Return to Denver

 

Well, best laid plans and all that... My return to Denver didn't go exactly as I'd expected because about 1/3 of the way into my planned explorations the gov't closed all the northern New Mexico National Forests (due to severe fire threat), severely crimping my camping options.  Could have gone down to the BLM land in the Rio Grande valley but there's not much shade there and the temps were still high (mid 90s).  Meanwhile Denver was getting a blizzard.  So, deciding the universe was telling me to save the rest of the trip for another time I hightailed it back to Mom's house.  Silver linings!  Click here for the play by play.

An Investigation of the Headwaters of the Gila

 

Those who know me may know of my fascination with the Gila River, which begins in New Mexico and descends into Arizona and flows (when there's water in it) all the way to the Colorado River in Yuma, AZ.  Over the last couple years I have tracked it down in various locations along its path but I had never before made it to its headwaters, which are in a pretty remote part of the Gila Wilderness (which is already a little bit remote).  Well, on this return trip to Denver I planned to rectify that oversight with a thorough exploration of the upper watershed of this great and storied drainage.  And all this occurs contiguous with the Continental Divide, with which I am also enamored.  So this segment of my trip was a double-whammy for me.  See the pics and read the comments here for the full story.  Next up: Return to the Rio Grande Valley and new explorations north of the Valle Caldera region.

Ta Ta to Tucson, unTil next Time.

 

Dear Friends and Follower(s), I don't know if it's just my perception or if the world is becoming less forgiving, but if either is true let us heed these words.  I have recently wrapped up a couple months (at least) in a southern city of more than a little charm and hospitality, and I am grateful for all the wonderful experiences I have had there.  Now I begin my northeastern migration like the great snowbird I is, looking back with fondness at the preceding several weeks which you will find documented to greater or lesser extent here.  https://photos.app.goo.gl/sb7ko5sJUTzCXq5YA

Also, there's some new drone videos from Kamp Kermit on my YouTube channel if you want to see some more cacti, including saguaro blossoms.

Hair Today...

 

Gone tomorrow!  (An oldie but a goodie).  Three years in the making and 30 seconds to remove!

Yes my faithful peeps of the pedantic and peculiar, I've finally made like a sheep and had myself shorn.  And along the way I've visited Puerto Penasco, Mexico, reconnected with my Tucson friends, and completed a three night micro-tour of the local flora to the north of town.  I wanted to keep it a micro-tour to limit my mileage in this time of rising gas prices but more importantly to minimize my carbon footprint (says the guy who started in Denver and arrived here by way of Seattle, Los Angeles, and the Gulf of California.  Oh well.  It turns out the road to hell isn't paved at all but it sure is hot in the direct sun!).

I think my photo commentary (here) provides all the relevant details.  Let me know if you can't figure out how to see the comments (Mom, Dad, you know who I'm talking to!)

And a new feature of my adventures recently has been drone videos, which tend to wind up on my Youtube channel, here.  I would suggest starting with the shorter ones of those and proceeding with caution: Not to be combined with the use of heavy machinery.

Until next time!

South from San Francisco, or "Who left all these sea elephants lying out?"

 

I've enjoyed a beautiful drive down most of the rest of the California coast.  It's been sunny but chilly and windy out of the north, but that's okay.  I encountered many unexpected delights.  Click here to see and read about some of them (narrative in comments).

Oh, PS: Since I published my last blog post I got a couple of pics from Owen when he and I and Luke were clowning around and admiring the Botanical Gardens in GG Park.  You can go back and see them now if you missed them the first time and you're interested.

Bay Area Visitations

 

Had a great 10-ish days visiting friends and family in the Bay Area.  I picked up the story where we last left off in the comments that go with the pictures here.  (Don't forget to click the dialog icon to open the comments window).  Teaser for next episode: More stunning beauty traveling south on Hwy 1 (plus elephant seals)!

Seattle to San Francisco Along the Pacific Coast

 

I had twice before driven Hwy 1 and 101 between San Francisco and Seattle (about 40 years ago solo on a motorcycle and again about 10 years ago with Owen and Max in a Honda Accord station wagon) but had not had time to do much exploring.  This time I planned to rectify that.  Still, I only had a week because I wanted to be in SF by Friday evening since Owen would have the weekend off work (and was going to fly back to Denver the following weekend).  I soon found that I could easily have used twice that amount of time or more and still not have done this trip justice or grown weary of it.  Nonetheless I was able to hug the coast the whole way, even when 101 detours inland (like south of Tillamook, OR) and make a few stops here and there, though for every stop I did make there were at least ten I would have liked to make as well, and for each picture I took I could probably have taken another hundred (maybe it's a good thing I was time-limited).  I had some cloudy days and some sunny days (happily more of those the further south I got) but they were all beautiful.  To anyone considering a trip like this I would just point out that the two previous times I had driven south to north and this time I did the opposite and found it far superior, partly because it puts you in the right (outside) lane of the highway so you are closer to the edge and the view and the pull-offs are easier to access without having to cut across traffic, and partly because on the sunny days you are driving toward the light reflected off the water rather than away from it.  So with that I'll let my pictures and commentary (here) fill in the details.