Adaira's First Camping trip & Ice Lakes Basin

On Saturday, we drove the hour north to the Ice Lakes Basin trailhead, a trail that I have shamefully not hiked before. Andrea's leg is still recovering (torn achilles 12 months ago) and she is lugging Adaira around, so our goal was the far, western end of the Lower basin. The upper basin will have to wait until next summer.

We made it up into the lower basin in around an hour and lingered for an hour or so near the copse of spruce. This seems to be the most popular place to camp. I walked around looking for brookies in the stream and gazing up at waterfalls and the surrounding mountains. The peak of flower season passed a month ago, but some flowers were still out.

Turning around at the ramp up to the upper basin, we headed back for the car. Weather was moving in pretty fast, although people were still coming up. On the hike up and back, we probably saw 50 people walking. Incredibly popular area. Front Range style.

We camped that night near the headwaters of Mineral Creek, below Bandora Mine. At the far end of the road is the TH for the Rico/Silverton trail, an awesome and steep hike we did last summer. I prefer to camp a bit downstream to access the beaver ponds. The brookie fishing was great and I love the views from this site. Everytime I'm in the alpine around Silverton I think "I should be up here every weekend". Adaira slept great; Andrea recovered; I caught more fish than I could count in just over an hour.

Andrea and Adaira along Mineral Creek near the head of the Lower Basin. The trail ascends just to the left of the cliffs at left center.

The trail heading up.

Waterfalls and couloir in the lower basin.

Me and Adaira at camp.

Dry Creek to Durango Hike

This morning, we hiked the Dry Creek to Durango hike that is listed in Hiking Trails of Southwestern CO. I've hiked a few times in the Perins peak area the past month and have wanted to do this one way for awhile. It just seems cool to me that I can walk back into town.

Andrea dropped me off at the trail head off the Lightner Creek road and asked that she pick me up at the Rock Ridge subdivision trailhead in a couple hours. My trailhead was a small two car parking area (with a 'no parking' sign for snow removal) about a mile or so short of the Hoffheim's Connection lot. A broad valley bends to the east and it's the obvious route back to town.

Unfortunately after a mile, I was off trail and lost. First, there isn't much of a trail. It's a path and sometimes off trail hiking. Second, someone, probably Texans, illegally drove 4 wheelers back in this area sometime within the last 2 weeks. So, I'm following a path, but sometimes the off trail 4 wheel route is much better. Instead of taking the trail which veers sharply off to the north into the adjacent drainage, I followed the meadow towards a pass just to the north of the high cliffs forming the north end of the Perins massif. Damn texans. By the time I realized what I did, a mile had passed and the scrub oaks were eating me up. I bushwacked out, found the trail and strolled the 4 miles back to town.

If you do this trail, stay on the north side of the entry meadow, ignore 4 wheeler tracks, and look for the trail veering off to the left. This is your path. The four mile hike turned into about a 6 mile walk, but it was great. The views are outstanding (LaPlatas to the west, dramatic sandstone bluffs to south, Durango eventually to the east) and nobody hikes this area. We saw one runner and one hiker (who saved "Angel" the red healer at Annie's Orpans for the past month) but they were close to Rock Ridge. No animals, but I was sure that we'd see a bear. Maybe even a lion. No

big animals, just wild turkeys. After a txt message, Andrea and Adaira were there to pick me up in 10 minutes. Great hike.

Meadow at the beginning of the hike. I went straight instead of turning left (north) close to this pic:

.

A section where there basically is no trail:

Good trail here though:

A view of Perins from the trail, near the Rock Ridge trailhead. The Perins Peak trail goes up the flank at the far right.

Picking me up for the mile drive back home. Sweet.

What I'm Eating: Slow cooked pork ribs

This is a dry rub recipe for oven cooked pork ribs. I take about 5 minutes to prepare the country style ribs and cook for 4 hours at 300. This is simple and delicious. Without a starchy side, I've found that you need about 1.5 lbs of pork per person. This is a big recipe for 2:

4 lbs country style pork ribs

Dry Rub:

1 tbl paprika

1 tbl sugar

1/2 tbl salt

1/2 tbl ground cumin

1/2 tbl ground black pepper

1/2 tbl chili powder

Blend the dry ingredients in a bowl. Rub on all sides of the raw pork in a baking dish. I do not brown before cooking. Add 1 cup of stock or water. Stick in the oven at 300 degrees and bake for 2-4 hours. I turn the ribs every 90 minutes or so, but have not found the necessity to drain the fat. The meat will be falling apart when done, although thick parts of the rib will stay intact.

