Animal sightings both big and small

The mountains around Steamboat always have fun observations of the faunal type. While riding near Buffalo Pass on the Continental Divide trail we came near a mom moose and her baby. Click on the image for a close up. Needless to say we didn't want to stress them out nor did we want mom to get angry with us. After a hasty picture we were on our way.

However, back in camp the mosquito population was quite healthy. In this case however, we did not care if we stressed the poor little buggers out nor were we worried about any attack besides the near constant biting. Below, Fran is modeling one of our new head nets that enabled us to keep the bites limited to the rest of our bodies. This is the first time we have ever had to resort to netting. It appears that Northern Colorado has had a wet spring and a bumper crop of the secondary consumers.

Nothing like a bike ride to feel like a kid again

Our search for a flat handled road bike ended successfully last week as we found the only size small Specialized Vita in western Colorado. We decided that we both like the flat handle bars for both comfort and for its similarity to our mountain bikes. Unfortunately, it appears that the bike manufactures misjudged their orders both last year and this year. This translates to it was pretty difficult to find a bike to even try out. After traveling to the nearest city and trying a handful of brands and models we decided on a powder blue, girl specific, flat handle bar road bike from Specialized.

Just opening up an one more fitness venue here on the western slope.

between adventures

Last week between adventures we hosted two of our youngest nieces for a short visit. We visited a nearby national park, a ghost town and a restored mine. We also threw lots of rocks into creeks, rode bikes to ice cream shops and watched deer wander close by.

Checking out a ghost town

Watching wildlife
Throwing rocks
A good time was had by all.

A divergent adventure

Just about every state requires teachers to take a few classes every five years to be re-certified as a teacher in a public school. Because I teach most summers, I have been a bit behind in collecting the required credits. So...this year I decided to take a class very similar to what I teach, that is doing geology in a very pretty part of the country. In this case it was along the Green River in Dinosaur National Monument.

While I was in class, Fran flew into the SF bay area and played with our grandson and visited our son and daughter-in-law.

Rafting through Split Mountain
The start of the Split Mountain anticline
One happy baby
Reliving those days at the swing in the playground.
One happy grandmother

back home...for a short time

Once again, the canyons of Utah provided a welcome rest at the end of another school year. We camped for 12 nights, visited 3 National parks, 2 wilderness areas and one fantastic national monument. We hiked about 80 miles and rode bikes for an additional 130 miles using some single track and lots of remote desert jeep tracks. We were also able to enjoy the melt water from an above average snow pack in Central Utah. A few of the canyons we visited sported full on rivers that felt so good in the usual desert heat.

Riding the trails in Kodachrome SP

Riding in Grand Staircase Escalante NM
Sunrise at Sunrise Point, Bryce Canyon NP
Crossing the Escalante River, one of 30 crossings.
Resting in Deer Creek, Grand Staircase NM
Riding towards Capitol Reef NP in the Circle Cliffs, GSENM
The back door

end of school trip

RES version 2009-2010 ended today. This means we will take off tomorrow for our annual right-out-of-school trip. As usual we are heading to the deserts and canyons of Southern Utah. The weather has dramatically turned warm however, with temperature forecasts in the mid 90's for the next few days. I am unsure how that will impact our plans. One thing for sure...right now, I am not sad we didn't score the Grand Canyon hiking permits. Canyon bottom temps are hovering around 106 F.

One thing is certain, we will enjoy the red rock desert, but probably from a shady spot, and near water. Stories and pictures will follow. Here are some old images, just to whet the appetite.

Calf Creek Falls

Thinking deep thoughts on a previous expedition.
Geology as art, sandstone, desert varnish and water falls

a weekend climb

We had a beautiful Memorial Day weekend. Monday dawned bright and clear so we did our almost-a-tradition climb of baldy Mountain. Not many flowers yet, we saw a few deer at lower elevations and the occasional lion scat on up the trail. No pictures of the lion scat.

The official USGS summit benchmark.

Pasque flowers! Yes, these are supposed to bloom closer to Easter, but at 10,000 feet, spring is just starting.
A great summit lunch spot.
A yellow bird high above the valley floor.
A male grouse doing the strutting thing.