Friday, December 07, 2007

Say Hello To Our Little Friends - Some Colorado Critters







We had the best time spotting all kinds of wildlife. We watched the antics and activities of such diverse animals as the Ebert squirrels, the adorable little chipmunks, the shy "whistle pig" (woodchuck), the gentle deer, a brilliant red fox, many wild turkeys, the reclusive elk, plus dozens of different birds that came to the feeders Buddy kept stocked just for them. Magpies, Stellars Jays, the Rocky Mountain Blue Bird, Ravens, tiny wrens, the list is endless.

This area of Colorado is prime wildlife and bird watching country. We never did see a bear (other than one a ranger had caught in a live trap and brought by the store one day) or mountain lion but there were several people who did.

For the fisherman, Williams Lake and the rivers around Sportsman's (Williams Creek, the Piedra, the San Juan, etc.) have numerous "hot spots" for hours of anglers' fun.

There is a song that says "God may not live in Colorado but I bet He spends a lot of time there". Since God created the Garden, I imagine He loves those places in His world where the landscape resembles Eden. With all the wildlife, birds, streams and rivers, lakes and waterfalls, mountains and meadows that make up this part of Colorado...well, it might just fill the bill.
The Road Runners
Buddy & Elaine
1 Thess. 5:18
PTL!

Beautiful Rides..Beautiful Hikes..Beautiful Drives





Sportsman's Campground sits "smack-dab" in the middle of some of the most beautiful country in Colorado...the San Juan National Forest, the Weminuche Wilderness, and the area known as "The Great Divide" - the Continental Divide. We rode horses to such scenic areas that it is hard to describe the breath-taking wonder of it. From the Ice Cave Ridge to Chubb Draw and the Great Meadow, from Poison Park to Elk Park, along Williams Creek and the Piedra River Trail, you can ride for hours surrounded by tall Ponderosa pines, the stately Aspens, lush green meadowland, bountiful wildflowers of all shapes and colors and, of course, the wildlife.

We took several hikes, most notably the Williams Creek overlook (just out from the campground), the Piedra Falls trail (not long but a great view of the Falls that feed the Piedra River), and the Piedra River Trail (we only went to the footbridge..the full trail goes some 18 miles). This area has many nice hiking trails, some easy, some moderate, some challenging. The camp store had a rack with brochures of the trails.

Then there were the drives: Mosca Road was a forest service road that meandered for 26 miles into the National Forest, then came to a dead end. There was a plan in place at some point in the past to take the road all the way over to Vallecito (we were there last year). We never did hear why the road was not completed but I would hazard a guess that someone ran out of funds. I believe you can get to the end of Mosca Road, then hike on over to Vallecito (or perhaps ride a horse) but we were not that energetic! The road to Lobo Overlook was just the other side of the summit of Wolf Creek Pass. Wolf Creek Pass sits at 10,850 feet and Lobo Overlook is above that! The drive up to the Piedra Falls trail head was quite lovely...and we did it in late spring, mid-summer and early fall. Each season was unique. Blanco Basin was another great scenic drive, taking you farther into a canyon with great views of the surrounding mountains. Our attempt to get to Fish Creek in this area was thwarted one windy day by three tall Aspen trees that blew down directly in front of our little Honda car! Whew! Close call. Needless to say, we turned around and beat it out of there. The back way into Pagosa was the Plumtaw Road. Here we drove past ranches, forests, and spotted quite a bit of wildlife.

Frankly, there really were no plain drives, hikes, or rides. There is just too much grandeur around this part of Colorado for that.

The Road Runners
Buddy & Elaine
1 Thess. 5:18
PTL!

