Stardate 2018.858

Fall 2018 Is Going Strong

Doing a blog post a week didn't get far, did it? Oh well, I blame it on Parkinson's. However, in all fairness to my new disease, I've had a busy fall as well. Snowcatcher and I spent two weeks in travel to California and back. Both of us have been very busy at work. Instead of blogging, I've been watching old original series Star Trek episodes, et cetera, et cetera.

I've been doing lots of work overtime too, which needs to stop because it enhances Parkinson's irritation. I've now experienced two types of fatigue; the good fatigue, such as doing a 120-mile bike ride and being dog-tired, yet feeling good about it. Then the second type of fatigue is being dog-tired for no good reason and wanting only to curl up with depression and sleep for hours on end, feeling good about nothing.

Nonetheless, my mountain biking skills are slowly getting better. However, I don't, at this point, expect them to be where they once were. Time will tell.

Anyway, following are a handful of pics taken this past September and October. I would have taken the mountain bike out today, but I'm not quite ready for temps in the 30s. At least the sun is out. The first photo is of Waterton Canyon resident bighorn sheep lounging around chewing their cud pre-rut season. Currently, they're busy chasing the girls. Enjoy the pics.




We all know this girl. If you require a hint, she's the S*********r.



I grew-up skiing at a small ski area in western Colorado called Powderhorn. Below rises its eastern lift. I miss those years of skiing a lot. Things were different then.




The middle section of the ski area is kind of rolling.




I love seeing kids start so early. You go girl!



Cedar City, Utah, is almost halfway between Denver, Colorado, and Bakersfield, California. The town is on our retirement short list. It lies at the base of Utah's Markagunt Plateau and north of the whopping 20-mile drop onto the northeastern Mojave Desert. Many, many, years ago I thought I'd landed a job in Cedar City as a hydrologist for the Forest Service; it didn't happen. I've also spent time here doing geomorphic field work with a buddy working on his PhD.



See you next time!

Adios

Stardate 2016.129

A Grand Mesa Birthday
Snowcatcher and I spent a heart-filled birthday and Valentine's Day on Colorado's West Slope. We spent Snowcatcher's birthday on the Grand Mesa and then spent the evening in a rose petal- and candle-filled room. Our intention was to ski Sunday as well. However, stormy conditions on the passes had us heading home a bit early. Following are some pics from the weekend under a big sky at 10,600 feet in elevation. In the following pic, a pickup in the upper left can be used for scale. Albeit the snowpack has settled a bit, depths stilled averaged 4 to 5 feet.




Groomed trails exist for classic cross-country skiing and skate skiing. Off trail skiing abounds too.



The Mesa having been warm and without fresh snow for a week or so, existing snow was beginning to take on spring conditions a month early. This will change; it's still February. Our big month for snow accumulation is March. Nonetheless, as seen below (blocky fracture of snow), there was a bit of firnspeigel (sun crust) developing.




... and baby blue was the color of her eyes.
Baby blue like the Colorado skies...
-George Strait




A heart for two!




The Flake Master at work!





Pinwheels can result when dry snow (cold winter snowpack) becomes wet (melt) for the first time. Pinwheels are more common farther into late-winter/spring when the snowpack is taking on spring-thaw conditions and becoming saturated. Pinwheels also are called "rollerballs" or "snow snails". They indicate a good time NOT to be on steep slopes. We easily stayed off steep slopes this trip.






That's it for this round. Check back. I always have some sort of adventure to share.

Adios

Stardate 2016.036

The Grand Mesa Is Quite Grand

My secret cache from the previous post is Grand Mesa. It towers above my home town of Grand Junction, Colorado. It often collects massive amounts of snow, and this may be one of those years. Snow depth during our visit was well over 4 feet.



For Day Two, we journeyed back to the top of Grand Mesa for another round of cross-country skiing. We parked at the Nordic Center at Skyway, which is on the western lip of Grand Mesa. The top is a relatively flat area full of subalpine parks, meadows and lakes dispersed throughout a forest of Engelmann spruce. The Skyway elevation ranges between 10,600 and 10,750 feet.



A person could do some backcountry skiing here, but not too much in the Skyway area, considering it's flat, with no downhill reward for hard skinning up to a summit or ridgeline. Being a Nordic center, most of the trails have been groomed for basic cross-country skiing, skate skiing or classic cross-country skiing in machine-groomed snow tracks. Moreover, you can still ski off-trail if desired.



