Weekend Hiking

Have been getting some hiking in every day for the past 3 days- feels good - like training for the daily hikes in Yellowstone in just a few short weeks.

Friday we took the entire core (70+ kids) down 6 1/2 miles of the Monument Canyon trail in Colorado National Monument. With bus schedules dictating our day ... and a return trip to the "bus barn" after leaving the school, to trade buses as something was broken and the first bus could not make the trip up into the Monument.... we had a mere 3 1/2 hours to make the entire trek . . . a process I lovingly call the "death march". It turned out to be a great day, though... the kids were all troopers and I think most if not all of them had some fun! Here are a few being eaten by FROG ROCK! LOL!

 


Yesterday I grabbed a friend who was with me when we missed a cache.... ended up on a trail way above the desired location... so, looking down on it some weeks ago, we pledged to return.... Turned out to be "Mike the Headless Chicken" Days in Fruita so the area was alive... and there was a "Hike for Mike" event going on in the very same area we were headed for. We discovered that the Mike this event was dedicated to was a fellow science teacher that died while on a field trip with students - hiking to Delicate Arch a couple of years ago. The proceeds will be used to help fund the extension of our riverfront trail - hopefully from one end of the valley to the other someday! After we went and retrieved the cache... I dug in my pocket and found enough to sponsor myself in the hike... seemed like a fitting memorial and a good cause! Today I called another friend (don't want to burn out hiking buddies!).. and off we went to walk down a streambed strewn with petroglyphs (technically pictographs, I believe)... headed to the Colorado River. A little over 2 miles each way.. and such a beautiful day! The cactus are just starting to bloom. So nice

She found the first stage of this multi-cache!



The Indian Paintbrush is in bloom- this is one of the largest clumps I have ever seen!
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Above.... look deep under the overhang to see the pictographs
and the claret cup cacti are just beginning to open up... my favorite!


Prickly pear cactus blossoms and yucca blooms in background

More pictographs...

No picture of the final adventure... there was another geocache just across the road when we got back to the parking area... so I headed over to grab it. Finding it under the juniper tree was no problem.. a large cookie tin covered with rocks. I moved the camo and reached for the can when the bright pattern of yellow and black caught my eye from under the can. Three coils of a snake, about and inch in diameter, were visible - it never moved, but I was frozen in my tracks... pretty sure I wasn't brave enough to continue retrieving ... and then replacing the can. But a bit hesitant to replace the camo, also. Finally I decided it was happy where it was and would allow me to push the rocks up around the can. I'll save signing THAT log for another day!