RSS weather
Saturday, 11 November 2006
…And you thought RSS just modifies “feed”—but, here, it means rain, sleet, and snow. All together. Welcome to Michigan!
Lacking shadows, I pined for them….
Musings
Mid-Michigan grey
Wednesday, 8 November 2006
Mid-Michigan this time of year is either brilliant or grey (its own particular, rather depressing shade) and overcast. Guess which today is?
Yes, I’m back (thanks to Delta and the application of a credit card); too much to be sorted out to do from afar.
Latitude, altitude
Monday, 6 November 2006
While southwestern NM is easing into full autumnal splendor (except the dead trees), Atlanta is already there, with lots of color and the first leaves drifting down and changing the lawns from green to golds and yellows.
Mountain four-foot
Saturday, 4 November 2006
Okay, here’s the scene: we’re driving on the river road upstream from Gila, checking out its condition for next time. Conclusion: just barely passable in the present condition with our wee rental car. Returning to town, and the highway to El Paso (via Silver City and Deming), we saw this guy (?), and a partner. By the time we got stopped and dug out the big camera with the long lens, they were down in the dry arroyo below the road, and I got this shot.
So, what is it? My first impression, when they ran across the road was “goat,” because the horns didn’t curl. Then I checked the web, and I revised: “sheep,” since all the mountain goats look totally different. And when I checked out this high-res photo, I also saw the radio collar. So, is it a bighorn sheep? Or, possibly an imported Barbary sheep? Or?
My final conclusion: bighorn mountain sheep (Ovis canadensis)….
Wilderness sharing
Friday, 3 November 2006
Yes, the sky looked this blue for real. No, I don’t know why (Pooh? Elevation?).
Just when I was getting ready to believe that there might be a no-fly zone over the Wilderness area, I discovered I was wrong. Today we hiked up the west flank of the National Forest that borders the west edge of the Wilderness, and saw this at one point, over the valley to the west of us. The sound reached us well behind the plane as it zoomed by, not surprisingly….
We figure we ascended over 2500′ in 3.7 miles, whew!, then turned around and tried to not skid on round rocks and the like when descending. The trail: Little Whitewater. It wasn’t our original choice, but when the ranger at the Glenwood Ranger Station said he thought it the most strenuous in the area, well, we just had to give it a go. I’m almost still panting from the effort….
Elevation change!
Thursday, 2 November 2006
I must include a micro shot: this is pitch from a pine that fell across the trail.
Today’s selection: a trail going either up (first) or down (on return), with virtually no straight and even. Really. You’d think: mountains…well, yes, that’s how it is, elevation change should be the norm. Well, today we experienced it intensely. Over two-thousand feet in 3.75 miles (if you believe the GPS), mostly through beautiful ponderosas and other evergreens, although sometimes the small-plant carpet underneath included healthy stands of poison ivy…. But, we’re tough transplanted Midwesterners, so we persevered, even along steep switchbacks. The most treacherous places were the spots where the oak leaves (and one stray maple’s glowing red leaves) blanketed the path…. Did see one squirrel…where are the thousands of others?
Low moon
Wednesday, 1 November 2006
Today’s hike (about 11.5 miles) was a loop that took us through canyons, Little Bear and Middle Fork of the Gila, near the Gila Cliff Dwellings Visitor Center, with only a single ridge to traverse. The main valley near the VC is open, framed on the sides by low rock faces (low if you don’t have to climb them, that is). Some of the flats have various grasses, all a lovely golden, which hides the fact that they’re treacherous this time of the year, inserting their aggressive ,wee, pointy seeds into any passing sock. Coming down the Middle Fork we figure we crossed the river at least thirty times, so I wore my Keen sandals, sockless, thereby thwarting nature’s seed distribution system.
Hiked to 7000′
Tuesday, 31 October 2006
Today we did a trail that had lots of up (whew!), and plenty of loose rocks to boot—literally. All this required us flatlanders to expend lots of energy to move up, and do so safely (we want NO turned ankles!), so naptime will begin early this evening!
Misty morning
Monday, 30 October 2006
When subjected to an overnight rain, this desert country, like the temperate forests that are more familiar to me, develops a lovely morning fog, which is highly aesthetic with the more convoluted topography.
Golden light
Saturday, 28 October 2006
One more travel day, this time via planes not a Honda, and I’m out in NM, where the fading sunlight illuminates terrain like this. I’d write more, but I’m off to the hot tub to look at the moon!
Best news of the day: the Botanist is sprung from the hoosegow and sounds pretty darned good over the phone!