Grand Mesa is billed as the largest flat-topped mountain in the world. That's a pretty big statement, and I don't know if it's true or not; there are a lot of big mesas around the globe. Moreover, I'm not sure if there's an "official" dividing line between mesa and much larger plateau.



Moons ago Grand Mesa was born from basaltic flow of a shield volcano. Basaltic flows capping Grand Mesa are up to 400 feet thick. The summit area is 800 square miles of rarified air at an average elevation 10,000 feet. Leon Peak is the highest point on Grand Mesa, touching the sky at 11,234 feet. Did I mention lots of fluffy snow? We enjoyed intermittent flurries and sun. Enjoy the pics.




Notice the animal tracks that are afloat over the rolling sub-alpine terrain.




We played hide and seek with the sun all day.




The small clearing might be home to a pond in hiding.




The northern rim of Grand Mesa is in the clouds (pic taken from the 9,600-foot contour).




To the northwest, late afternoon light is washing the flanks of the Roan Plateau.




That's it for this set of Grand Mesa pics.
I'm sure I'll find something else to post; stay tuned...

Adios

Stardate 2015.485

Day Two RtR

The Mesa

Day Two took us from the arid, ancient seafloor of the Grand Valley up 6,000 feet into the clouds and volcanic terrain of the Grand Mesa. The huge lava-capped summit area averages 10,000 feet in elevation and sprawls over 800 square miles. Several hundred trout-filled lakes dot the top. Geologic rocks are Cretaceous and Tertiary sediments capped by up to 400-feet of basaltic lava flows. The lava cap is of probable Pliocene age. If I recall my Colorado Geology correctly, there was a shield volcano in the vicinity of the Grand Mesa and another shield volcano more easterly resulting in the Battlement Mesa volcanic features. The highest point of the Grand Mesa is Leon Peak at 11,234 feet.



The Grand Mesa is one of the hardest high passes to bike over in Colorado – pure and simple! I think it's one of the three most difficult climbs alongside 14ers Mount Evans and Pikes Peak. It's a bear! It's no surprise that Day Two was my hardest day of Ride the Rockies. After approximately 35 miles and 600 feet of elevation gain, the road ramps up (understatement) and gains 5,430 feet of elevation over the next 20 miles to the Nordic ski center of Skyway at 10,614 feet. Several miles later, the "official" pass is crossed at 10,839-feet. The grade is consistent, except for one small flat area not far from the top. If you're still alive, you've earned a fine downhill into the town of Cedaredge at 6,200 feet.



This is the view west from about 9,500 feet. Some of the dwellings seen in the distance are the Powderhorn Ski Resort, the approximate halfway point of the climb proper.



In zoom mode, the far horizon is the northern terminus of the Colorado Plateau, home to Day One's Colorado National Monument route. The middle ridgeline is the backside of the Bookcliffs, which provide the northern border of the Grand Valley, the home of Grand Junction and the vineyards and orchards of Palisade. A herd of wild horses often may be observed foraging throughout the Bookcliffs. The closest ridgeline is the Grand Mesa's northwest shoulder.



This is one of hundreds of idyllic settings higher on the Mesa. At this point, I was about 4 miles from the top.



Welcome to the top and the Skyway area.



What goes up must come down. This video includes the first 6 minutes of the descent from the top. This is one descent that definitely is earned.



Subalpine meadows quilt-square the top of the Grand Mesa.



The drop into Cedaredge and the North Fork of the Gunnison River can be scenic. The West Elk Mountains rise in the distance.



Our campsite location at Hotchkiss High School was fairly hidden.

Approximate stats:
96 miles
7:39:49 ride time (add another 1.5 hours for stops)
6,255 feet of total elevation gain (excluding rollers into Hotchkiss)
5,430 feet of elevation gain on the Grand Mesa proper

See ya on Day Three

Adios

Stardate 2015.362

Colorado National Monument

What do you do when the forecast is 5 to 8 inches of heavy, wet, May snow? Why, you head west to the land of high mesas, volcanic plateaus, multi-colored sandstone, Butch Cassidy, Doc Holliday and myriad other colorful history. I'm very biased toward the west side of Colorado. I grew up there. I miss living there. You don't feel like a bazillion people are crowding you as you do along Colorado's Front Range (Fort Collins, Denver Metro, Colorado Springs corridor).

