This Means Something

I went camping this past weekend. On Saturday, I went to Devils Tower in Northeast, Wyoming. I think it took about 6 hours to get there. I saw over a hundred antelope on the way up. Devils Tower gets a lot of day use, but not to many people stay there though. They only had one campground loop open with about 22 sites, and it wasn't full. They other loop was closed because prairie dogs have invaded it.

That's me in the boulder field at Devils Tower.






Sunday morning, after a mornings hike at Devils Tower N.M., I made my way into the Black Hills of South Dakota. That's another new state for me, Bro! I drove through parts of Spearfish Canyon. That is where the winter camp scenes were filmed in Dances With Wolves. From there I made my way to Mt. Rushmore. I made the mistake of driving through Keystone, South Dakota. It is a minature Pigeon Forge; it is not a real town. Very crowded, busy, and tacky. It is right next to Mt. Rushmore, but it is possible to get to Mt. Rushmore without going to Keystone. Mt. Rushmore is also quite busy. I am sure it is number one destination for people visiting this state.

Here's the standard Mt. Rushmore picture.








From Mt. Rushmore, I went to the Crazy Horse Memorial. It is quite an ambitious project that has a long ways to go. When finished it will be bigger and grander than Mt. Rushmore. I doubt it will be finished in my lifetime. From Crazy Horse, I went to find a campsite. After an early dinner, I went for a drive in Custer State Park along the Needles Hwy. This road is real cool. It is narrow and winds through some amazing rock formations.

The next day, I got up early and hiked to the top of Harney Peak. At 7,242 Ft., it is the highest point in South Dakota. Harney Peak has an amazing Fire Tower on it. It is a small rock castle built on top of a cliff. It had living quarters that looks like it included plumbing and electricity. The water was taken from a dam that was created in between rock formation on top of the mountain. I was impressed by this abandoned Fire Tower's complex.
The Fire Tower on top of Harney Peak

That's me looking towards Cathedral Spires and Little Devil's Tower from Harney Peak.


After spending an hour and a half up top, I came back down. It was 6 miles round trip. It was time to start making my way back home. I drove through another part of Custer State Park on the way back. I also drove through Wind Cave National Park. I didn't stop and see the cave, but the countryside was gorgeous.
I did take a picture of a Tatanka while driving through Wind Cave N.P.





I was home by 6:00 P.M. on Monday. Not a bad three-day weekend.

Picture This

Charles & Tina went back home last Saturday. I needed something to do on Sunday. So I did something they can't do. I went to Rocky Mountain National Park on the weekend. My destination in the park was Estes Cone. It is a small mountain compared to others in the park. It peaks out at 11,006 Ft., and the trail is 3.2 miles to the summit of Estes Cone from the Longs Peak trailhead. The first part of the hike is relatively easy. The snow has melted significantly since I was in the area a few weeks back. However, there were quite a few places where it still covered the trail. The snow was a bit softer this time too. It went past my knees in some of those soft places. Overall it was not bad. The final 0.7 miles of the hike was tough. It wasn't because of the snow or altitude. It was just steep. The views on top were worth it. 360° View with lots of rocks. I even had the summit to myself for about 30 minutes.

View of Mt. Meeker, Longs Peak, & Mt. Lady Washington from Estes Cone

Me on one of the rocks of Estes Cone. It was windy enough for me to put on a jacket.

I have finished going through all the pictures from the Sand Dunes trip. I had taken 314 Photos. Charles & Tina had given me similar amounts of photos. This is one of the problems & benefits of the digital age. We don't have to be selective about the photos we take. Which is good, it allows for more experimentation. Anyway, additional selected photos are up on My Picasa picture site. Check them out if you like.

-M

The Land Of The Sand People

This past week, my friends Charles (Dave) & Tina were in Colorado. They insisted I do things with them. On Saturday (May 5th), they wanted to do the Coors Brewery Tour. They needed me to take them Golden. So I went and drank my three free beers. It was painful:-) I had Killian's Irish Red, Blue Moon, & Molson. Sorry Rick, Molson finished last in the taste test.
On Sunday (May 6th), they dragged me down to the Great Sand Dunes National Park for a couple of days. It is just a bunch of sand, mountains, water, snow, ice, wildlife, etc. Who would like that? I only took 314 pictures over the three-day trip. When we got to the Sand Dunes on Sunday, it was snowing lightly. We went for a short walk on the Dunes and drove around a bit.

Charles & Tina along Medano Creek with the snow coming down.

We ended up staying in a motel in Alamosa. Nobody was thrilled with the idea of starting off camping in the snow & wind. Tina almost got herself in trouble by using the wimp word, but Charles was able to ignore that word. He was driving.
The next day started off in the 30's. (Fahrenheit) It didn't feel bad to me. The animals were out that day. We saw elk, coyotes, antelope, bunnies, and enough deer to rival the Shenandoah's. The snow had stopped, but there was a little left on the Dunes when we arrived in the morning.

Snow on the Sand Dunes.

Charles and Tina crossing Medano Creek to get the Dunes.

We ended up going for a long hike on the Dunes. The Dunes were wet from the melted snow. This made it a lot easier to walk on the Dunes. The Dunes can be tough, but they were not on this day.

That's Charles in the front and me in the back. We are on top of High Dune. Photo courtesy of Tina.

The three of us in front of Star Dune.

We came across what is believed to be a Native American drawing of the Ancient Sand People. Quite scary! Photo courtesy of Tina.

Later that day, we went to Zapata Falls. It is a pretty cool waterfall that is hidden within the rocks of the mountainside. We did camp on Monday night. We had an excellent site. It had a 270-degree view of mountains and dunes. On Tuesday, we hiked along the side of the dunes.

Charles with Mt. Herard peeking out of the clouds.

After our hike, we made our way back to Denver. I had the pleasure of working on Wednesday while Charles & Tina went to Rocky Mountain National Park. Lucky Me! They came back Friday afternoon and treated me to some buffalo meatloaf. I took them to Tommy Knocker's before their flight back on Saturday. I will post more pictures on my Picasa picture site. They will probably be cooler than the ones here. I just got to go through them. So stay tuned and check back if you're interested.

- M

Blog Trailer: "Land Of The Sand People"

My friends Charles (Dave) & Tina are in Colorado this week. They are currently in Rocky Mountain National Park. However, this weekend we went down to the Sand Dunes for an extended weekend. We got back on Tuesday. I got lots of pictures to go though. My evenings are busy this week with Lost, Rapids (Soccer), and the return of Charles & Tina. I probably won't decide which ones are blog worthy till sometime Saturday. So here is a teaser picture for my loyal readers.