Wednesday, December 05, 2007

More Fun Stuff - Packing hunters in to Elk Park







Buddy had the opportunity to ride into Elk Park with Preston on a pack trip as they took two bow hunters to the Crazy Horse drop camp. A drop camp simply means the hunters are taken in and left for five days. If a hunter wants a "full-service" hunt the guide rides in and stays, helping the hunter spot game and also helping with the camp duties such as cooking meals and clean-up. Crazy Horse had several such camps but the main two they used were at Elk Park and farther into the Weminuche Wilderness at Granite. The only way in is on horseback or walking because no motorized vehicles are allowed in this area of the Wilderness. You can't even take a chain saw in! Colorado has a bow hunting season which starts the end of August, then a black powder (muzzle-loader) season, followed by 4 rifle seasons. The last season ends in November. With one of the largest elk and mule deer population in America, Colorado is a hunter's paradise. A great deal of the Pagosa economy revolves around hunting.
The ride to Elk Park is over one of the roughest trails we rode all summer. Much of it was quite rocky and full of roots, with a great deal of climbing, steep drop-offs and a very narrow trail in parts. It takes two and a half hours from the trail head (Poison Park) to get to the camp. We had to trailer the horses up to the trail head from the corral so with that, plus the 2 & 1/2 hour ride in, then back out, you end up with a full day with the horses. Ah...how fun. Though it was hard work, the scenery was absolutely gorgeous. This was a highlight of the summer for us.
The Road Runners
Buddy & Elaine
1 Thess. 5:18
PTL!

Tuesday, December 04, 2007

The "Real Deal" Cowboy





One of the nice things about our travels is all the interesting people we meet along the way. This summer we met a real cowboy, the genuine article, a fellow named Preston Goetzke (pronounced Getz Ski). When we began working for Crazy Horse Outfitters we learned that Preston was coming from Oklahoma to help with the trail rides at some point in the summer. Preston arrived July 3RD and within days we had developed an excellent working relationship and began to have the kind of fun that friends have when they spend many hours together. We caught horses together, trailered the horses back to the corral together, groomed horses together, saddled and unsaddled horses together, ate together, ran errands together...well, you get the idea!
Born in Virginia, Preston was raised by his grandparents. He moved to Florida while still in his teens and actually was in the same hunting club that Buddy was, around the same time! He even dated the ex-wife of our neighbor's son. Talk about a small world! He learned a great deal about horses and training colts while working on a ranch near Palatka, Florida. Eventually he worked his way to Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Colorado. His true area of expertise is training colts but he is a fine hand working cattle, shoeing horses, and can handle any ranch chores, whatever is needed to get the job done. He completed Farrier's School in Oklahoma and was in demand by the locals to work on their animals. One Saturday we helped him put shoes on his three-year old stud colt, Peaches' Hickory, nicknamed "Stumpy". Stumpy was not happy with the effort but Preston persevered and the job was finally done! He also is an excellent guide, taking hunters miles into the high country in search of trophy elk, deer, and bear.
We sat and laughed over his stories since he is quite the raconteur, with many life experiences to fuel his tales.
He brought his own horses with him: Stumpy the stud colt, a sweet filly named Clabber Cat, who was waiting to be trained, a beautiful bay mare he called Sweet Pea, and his two geldings, a paint named Junior, and a sorrel named Buckshot. I had the pleasure of riding Junior and Buddy was able to get the chance to ride Buckshot. Both had been trained by Preston and were absolutely wonderful mounts. You could really tell the talent this man had as a trainer by the way his own horses performed.
I felt honored that Preston trusted me enough to allow me to ride one of his own personal horses.
Our time with Preston added a new, fun dimension to the time spent with the horses.
The Road Runners
Buddy & Elaine
1 Thess. 5:18
PTL!

Happy 39TH Wedding Anniversary - High in the sky!