Being quite opinionated, I think one of the best road bike rides in the state is Rim Rock Drive through Colorado National Monument. On the other hand, I've yet to meet a cyclist who didn't like the Monument. Hence, I didn't have to twist Snowcatcher's arm much. Since there were no scheduled Friday night spinster dances to maraud, Dieter and Wolfgang, the Bavarian bandits, came along as well.

Hair on fire, we tore into the Friday night. After 4.5 hours of snow and sheet rain we rolled into Grand Junction. Saturday's weather was iffy. Since Rim Rock Drive isn't a good area to dodge lightning, I sagged Snowcatcher's ride just in case Zeus made an appearance. After the ride, we did the Mother's Day thingie with my folks. The following Sunday was almost perfect!



The Colorado National Monument calls home the northern edge of the Colorado Plateau. We began our ride at Wingate Elementary School, at the base of the Monument, close to the Park's east entrance. As we began our ride, Wolfgang and Dieter eyed the climb up Rim Rock Drive. The route would take us through 2-billion year old Precambrian rock, a geologic unconformity (eroded, discontinuous and unknown geologic record), 200 + million year old Triassic sandstone (Chinle, Wingate, and Kayenta formations), 150 + million-year-old Jurassic sandstone (Entrada formation) and mudstone/shale (Morrison formation).



Once in the park, we immediately begin climbing about 1,200 vertical feet at a maximum grade of 8 percent. 4 miles later we reached Cold Shivers Point. Although more climbing was to come, the steep stuff was finished. It's fun to keep track of the clock while climbing to Cold Shivers Point. It took me 23 minutes to get up the beast this trip. My best time is 20 minutes. The quickest time I'm aware of is very fast – 15 minutes.



Columbus Canyon is sporting some new green in the bottom. Small springs dot the area, and some small riparian areas are scattered about.



Fresh snow covered higher elevations in the vicinity of the Colorado/Utah state line.



Once on top, Rim Rock Drive is a sinuous drive along canyon rims. Grand Junction, as seen from upper Red Canyon, sits at the base of the Park. The small protrusion in the ridge behind Grand Junction is Mount Garfield. If you visit the backside of Mount Garfield, or anywhere along the long ridgeline known as the Bookcliffs, you have a very good chance of encountering wild horses. The high flattop mountain in the right background is Grand Mesa, rising over 10,000 feet in elevation.



Here's another view down Red Canyon into the heart of Grand Junction. Mount Garfield is out of view to the left. Grand Mesa will play host to day two of Ride the Rockies. Riders will ride about 100 miles to Hotchkiss, Colorado. However, riders will have to scale Grand Mesa first. The climb is 5,000 feet of elevation gain over 20 miles. Grand Mesa, by most accounts, is considered the third hardest mountain pass to ride over in the state. I've ridden it a handful of times, and it hurts.



Take a big breath! Can you smell the sage? There has been a lot of rain and snow, and the scent of sage weighs heavily. This is a Piñon-Juniper ecosystem, providing wildlife forage and domestic grazing. Similar landscapes may be found in New Mexico and Utah.



Wolfgang and Dieter are into herbs. Here they've found a grove of Scarlet Gilia (Ipomopsis aggregata ssp. formosissima). This flower is a member of the Phlox family and is biennial. During year 1, food is stored in the taproot. For year 2, the stored food is used for fast growth and to reproduce. This is a very prolific flower in western Colorado.



At the sign, we're more or less halfway along Rim Rock Drive. There is one more little climb, followed by all downhill. There also is a third road taking off from here into the ranch and graze lands of Glade Park and Piñon Mesa. The high summer pastures of Piñon Mesa offer a nice temperature retreat when Grand Junction temps are triple digit.



The lower portion of Monument Canyon is shown in the above photo. There are numerous difficult towers to test aid and free-climbing skills. Two popular towers are Kissing Couple and Independence Monument.



The herb masters are at it again. They've discovered a stand of red Indian Paintbrush (Castilleja miniata). These flowers are members of the Figwort family and also are found in rose (pinkish) and yellow.



"Hey, Snowcatcher, watch this."



The Bavarians are ready for their big descent.



Our route back took us along the base of the Monument. Even the return was geologic as we paralleled the Redlands fault line. Earlier I spoke of a geologic unconformity. It can be somewhat seen here. Notice where the black rock meets the dark red - that's it. Several hundred million years of geologic information is missing between the black Precambrian formation (several billion years old) and the red Triassic Chinle formation (200 + million years old).

That's it for now. Later gator!

Adios