This dish was presented with garden fresh (purple) green beans.

After putting on the dry rub:

After 4 hours of baking at 300 degrees:

Served on the deck with green beans and Rose:

What I'm Reading: Still Life with Woodpecker

After plowing through Christopher Moore books and hearing the comparison, I had to revisit my favorite Tom Robbins novel. While I rarely re-read fiction, Still Life is an exception. I also love the original cover, pictured below, which is the copy I have. Bernard Wrangle (BMW) is my favorite anarchist, I believe. Although that is a close competition between the Doug Peacock based Hayduke character from Monkey Wrench Gang. Also, this reaffirms my belief that Moore and Robbins really are not comparable.

What other fiction characters are in the running for favorite anarchist? Like Moore's Fluke, I also love the Lahina setting of a good portion of this book.

Transfer Trail - West Mancos loop

After fueling up at Absolute Bakery in Mancos, we hit the Transfer Trail loop starting at the Transfer Campground. The loop was about 4 miles, but with decent (700 ft) elevation gain. There is significant gain and loss during the 1.5 mile section on the West Mancos trail. The trail drops down 500 ft to the floor of the West Mancos canyon, downstream a mile and a half and back up about 700 feet to the rim trail. An awesome little loop.

We followed the route on page 108 (Transfer Trail) of Hiking Trails in Southwestern Colorado (4th ed). It was a nice hike for me and a great one for the dogs, Andrea and Adaira. Since recovering from her torn Achilles, this is probably Andrea's hardest hike. A good test with amazing views. I've heard that the West Mancos does not support a strong fish habitat. While the river looked great for brookies, rainbows and maybe a brown in the deep holes, I didn't see a single fish. Poor biomass on this stream, but I'm sure there is a fish to get into.

Andrea and Adaira trucking up the Box Canyon trail on the return section of the loop. The temps were in the mid 80s and hot when out of the shade and breeze. But, the girls did great.

Pancho cooling off in the West Mancos looking upstream. Lots of pocket water, not many evident fish. Caddis and Mayflies on the water.

Great views up canyon 15 miles to Mt Hesperus and Sharkstooth. The ridge on the right of Hesperus drops down into Tomahawk Basin on the La Plata Canyon side.

What I'm Reading: Lamb

Lamb was the original Christopher Moore novel recommended to me. I had never heard of the author before. In back order at the library, I was finally able to get my hands on the book after reading four other Moore novels in July. It was worth the wait, although started off a little slow and obnoxious. Levi, aka Biff, is Joshua's best friend (Joshua is the english version of "Yeshua", not Jesus) and narrator. After a hundred pages or so, I was into Biff's humor and hooked.

The story of Jesus during the 30 years he is missing from the bible?

They learn kung fu and yoga? Zen Buddhism and Hinduism? His best friend must, enthusiastically encounter sin and lots of loving because Joshua is not allowed to "know women"? This confirmed Catholic turned Aethiest says "yes please".

Like all Moore books, Lamb is funny, sophmoric, imaginative and ends on an up beat. It is a great story that will have you laughing, turning pages and, most importantly, reading. I learned from Harry Potter not to dismiss any books that get people reading. If you like to read fun stories, you'll finish this book in 5 days.

I've heard Moore compared to Tom Robbins, but that is only superficially accurate. Moore is as inventive and imaginative, I think, but is akin to "Robbins Lite". I might dig into Still Life with Woodpecker, my favorite Robbins book, to think about this one.

Update: After spending some time with Still Life, I don't see the similarities between Robins and Moore.

Shoyu Chicken: What I'm Cooking

Shoyu Chicken is delicious, cheap and easy to make. It's a Hawaiin dish that can be made a lot of ways, but the key is chicken thighs or drummies and soy sauce ("Shoyu" in Japanese, I believe). I make mine in a 1.5 qt Dutch Oven.