We decided to take a hot air balloon ride to celebrate our 39TH wedding anniversary so bright and early (6am) we headed to Pagosa Springs to check in with Rocky Mountain Balloon Adventures for our flight. There were 15 adventuresome souls who met in the Fairfield parking lot. Our pilot and chase crew briefed us, then we loaded up in the two vans and drove to the launch site, a church parking lot. Ballooning is not an exact activity. You are truly at the mercy of the winds. Still, with a good pilot, you can fly quite far. The sport has come a long way since it's inception in France over 200 years ago. The two men who first attempted it fashioned their balloon out of paper! The envelope on our aircraft was silk and we had a much better system for getting the super-heated air up into the envelope.
There is an element of danger, it is true, but our pilot had 26 years' experience and he did inspire confidence.
The first group of 8 went up and we were in the chase car as it followed them all around Pagosa. They landed some 20 minutes later in a small field behind some condos. We were instructed to get out of the van and run to the basket as soon as it touched down, lean on the rim of the basket and hold it in place so the first passengers could disembark. One by one they got out and one by one we got in. They took our places leaning on the basket rim and soon the carefully choreographed exit/entrance was completed, the basket was released and we were on our way. This is such a peaceful, gentle way to travel. We were able to talk to people on the ground from a hundred feet up or better yet in a conversational tone - no need to shout. Soon we had our bird's eye view of Pagosa Springs and the countryside around it. We could see Chimney Rock, an archaeological site we had visited last year and the many beautiful mountains in the distance.
Soon it was our turn to return to earth. All hands were called upon to help break down the balloon and pack it away (just as we had done in the beginning in order to set it up and inflate it.). The last part of the event was to return to the resort for a champagne brunch (or sparkling grape juice if you preferred) as our pilot gave us a talk on the history of ballooning. The toast of champagne became a tradition for the first balloonists and continues to this day.
As we left the parking lot we remarked on what a memorable outing this had been! Buddy was quick to tell everyone that he had "...kissed my sweetie 2,000 feet over Pagosa Springs!"
What a memory!
The Road Runners
Buddy & Elaine
1 Thess. 5:18
PTL!

Monday, December 03, 2007

Horses, Horses, Horses - A dream come true.








When we got to Sportsman's we knew we would be workamping for Jon Reed. An added bonus was the opportunity to work for Crazy Horse Outfitters as wranglers, taking folks on trail rides into the San Juan National Forest. Bill and Willie Swanda own Crazy Horse and work the rides out of the corral there at Sportsman's. Buddy had to get his Red Cross First Aid/CPR certification to be the head wrangler. Although I do have a Certified Nursing Assistant certification my CPR was not current. Therefore, I became a "tail rider" bringing up the rear on any rides with four or more people. A "tail rider" is required by the Forest Service. The horses were pastured 5 miles away so each morning we took a truck and stock trailer to the pasture, caught the horses, loaded them in the trailer and brought them back to the corral at Sportsman's to be groomed and saddled in anticipation of rides that had been booked. We came to know and care for each of these hard working mounts - dependable 18-year old Brownie, beautiful Patch (short for Apache), a flashy paint that preferred girls, docile old Popcorn, a gentle Appaloosa, Little Joe, another paint and also a "rescue" horse who was the personal mount of Willie and the youngest in the herd. Rebel was a tall, sweet tempered Tennessee Walking horse. Buddy's main mount was Blackie, the second tallest mount on the string. I rode Twister, another Tennessee Walker...oh what a wonderful gait he had. Then there was Hawkeye Pierce, Hawk for short, (named after the character on M.A.S.H. because he always had something to say!) Bill's personal mount was Dollar, a 23-year old Leopard Appaloosa who was so well trained he could open and close gates, be depended on to find his way home in the dark, and load himself into the trailer. Buddy also rode a big Andalusian named Mo. Standing over 16 hands high this horse was massive with a back as broad as a table top!
The main two rides we did were: 1) the 2-hour ride to the Ice Cave ridge and a look at a geological oddity - a fissure in the side of the mountain where snow packed and accumulated as ice through the winter. (The pioneers who settled the area used to bring wagons up to the caves to harvest ice for their ranches.) 2) the 4-hour ride went the other way up Chubb Draw to a large meadow with wonderful views of Toner Mountain and Sugarloaf Mountain. Many times on these rides we spotted elk, mule deer, wild turkeys, and coyotes. Of course, the whole area was just so beautiful that either ride took you to some awesome scenery.
We surprised ourselves by being able to keep up the pace workamping as well as working with the horses.
I have loved horses all my life and met Buddy horse back riding so the chance to work with these beautiful creatures every day was absolute bliss for me! We rode several days a week, 4 to 6 hours a day starting in June and continuing into September. What an adventure!
The Road Runners
Buddy & Elaine
1 Thess. 5:18
PTL!

