Red Mountain Hike

I took this picture Sunday, September 13th but when I began to add my title to the blog I discovered it was printing in Hindi.  After becoming frustrated with trying to change it I gave up until today.  Cooler head prevailed and I was able to understand the help advice someone posted on Bloggers FAQ. 

We left Fort Collins to drive up to Red Mountain Open Space to retrace the hike I had done in the moonlight in July.  It was easy to see why the open space is named Red Mountain.  Almost everywhere you look the soil is red.  Some of the areas have sandstone and quartz, but the red predominates.  Although I would have doubted it (during the moonlight hike) the trail is just over 2 miles and is a wonderful trail for someone like me who has been spending too much time on the couch.  It makes a loop from the parking lot through the canyon in the picture to The Big Hole, then around the south ridge and back to the stream.     The stream is still flowing which makes the stepping stones across the water welcome.  The weather was perfect for the entire hike, with clouds moving in to bring some rain as we drove back to Fort Collins.
On the way back we saw this stump which looked like a pump from a distance.  It was positioned on a somewhat hollowed out slope next to the trail.

Some pictures of Red Mountain from the July hike before the sun went down are  posted in my Flickr account at http://www.flickr.com/photos/27063931@N05/3749062117/ 

 

Soapstone Open Space

Susan and I went to the Archeology talk about the Lindemeier site at Soapstone Open Space yesterday, May 16, 2009. There were beautiful views of the mountains. We learned that the Coffin brothers actually discovered what is now labeled "Folsom Points" before they were discovered and publicized in Folsom NM. They were excited about the discovery but didn't get any attention from anyone until the 1930's. Our lecturer was Dr. Jason LaBelle from CSU and he pointed out the dark line on the arroyo which is the layer that is identified as the layer from the Folsom people period.

With all the rain we have had there were lots of wildflowers and mushrooms.

Moonlight x/c Ski

Oh, how I wish I had had a camera last night. My "Don't Hike Alone" group drove to the Colorado State Moose Visitor's Center for the Moonlight x/c Ski and Snowshoe Night last night. We arrived before sundown around 5:15 and had a glorious view of the surrounding mountains tipped by the setting sun. Everyone bemoaned not having a camera to capture it. I guess we will all have to rely on our mental pictures of the sight.

We collected glow in the dark bracelets and headed down the trail as the sunlight slowly faded. The moon was visible with only a few clouds in the sky. One of our number commented that it was a 9/10s full moon, not completely full. However full it was it was gorgeous and lit the trail with the help of various glow sticks to mark the trail.

Conditions couldn't have been better. There was plenty of snow, moonlight and no wind. The temperature was warm enough that many of us had to remove extra layers. There was the silence of the night broken only by the occasional skiers and people on snowshoes. Not only were the two footed critters out but we met our fair share of four footed companions. At least 4 skiers with their huskies pulling them up and down the trail. Some dogs had blinking lights to alert the trail users that they were there.

I had a great time and only the one fall on the last leg. I lost my balance and twisted my ankle on a basically flat part of the trail, how lame is that?