Returning home to bad news

We returned home on Oct 20 to news that Barbara's close cousin, Stan Carmichael and his wife, Pat, had been in a horrific plane crash on take off from Santa Catalina Island. Pat Carmichael, a child advocate attorney, died on impact, but somehow Stan, was thrown from the plane and survived. Also, those who died in the plane crash, were Stan and Pat's next door neighbors, Cardiologist, Dr. Charles Cowan and his wife. We went down to Laguna Beach to spend time with Stan and the family. You can click on the picture to make it larger, if you want to see wrinkles.

Few days in Kernville

Did some mountain biking with Alli, hung out with Dave and Alli a couple of days, did a little work on our property there, then headed for home.

Standing very high up on walkway to a fire lookout

on top of the world at Needles

Finishing the Rockies trip 08

we met Dave and Alli and John and Margie at Dome Rock in the Sierras, camped on top of the world, hiked up the Needles. A wonderful time together for our families.

On 10/12, we explored the Mogollon Rim area that borders Arizona and New Mexico. We rode mountain bikes on a rocky road that led to the rim, but it was too dark to go the entire 2 miles one way. Next morning was too cold for bikes, so we drove to the rim. We then continued down through Payson, Flagstaff and stayed in Seligman.

Now if you have time, check us out at our son Jon's site:
http://www.advenster.com

Denny and Marilyn Elms in front of their new mountain get-away in Heber AZ. Great cousins! Great visit !

This is Black Canyon Lake. We were multi-layered for the cold temps at this altitude and late October in Arizona.

Now these are real hunker ATV's, Alaska style !

We found Santa Fe NM, to be a fairly large but tight town with pueblo style buildings some dating as far back as to the 1700s and 1800s, great historical area. The area seemed very poor though and a great deal of trash that had was not being disposed. Albuquerque is larger, nicer, with better scenery, but is also very industrialized. Amazingly it is said to have the best atmosphere in the US because it sort of sits out there by itself. We continued onto Gallup AZ trying to outrun a storm that was coming from the hurricane that hit Mexico and was looping north through the US. We left early on 10/11 trying to beat the gale wind warnings. We drove west on 40 trying to make it to Denny and Marilyn's new cabin in Heber before the worst of the storm. We were buffeted and sand blasted and dodged tumbleweeds that were flying across the highway - but the motorhome actually did pretty well in the 60+ mile per hour gusts. Stayed at Denny and Marilyn's and woke to clear and calm skies on 10/12. We took off on their ATVs to explore the national forest around them and black canyon lake.

Continuing through Chimayo, we found the area to not be very scenic. We crossed the headwaters of the Rio Grande and the Rio Grande Gorge and explored a community of 'earth ship' houses near Taos NM, built from all recycled materials and designed to be completely energy independent. We stopped and spoke with some of the owners who gave us a partial tour. The houses are built into the dirt on the backside with the south-facing side being solar panels and the roofs a series of venting options. This is a completely self-sufficient community, where they are all off the grid, quite an amazing ECO group of about 200 homes! Really a must see, especially if you are into alternative living.

On into New Mexico

Dropping into New Mexico on 10/8, we took the road to Heron Lake. We stayed in a NM State campground where it felt like we were the only people on earth. The silence was deafening. We hiked and biked the area taking a narrow winding trail that was a true mountain biking experience. Dave and Alli would be proud. On 10/9 we started through the Southern end of the Rockies in New Mexico. We dropped into Taos and took the loop up through Questa, Elizabethtown and Angel Fire. We stayed in the Red River Valley. Tempteratures are dropping into the 20s every night, but warm up to 50s and 60s in the daytime. New Mexico is very different in scenery, even at the higher elevations. Many of the towns are shanty like with the people seemingly so very poor in much of this state. It is so striking that Colorado, a border neighbor state, should be, so entirely opposite, and very well off in comparison to New Mexico or any state, including California, for that matter. However, I must say in every state, we found the roads to be superior to those we have in California! Back to NM, much of the soil in this state seems of poor quality supporting mostly sage and juniper.

