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Bambi Ridge Elk

3/16/2017

Mogollon Rim from the Tonto National Forest

A couple of years ago while exploring the Mogollon Rim in Arizona, Don and I followed a forgotten logging road several miles into the back country of the Apache-Sitgeaves National Forest near Pinetop. If you are wanting to get away from the summer crowds & Heat, it doesn't get much more isolated than this. I can count on one hand, the number of people we have seen in the area over the past 3 years. We love the area because of the variety of Wildlife we have seen during our camping trips - Elk, Pronghorns, & lots of Bears!

The following video is a pan of the area where we set up our camp.

This is just a short video I shot of some Elk we spotted just after dawn on the Rim! A small heard of 7 cows. The video is a little shaky because I was sitting in the Blue Goose at the time, with the window down, trying to film the elk with one hand while hanging onto Breezy with the other. She got so excited when she saw them and was very determined to jump out the window to give chase!

Cricket, her sister, loves to explore the Rocky hills around camp! This is the hill where she accidentally flushed a newborn fawn on our first visit which is why we named the area Bambi Ridge. She spotted the fawn just on the other side of the hill, and I think it scared her more than she scared the fawn because she ran back to me almost immediately. Personality wise, Cricket is the polar opposite of Breezy, who probably would have chased the fawn as it scampered down the hill. Breezy is a total airhead which is one the the reasons I rarely take her with me when I'm hiking. Cricket is such a scaredy cat that I can trust her to stick real close which is what makes her such a great trail dog!

She really is beginning to look like a little raggamuffin in this shot! Time for a haircut!

Cricket may be my trail dog, but she has always been Don's lap dog! She has a habit of jumping up into his lap the second we get back to camp!

Bambi Ridge also has a healthy population of Barred Tiger Salamanders, and we usually find these guys underneath our tent or the tarp we use to cover our firewood with during the monsoons. This species of Salamander is rather large, and can grow to over 1 foot long!

Little Breezy trying to catch some morning sun! Unfortunately because she is such a problem child, we very rarely let her off leash even around camp.

If you want to beat the summer heat of Arizona, you will find it 10-15 degrees cooler up on the rim! Great place to camp! Love this statue we always passed when running to town for supplies!

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Colorado Trail - Pike National Forest

3/3/2017

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One of our favorite places to camp when visiting Colorado, lies within the Pike National Forest along the South Platte River, just east of the Lost Creek Wilderness area. The area is dominated by majestic granite mountains, covered with sweet smelling pines. There is a little traveled side trail off the Colorado Trail (Seg. 2) that zig zags up to our campsite on Scraggly Peak. I would rate the trail at moderately difficult just because it is so steep in some places and virtually disappears the closer you get to camp.

We like the area because it is relatively isolated, and you don't see a lot of campers or hikers. During our stay we only spotted one group of trail riders along the Colorado Trail. It took more than 4 hours to reach camp with frequent breaks, and our main obstacle just trying to cross the river. Since I didn't want to get my hiking boots wet, I changed them out with a pair of neoprene water shoes to cross the South Platte. The water was cool and came just up to our knees as we made our way across.

Our first challenge was just trying to find a shallow spot to cross the South Platte River!

Just before crossing the river, I spotted a cute little pincushion cactus in full bloom on an out cropping of red granite.

This is the type of terrain we encountered on this hike, moderately difficult in some areas and very steep.

About half way up, we decided to stop for a picnic and rest in the shade, by this old stump. We ate 1/2 of our chicken subs, and snacked on teriyaki jerky & tropical trail mix to keep our energy levels up!

The trail peters out and turns into nothing more than a game trail 1/8 mile from camp. Apparently I didn't crouch low enough and my backpack got caught on this low hanging branch. Don had to walk back to free me before we could continue up the trail.

Lower saddle on Scaggly Peak, where we set up camp.

We reached camp about 3:00 pm in the afternoon, and had everything pretty much set up by 5. I didn't really feel like cooking that first night so we just finished off our subway sandwiches. The rest of our day was spent relaxing while enjoying the view from camp, and watching red tail hawks as they soared over the mountains!