Serves 6:

5-6 Lbs of Chicken Thighs with skin

2 cups of Soy

2 cups Chicken Broth

1 cup water

1 cup brown sugar

1 tbsp honey

8 garlic cloves, smashed and cut up

4" long, .5" thick slice of fresh ginger, smashed and cut up (maybe 1/4" cup?)

1 shallot cut into small pieces

1. Mix ingredients into dutch oven

2. Brown chicken in oil

3. Bring ingredients to a boil

4. Put chicken in dutch oven, turn down to low (2-3 on electric stove)

5. Let simmer for at least 1 hour. I usually let simmer for 3-4 hours until chicken may fall apart if not grasped well.

6. Eat delicious slow cooked chicken.

Serve with wild rice (white rice if traditional), fresh lettuce bed and chives or fresh cut green onions. Add sesame seeds for a nice look.

Owens Basin - La Platas; Perins Peak

Last Sunday, I went up to the west side of the La Platas really for the first time. I wanted to explore the gravel roads, avoid people on ATVs, and look for great hiking and firewood cutting places (permit through the San Juan rec office). Accomplished all of the above. We dropped down to the Owens Basin trail along the West fork of the Mancos and hiked for a few hours. There are still beautiful wildflowers on that side and it's cool how different the ecosystem is than, say, 10 miles east in Tomahawk Basin. These are gentle slopes with long basins and drainages. The peaks and basins off the La Plata canyon side are burly.

On Tuesday morning we hiked on the Perins Peak trail, not too far from my house. I had to cut the hike short at an hour and turnaround at the base of the last switchbacks, but will get to the top sometime this summer.

No pics of course. I'm in the market for a new digi cam without a scratch in the lense. The holdup has been a good, small camera with a screen and viewfinder.

Lime Creek Odyssey

Caught a handful of brookies up on Lime Creek in about an hour of fishing this afternoon. The weather was perfect and we made the 40 minute drive to fish the stream between Molas and Coal Bank Passes near its headwaters. All the fish were around 8", not bad for brookies, and fought like mothers. Customary for the breed. No pics. But, I'll try to update the site with more fish tales as they occur. I get out a couple times a week but lately have been on the Animas exclusively.

On a side note, my dogs have graduated from "worst fishing dogs in the world" to "actually not too bad".

2666

Finished the novel. My mom asked me what the book was about.

I stammered. So did the NYTimes:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/13/books/13masl.html?_r=1

http://nymag.com/arts/books/reviews/52011/

Although I can not tell you what 2666 is about, I can confidently tell you that it is a Great (capital "G") book.

Tomahawk Basin

95 degree heat drove us up to the high country on Saturday. Not even to fish! We took the rocky Tomahawk Basin 4 wheel road up into the basin. The turnoff is a steep 150 degree left turn off the La Plata Canyon road, 6 miles from the end of pavement or about 1.5 miles from the Lewis Creek walk in campground.

We followed the road about 1 mile. Although I used 4 wheel drive, it really wasn't necessary. High clearance for sure, though. Otherwise, park at the road and walk up. We just went to the mill (pictured) because Andrea was struggling on the loose rock with the baby and her achilles still recovering. Great hike though of a few miles and probably a 1000' of elevation. I need to get back up above the mill and access the upper basin.

Oh, cool thing, 1/2 mile above our parking spot we came across a red Jeep with a Hawaii sticker, Escalante Middle School bumper and 2 about the University of WI. Gotta be Amy and Nick, our friends. We didn't see them, but left a note and confirmed later on. Durango is a small town. Two pics are looking up into the basin with the ruins of the mill and down trail seeing Andrea hauling Adaira.

Second 4 wheel trip for the little one. We went up and over Barlow Pass a few weeks ago. Lil trooper. Strutter.

Dog Hikes as of late

It's been ridiculously hot here in Durango the past week. No afternoon thunderstorms to cool things off. This has kept the hiking local and early in the AM. In the past 7 days, we've hit up the La Platas (next post), Horse Gulch - Telephone Line trail, Dalla Mtn Park (Twice), the Test Tracks, and Junction Creek/CO Trail. No pics. Party pics and post from 7/25 coming sometime...