Continuing south to Durango and then onto Pagosa Springs with lots of natural hotsprings. Remember to click on the pictures to see more detail. Expensive river resorts here.

This is the little town of Ouray at 9K feet in the Rockies where we stayed 10/6. The temperature was in the 20s at night.

these are some of the famous Idorado mines.

Oct 08 trip continued

On Oct 7, we traveled the million dollar highway with gorgeous scenery. These beautiful mountainsides are covered with mining operations primarily from Idorado mines. Sadly, some pollution exists in these beautiful once pristine rivers.

few more pics from 10/6/08

Rockies 08 continued

Because of a large storm system, we spent 3 days in a campground in Montrose CO. We rode our bikes around the town and went to the fairgrounds for a miniature train show that was interesting. On 10/6, we checked road conditions and took off again for high country. Going through ridgway and taking the loop to Telluride CO, with the freshly dusted snow peaks was amazing. Today we are at 9K feet in Ouray and will do some exploring tomorrow. The weather is sunny now but cool - below freezing at night.

another little Rockies blip

more Rockies 2008

On 10/01 we continued north on 82 through Basalt and Carbondale, then headed south on 133. Stopped at Red Rock Camp and the next morning drove into little town of Marble CO. There we rented a jeep tour and drove into a lost mining town known as Crystal CO. The road was definitely a very tense, steep jeep road only, and it took us almost 3 hours to go about 10 miles. There were old jeeps and trucks that had fallen off the cliff edge, and they were still sitting there, in the riverbed way down at the bottom on our right. Sadly a few had lost their lives on that very road(trail) that we traversed. The town of Marble itself, is famous for the marble produced there at their mine. And again the miners everyday traverse a similar road just like the one we were on. Whew!

little clip of rockies

Continuing through the Rockies 10/08

Heading north on hwy 24, we spotted a beautiful canyon off to the left on a dirt road. We intended to go just a little way, but it was so scenic we ended up about 5 miles in and found a free state campground. Biked further up the road about 2 miles or so one way, then hiked another 1 or 2 miles up the hillside. Do not know what the elevation was but temp dropped to below freezing that night 09/28. The next morning, we took a 4 mile hike up the opposite hillside over some incredible country. At noon, we continued up hwy 24 north and took hwy 82 to Aspen Co. We went over Independence pass at 12,098 feet elevation. Trees are at full peak and scenery is incredible! We ended up at Maroon Lake just outside of Aspen in a National campground just steps from the lake and stayed two nights so we could hike the area. This is the most amazing scenery yet. The lake is cupped by the famous 'Three Maroon Bells' - 14K foot mountains that each look like the materhorn in Switzerland. The surrounding jagged peaks on the other side are red rock and the entire area is ablaze in full fall beauty. We took a bazillion pics, but only a few are here on this blog. We hiked the area behind the lake up to a crater lake - at 10k feet, we both seem to be pretty acclimated to the elevation. After coming back down from the 7 1/2 mile hike to Crater Lake, we hiked up the river to find the headwaters because we had noticed that the river seemed to stop about a mile or so up the canyon. We found the headwaters of the river itself, coming right out of the rocks gushing from the hillside in a very large amount - had never before seen such a massive amount of water coming straight out of mountain just below a glacier.

Through Rockie Mountain National Park we stopped to listen to the elk bugle and watch them chase each other around - we have this on movie. On the 26th and 27th we drove the Peak to Peak highway through the 14,000 + foot peaks. We went through the highest pass in North America at 12,000 feet. From Estes Park, we drove south to Breckenridge and are now sitting outside of Buena Vista. The colors are at full peak here and are more than the camera can capture.

On 09/25, we stayed in Steamboat Springs CO where the aspen are donning their fall wardrobe.

Rockies 2008

Left Santa Cruz on 09/21/08 and headed through Nevada to Utah. Flaming Gorge was the highlight of the Utah Trek. This is looking down on the Green River from 1700 feet above. Flaming Gorge is named for the red rocks that line the Green River through this canyon. This one is worth clicking on.

Char and Brian have become quite the accomplished kite boarders. Char is in the foreground and Brian is jumping on the right in the waters off Kahului beach, which is what they do often while living there.