from the Weston Pass fire seen from the Sanderling driveway

I came home on Tuesday, cut the firewood on Wednesday, the 4th of July. Thursday evening I was back at The Lot for a 2nd time. Friday was my ATV trip day; I had decided to return to the North Fork of the Swan River (located east of Breckenridge). I was on this route once before and enjoyed the scenery. My guide book included a side spur and indicated this was a good photo spot (not really accurate, as it turned out) and I wanted to explore the photo option.

The North Fork trail traverses a lot of mining history and gets well above timberline. However, the trail is rough with LOTS of rocks and one steep section that is a real challenge. Over the years the trail has degraded from constant use and was more difficult to travel than I had remembered. The results were worth it, though, as I enjoyed capturing the following photos:

Mountain goat – Wise Mountain

Mountain goat kid

Small herd of mountain goats

Not far from this herd of goats was the top of the trail:

High point – North Fork of the Swan River trail

Along the trail I encountered many wild flowers, including blue columbine, and several small streams.

Mountain stream

Wildflowers along trail

Columbine and paintbrush near Wild Irish Mine

Signs of previous mining activity abound in the area; I found this vintage wash plant near an old mine shaft.

Remains of old ore wash plant

Of the mine itself, only this sturdily-built 1-holer has survived:

1-holer at old mine site

Inside of outhouse

After the trip it was back to The Lot for dinner and a good night’s rest.

Saturday brought the only disappointment of the week. I had loaded up the utility trailer with ‘burn pit’ wood; this stuff is too rotten to salvage and too big for the chipper and included some stumps. However, for some disappointing reason the burn pit was closed! I had to leave the loaded trailer at The Lot and will try the burn pit when I next go up for a visit.

Load of burn pit wood

I had planned to empty the burn pit wood and reload the same trailer with firewood. The burn pit being closed changed my plans a bit. I did some tree cutting in the Aspen Grove area of Sanderling instead, then returned home late Saturday afternoon.

Tomorrow it will be back to work for me. I would rather be in the high country, not only for the scenery, as the cooler temperatures are most welcome. The high desert has been experiencing another run of triple-degree temps. In the mountains the high temps are 20 – 30 degrees cooler and night temps are in the upper 40s and low 50s, good sleeping weather.

Back on the high desert, Pam has put a lot of time and effort into the corner of our lot and it shows. This corner looks better than it ever has! It’s the Mary Lynn Memorial Garden part of our lawn; Pam has dedicated the maintenance and care to the memory of her friend who died last year.

Corner of our residential property

That’s it for now. Thanks for looking in!

Pam’s Penny:

It’s H-O-T on the high desert.  Picture the animals and I huddled in front of the air conditioner, “enjoying” the third run of 100-degree days already this season.

Happy Trails.

Long-time followers of this blog will recognize the name: The Lead King Basin ATV trail has become one of my favorite rides and one I try to make once a year. This post will be long on photos!

We begin with some mountain scenics and water:

Mountain stream

Mountain scenic

Me at my lunch stop. (Not exactly a scenic!)

In addition to the mountain scenics and streams, flowers are a major part of the attraction. This year saw an abundance of blooming flowers including my favorite, the Colorado columbine.

Here are some flower photos.

Wild rose bushes in bloom

Butterflies on wild sunflowers

Not sure of the name on this one

Hillside of red trumpet flowers

Yellow mini-columbine

My favorite – Colorado blue columbine

No trip to the area would be complete without a short trip up to the Colorado Yule marble quarry where this stack of marble blocks is awaiting transport:

Blocks of marble at the Colorado Yule quarry

And, finally, the signature Crystal Mill:

Crystal Mill – 2018

There was quite a lot to take in on this single ride of less than 30 miles!

I have taken next week off as vacation and plan one or two trips to The Lot; more from there in the next post.

That’s it for now. Thanks for looking in!

Pam’s Penny:

Just playing with the remaining kitten, accomplishing household and yard work, reading — staying cool during intense heat waves. The unemployed-until-retirement lifestyle is pretty low key.

Happy Trails.