The following pics are of a young buck we spotted grazing on grass near the back of our tent. He was within 30 feet of our tent when these pics were taken. So exciting! We spotted him a couple of different times during our stay grazing on the western slope of the peak.

In addition to deer, we also spotted a coyote making his way down the mountain one morning! We had heard a couple of them howling the previous night, so I'm sure he must have had a mate somewhere in the area. We lucked in with the weather during our stay, and only had a spattering of light rain on our 3rd day. All in all, we had a real good time exploring the area and watching for wildlife!

View from our campsite on Scraggly Peak.

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Florissant Fossil Beds & Cripple Creek

3/1/2017

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     While visiting Colorado, we made a special trip to the Florissant Fossil Beds, which is located approximately 15 miles north of Cripple Creek The fossil beds at Florissant are famous for their large collection of Insect and Plant deposits. Approximately 34 million years ago, during the late Eocene epoch, the area was dominated by an ancient lake surrounded by giant redwoods, conifers, hardwoods, and lush ferns – perfect habitat for a wide variety of arthropods (insects), gastropods (snails), mollusks (clams), and other invertebrates. Included among the fossils found here are ancient species of wasps grasshoppers, spiders, dragonflies, mosquitoes, beetles, and butterflies. Its a great place to take kids who are interested in the biological sciences!

     Cyclic deposits of layers of clay and ash from a nearby volcano, and large blooms of single celled diatoms provided an excellent environment for the preservation of fossils. In addition to the museum, there is also a very nice nature trail that winds around some of the large fossilized tree trunks.

One of several massive petrified redwood trunks to be found at the site, some of which are more than 14 feet in diameter.

Love how this young pine tree is growing from the center of a petrified trunk!

Just one of several interactive discovery displays within the museum that highlights some of the arthropod fossils found at the site!.

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     On our way to Florissant we spent the night at the small ghost town of Cripple Creek, which became a thriving mining town in the 1890's when a cowboy by the name of Bob Womack discovered gold which caused one of Colorado's last major gold rushes! The town of Cripple Creek was supposedly named after a young calf that broke its leg while trying to jump the main ravine running through town.

     Several of the old buildings around town are reputed to be haunted by spirits from a time when the town was populated with fortune seeking miners and saloon hall girls just trying to make a living. One of the ghost town's most famous soiled doves, Pearl de Vere, is said to haunt the Old Homestead, a very exclusive brothel, catering only to the most wealthy clientele in town at $250 per night. Pearl died suddenly at the age of 36, and was found by one of her girl's in her bedroom, barely breathing.

     Unfortunately Pearl succumbed shortly thereafter. Rumors of a lover's spat fueled the notion that she had committed suicide, but it is just as probable that she died of an accidental overdose of morphine, a common sleeping aid in the good ol days. Her funeral was one of the most lavish in the town's colorful history. The St. Nickolas Hotel that we stayed at, was once a hospital, and was reportedly haunted by the ghost of an old miner and the mischievous spirit of a young boy, who likes to hide cigarettes, and other items.

When driving around Cripple Creek, be prepared to stop for the donkeys which are free to roam the streets around town.

This old ore car, a reminder of the town's rich mining history, is just one of several antiques that are on display.

Inside the beautifully restored 1887 Midland passenger car that serves as a visitor information center.

After the great fire of 1896, which destroyed much of the town, most of the buildings were rebuilt with brick .

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Happy Birthday Yellowstone!

3/1/2017

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Yellowstone National Park is 145 years old today! On this day, March 1, 1872, President Ulysses S. Grant established and set aside the Greater Yellowstone Valley as our first National Park. In it's early days, Yellowstone was actually managed by the US Army who established Fort Yellowstone in 1891 near Mammoth Hot Springs. It wasn't until later, that Teddy Roosevelt pushed for the preservation of our National Parks with the Antiquities Act of 1906.

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Bambi Ridge Elk

Colorado Trail - Pike National Forest

Florissant Fossil Beds & Cripple Creek

Happy Birthday Yellowstone!

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