Karen and Tom Wanderings

We spent a few days hanging and hiking around a bit with Brian and Sophia, first in the Breckenridge/Frisco area, then in Boulder.  We then headed up into the Rockies for some hiking.  Our first stop was the Brainard Lake area, where we hiked the Isabelle Glacier Trail.  This area is set up against the Continental Divide, and therefore has views of nice peaks as well as a certain shortage of oxygen (our hike started at about 10300').   The hike was lovely, though the Aspen season was apparently over here.  We heard some elk or moose (we guessed) bugling across the valley, though no sighting.  As we were nearing the end of the relatively stiff climb up to Isabelle Lake, a fellow hiker coming down told us that there were some bull moose up near the lake fighting over a harem ... and blocking the trail!  Details were a bit sketchy, but it sounded like a bunch of hikers were up watching, and at some point the dominant male chased them up into the woo...

  Just outside of Crested Butte is the 31-mile gravel road to Kebler Pass and beyond.  Since it's considered one of the premier Aspen drives in Colorado, we just had to do it ... and found a good hike part way along it.  We knew, of course, that we weren't the only people who had the idea, so we got an early start to beat the crowds.  We had bluebird skies, and the Aspen's stretched almost as far as the eye could see ... the massive (~12,000') peaks beyond hemmed them in.   For the less informed, Aspen groves develop by sprouting from spreading roots, resulting in individual groves of genetically identical trees ... i.e., a single organism.  One in Utah has been measured at 100 acres!  And there's some thought that some of the groves near Kebler Pass are even larger, but the resources needed to map out the boundaries of the individual groves (quite a chore, without much real need) has never been allocated. Our hike (Dyke Trail > I...

A made a quick visit to Santa Fe to drop off Kelsey, do wash, and resupply.  Then we headed north to Colorado.  As usual, we had multiple options at our disposal.  With the weather cooperating, we decided to camp for a night at Great Sand Dunes National Park.  It includes a huge dune field on the SW edge of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, and contains the tallest dunes in North America (750'),  It's formed and sculpted by the prevailing north-easterly winds coming across some pretty flat, barren country.   We quickly set up our camp and proceeded to hike up into the dunes.  Quite a visual delight, with all the organic shapes and shadows.  And nice peaks beyond, too!  There were quite a few other folks exploring (and sledding), but the area is so big, it wasn't a problem.  In fact, they mostly looked like little ants! Gorgeous, and windy!  We had a nice campfire after dinner, and heard a bunch of coyotes yipping and yowling for ...

From Great Sand Dunes NP, we headed NW to Crested Butte.  We (especially Karen) had wanted to go here for quite some time, but it's pretty far from most things, so the stars hadn't aligned.  The first part of the drive was through barren flat-lands, but the rest was incredibly beautiful and relaxing ... through mountainous terrain, with wide-open high valleys and narrow canyons.   Crested Butte is one of those high-mountain ski towns that have become year-round playgrounds for outdoor types.  Being quite a bit more distant from population centers (and through strict zoning), it has been able to maintain some of it's rustic charm.  But you don't have to look hard to  see that the rich (and possibly famous) play here.  We went on a several hour hike right out of town up a beautiful valley surrounded by large peaks.  And the aspens were at peak!!  We had hoped for this, but felt very lucky it worked out.  Afterwards we had a very delic...

After departing our yurt in Abiquiú, we made our way north about another 20 minutes or so to visit Georgia O'Keeffe's summer home ... Ghost Ranch.  It's now a retreat center, with a museum (which we did not explore).  But it's also huge (more than 20,000 acres), with some very nice hikes.  We spent half a day tackling Kitchen Mesa, the summit of which sits high above the main ranch.  More big sky and big cliffs, including a slightly sketchy portion of the trail up one of those cliffs.  But it was all awesome.  In fact, the entire area seems National-Park-worthy, except that the features are possibly too spread out.  Looking back on the approach route View from Summit, including main ranch below Worship Center at Ghost Ranch More Photos

We made our way to Abiquiú through a pretty intense downpour, and got a little drenched picking up a few supplies at Bode's General Store (the local 1-stop shop).  But the storm had passed by the time we had driven a couple more miles to our accommodations ... a very nice yurt!  We arrived in the late afternoon, so we made up some dinner, and headed off to catch the evening light at nearby Plaza Blanca.  It's a beautiful, large canyon of white rocks, made famous by the well-known artist Georgia O'Keeffe, who spent most of her life in the area.  Quite a treat.  And so much of a treat, that we got up early in the morning and went back for sunrise.  Very serene just wandering around the cliffs and up narrow slot drainages.  Pretty magical. More Photos

Our next destination was Abiquiú, NM about a 60 mile drive.  Without much pre-planning, we decided to stop along the way and hike in Bandelier National Monument among the ancient cliff dwellings.  However, upon arriving at the entrance, we were informed that we had to drive into town and take a shuttle bus into the park.  That seemed like a bigger deal than we were up for, so, instead, we backtracked a couple miles and hiked the Burnt Mesa Trail, which travels several miles across a high mesa before ending atop rocky bluffs above the national monument.  High-country, big-sky hiking.  Some storm clouds were moving through, but somehow managed to steer clear of us ... at least while we were hiking.  The remainder of the drive was a slightly different story. Lone Pine Tree One of numerous large ant hills.  Snag and Storm Clouds Some sort of Aster (purple, I suppose).   More Photos

After our morning in the Bisti Badlands, we continued south to pick up Kelsey in Albuquerque, then headed back north to the Jemez Mountains.  Our first objective was Valles Caldera National Preserve ... a volcanic depression about 13 miles across, located at an elevation ranging from 8500' to 11,200'.  We spent a couple of nights in a nice cabin west of the preserve, giving us easy access the next day.  The official entrance to the preserve is set in a huge, picturesque meadow (Valle Grande), surrounded by tree-covered mountains.  Quite scenic.   We spent most of our day in the park hiking to South Peak.  The hike was nice, though not spectacular.  It started by making its way to the edge of Valle Grande, then up and around the wooded hillsides on an abandoned road.  The upper portion was a more direct trail, and things opened up into pretty large meadows.  The top was very broad, with no obvious summit point, so we parked in the tall gr...