The Fun of Slot Canyons

Grand Canyon Thanksgiving

A full rainbow in the Grand Canyon

Well, my computer is temporarily dead (is that possible?), hoping it will be revived, so I my posts will not be chronological. Just going with the pictures I have access to.

So I spent Thanksgiving weekend in the Grand Canyon (just like last year), only this year was 5 days of hiking. Mark came back for this trip, 20 days after moving to New Jersey -- so it was wonderful that we didn't have to wait too long before seeing each other again.

I was really slow, I rolled my ankle in a soccer game in October and so wanted to make sure I made it out of the Canyon. Thursday we hiked from the top to the bottom and camped along the Colorado River, along with the company of mice. Then the next few days were up and down and around - it's a canyon! Word is we hiked a total of around 40 miles.

I managed to completely avoid using store bought freeze dried meals for this trip. I borrowed a friends' dehydrator and so had lots of homemade snacks and meals. It worked out really well. What I was most impressed with was making Chili and dehydrating it at home and rehydrating it in camp and marinara sauce (with ground dried tomato), both turned out great. And the favorite recipe though, is making brownies (good thing I planned for two nights of brownies).

Wanderings of a Wayfarer

Cucharo, Co

A view of East Spanish Peak (bottom picture)

And now to update on the summer adventures.

Starting with Labor day weekend though. I drove to John Martin Reservoir in southeast Colorado to meet a friend on Friday. We woke up to a cloudy overcast day and drove to Pueblo for the day.

On Sunday, I drove to Colorado Springs to have lunch with another friend and her husband. Then I drove to southwest Colorado in the Spanish Peaks Wilderness for my first solo backpacking trip. I didn't end up on the trail I had planned to hike and I started a bit late in the evening, so I hiked less than one hour before setting up camp and not much hiking the next day either. I drove through the mountains back to the interstate and had lunch in Cucharo, CO right in the mountains.

John Martin Reservoir (top picture)

My campsite

Colors of Personality

On facebook, people are taking all sorts of quizzes and so i went searching for a couple online that determine the color associated with a person's personality for fun. here are the results:

VIOLET
You surround yourself with art and music and are constantly driven to express yourself. You often daydream. You prefer honesty in your relationships and believe strongly in your personal morals.

White
You value law, order, community and light. You love to protect the social order and the rule of law. At your best, you are just and protective. At your worst, you are authoritarian and dogmatic. Your symbol is a sunburst. Your enemies are black and red.


green
your cool and calm... love nature and having fun .... your also smart and mysterious


You Are a Blue Crayon
Your world is colored in calm, understated, deep colors.You are a loyal person, and the truest friend anyone could hope to find.On the inside, you tend to be emotional and even a bit moody.However, you know that people depend on you. So you put on a strong front.Your color wheel opposite is orange. Orange people may be opinionated, but you feel they lack the depth to truly understand what they're saying



Such a variety, hey? So in the last 2 months [since the middle of March, despite the date, when I took the quizzes and saved them in a rough draft of a post this is really being written May 13], I have done a little traveling, but getting ready for more as I start backpacking again. In April, I went to the Apache Kid Wilderness (apparently no on in Albuquerque really knows where that is), south of Albuquerque for an overnight camping and hike to San Mateo Peak. It was an interesting weekend of weather. Friday night brought in lots of rain and lightening, then a warm overcast day with snow at the peak. I was in Ohio this past weekend to visit a friend and attend a wedding.

This weekend, I am hiking part of the Continental Divide Trail, west of Albuquerque. We are supposed to go 25 miles. Whew! Vuyo is staying home for this one, water is supposed to be scarce, although it would be nice to have him, so that he could carry a lot of the water. Vuyo turned 2 on May 11 and the other dog in the house, Breckenridge turns 12 this month as well.

Winter Aconite (and snowboarding)

I didn't take my camera on any of my winter trips, so not a whole lot to show the audience. :) However I do have one photo of me on my snowboard at Wolf Creek in southern Colorado and a picture of the bruise I acquired on the ice of Red River in northern New Mexico. The bruise actually grew even more after the picture.

And now I am transitioning to soccer and backpacking. My first soccer game of the season was windy and I got to show off my bruise. Unfortunately, we lost 2-0. If all goes well, I will manuever to play goalkeeper next Sunday (the goalie is out of town) :)

Wolf Creek was the bestest snow ever, so we went back the next day. Definitely going to miss the winter and such great trips. However, definitely looking forward to backpacking again and maybe starting to plan some of my own trips into the wilderness.

Off to the Side

On my trip to Flagstaff, Arizona in December, I was looking at a book on volcanoes in Arizona and it mentioned the Grand Falls and so my friend and I took a side trip on the way home to find them. They are located on the Navajo Reservation and few people apparently know about them. They are actually taller than Niagara Falls.

Tripping through Winter

Lots of travels since November. For Thanksgiving, I was on a backpacking trip in the Grand Canyon. Certainly a different experience to climb down into the Grand Canyon.

In December I spent a weekend in Flagstaff and visited a friend in Wichita, Kansas for New Year's. Mom and Dad were in Albuquerque for Christmas and we all went snowshoeing, which was my first time. We also have a new family member. My brother and his wife had a daughter on January 1, named Charlotte Mabel or 'Charlie Bell.'

In January, I went cross-country skiing out to a yurt in southern Colorado, the weather was wonderful and we squeezed 8 people into a space intended for not more than 6 people. The skiing was difficult for me because I haven't skied in over 2 years and never with a pack.

Two weeks later we were in Durango for some snowboarding, another two weeks later in Pagosa Springs for more snowboarding and this weekend we will be in Red River. That is the end of the winter trips planned and then begins the backpacking season, which is the real mission of this group I travel with. :)

I am continuing to have monthly dinner parties, started in September. It has been an enjoyable time of gathering with friends.

The end of January was the end of my first year in my current job, which continues to go well.

Pictures of the Grand Canyon