Canyoneering

I forgot that the husband took these photos while we were exploring a canyon during our trip to Boulder, Utah last month. These pictures are particularly notable because there are few pictures of me in general and almost none of me with Lachlan. I'm the one who is usually taking the pictures, which means there are a ton of Lachlan and plenty of the husband with Lachlan, but I'm mostly MIA.







And yeah, the scenery really is THIS AWESOME. Really truly.

Big river (don't keep on growin')

Every  morning I pack Sadie and Lachlan into the car and we drive a mile to a park that is situated along the Colorado river. From there we walk about 2 miles or so on a path that follows the river, but yesterday our walk was cut short.

It seems that major snow in the mountains all winter plus really warm temperatures the past few weeks has led to a mighty high Colorado river. In anticipation of the flooding, they've been moving a lot of dirt and boulders at the park for the last two weeks, trying to build up some low-lying areas along the river. But I guess they didn't move quite enough...







Fortunately, Sadie seems to understand that the river is pretty dangerous right now, and she's been avoiding all the spots where she normally jumps in for a drink and to cool off.



Besides, there are plenty of places for her to swim on the other side of the path, in what used to be dry land!



As crazy as it is to see our river like this, I can't imagine what it must be like to live in the areas so hard hit by flooding this year!

Hunting firewood

We've had glorious weather the past two weekends--mid 70s, blue skies, and lots of sun. So the husband and I spent some time in the great outdoors hunting firewood.

Here in Colorado, and in many other states I'm sure, the BLM sells permits to common folks like us to collect firewood on their land. We're limited to cutting trees that are already down or dead, which means you have to go hunting for them.

The area we chose to go hunting is above Gateway, Colorado, which is quite possibly one of the prettiest places going and is close to the top of the world. The views go on For Ever. 



Of course, you don't get to the top of the world on a 4-lane paved highway. Nope. You go up a narrow, barely one-lane wide dirt road that is so steep you have to use 4WD. In fact, this sign pretty much sums up the situation.



Sadie Bug loves to drive in the mountains with her head out the window.





She tips her nose up in the air and breathes in and out quickly, sampling the air. When she catches the scent of something she likes, she takes slow, deep breaths in and then snorts the air out. It's pretty cute.



The drive features crazy hair-pin turns and a huge elevation gain.



And there are some nervous moments where you feel like you're strapped into a small car slowly ticking up the rickety roller coaster ride, unable to see what's past the area where the road seems to end...



Once you get to the top, the views are amazing. In the distance you can see the La Sal mountains of Utah. There are six peaks above 12,000 feet. 



As scary as the drive up was, it's even more scary coming down when you're pulling a trailer full of really heavy wood that's in a hurry to get downhill.



But the views of the valley below just can't be beat.

Horse mountain

I'm finally back home in Colorado. Sadie and I are getting back into our routine, which involves a 2-mile hike every morning at some BLM land behind our house in the area known as Horse Mountain.

A storm is coming in today that will drop the temperature by about 20 degrees by this afternoon. I'm not looking forward to that, but it sure made for some good photos today.

This photo shows one side of the palisade.



On the left of this photo is part of Horse Mountain, and on the right is the landmark known as Mount Garfield.



Here's more of the Bookcliffs, with Mount Garfield on the left.



Sadie really loves these hikes in the summer, because she can chase lizards. She lives to chase lizards. She's never managed to really catch one.

But one time she jumped in the air and landed with a paw on a blue tail lizard's tail. The lizard dropped its tail (how creepy, huh?) and ran into the cover of the bushes. Sadie sat there watching the little tail wiggle on the ground, looking from me to the tail, and back at me again, with the most confused look on her face. I had a good laugh.

The only thing that can tear her away from hunting lizards is the thought of getting a cookie. I always have one or two in my pocket. Every now and then she'll leave the lizards and come roaring back down the road.





She'll beg until I give her a cookie.



If I happen to be out of cookies, I just have to point at a bush and yell "LIZARD!" and she's off on the hunt again.