Hey! What's this white stuff in May?




When we arrived at Sportsman's Campground on May 12Th, 2007, the weather was mild, sunny and quite pleasant. We began our workamping duties on Monday, the 14Th by raking pine straw and cleaning the campsites. There are seven cabins for rent and each of those needed to be opened and cleaned in prep for the upcoming season. Five of the seven cabins are named after John Wayne movies (Hondo, Cowboys, McClintock, Chisum and Rio Grande). John Wayne actually spent some time in the area shooting The Cowboys and parts of True Grit and a picture of him with two of the local children rests on a display shelf in the campground store. Buddy and I were cleaning one of the cabins May 23rd when the skies turned gray and suddenly it began to snow! The snowfall continued throughout the night and May 24Th dawned clear and bright with snow clinging to the trees, covering areas of the ground and built up on our car and RV. We took a ride up to the Poison Park trail head parking lot to view the deeper accumulation up there (the campground sits at 8,000 feet and the trail head is somewhere around 9,000 feet)and Buddy couldn't resist a snowball fight.
By the middle of the afternoon, most of the snow was gone but that was a unique experience for Florida folks!
The Road Runners
Buddy & Elaine
1 Thess. 5:18
PTL!

Oh Boy! What A Summer!




We left Louisiana and drove to the Escapees Headquarters Park in Livingston, Texas for a week's stay, then began to make our way to Pagosa Springs, Colorado, where we would workamp for the summer of 2007. One interesting/exciting/scary event was the total loss of brakes on the motor home just as we had passed through Espanola, New Mexico. The road we were on is quite desolate until you get to Chama so we opted to turn around and head back to civilization. Thank goodness for road-side assistance AND the foresight to purchase an extended warranty! We ended up having the RV towed back into Santa Fe, New Mexico to Hal Burns Truck & Equipment Service. The brakes had to be completely replaced all the way around the coach and since we arrived late in the day, we ended up parking on the lot at Hal Burns for the night. The next day the mechanics at Hal Burns got right on the job and we were delighted to have our coach back in operation by the end of business that day. Off we went, back on track to our destination. I can't say enough about the folks at Hal Burns. They were simply "top drawer" when it came to the work, as well as very kind, sympathetic, and courteous. Just a side note: You have not lived until you have followed your "home" being towed at 55 plus mph down the highway in Santa Fe, New Mexico! Not anything I want to repeat soon!
We dodged bad weather all the way out to Colorado (through Texas and New Mexico)and arrived at Sportsman's Supply Campground & Cabins on Saturday, May 12Th. Here we would set up and stay the rest of the summer, workamping for the campground's owner, Jon Reed, a slim, athletic young man with enough energy for two people! Sportsman's is located 20 miles north of Pagosa Springs in the San Juan National Forest. The terrain is quite spectacular, with rolling, open pastureland surrounded by snow capped mountains. The centerpiece is Pagosa Peak, an impressive 12,640 foot mountain that draws many hikers and backpackers. There are plenty of elk, mule deer, bear, coyote, fox, "whistle pigs", porcupine, Ebert squirrels, and all kinds of birds for anyone who enjoys watching wildlife. At an elevation of 8,000 feet, the climate was wonderfully cool and pleasant most days. Afternoon thunder storms rolled in with an awe-inspiring display of lightening and sudden, hard rains. Most passed quickly. All the rain kept things green throughout the summer and on into September.
We had arrived!
The Road Runners
Buddy & Elaine
1 Thess. 5:18
PTL!