Damnit - It is too early (10/28)

Reading: Walter Moers

The 13 1/2 Lives of Captain BlueBear and The Alchemaster's Apprentice by Walter Moers. I love these books. They are adolescent/adult fiction, but smart, creative and good reads. I like KLaw's closing paragraph best (http://meadowparty.com/blog/?p=170):

The whole book is deliberately silly, and there’s little narrative greed to drive you towards the end – no big foozle to kill, no major question to answer, etc. It doesn’t have the relentless plot of the Harry Potter books or the cheerful nihilism of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, but instead floats along on its own absurdity. It’s a bit like empty calories, but speaking as someone who loves a rich dessert, empty calories are a perfectly acceptable part of a balanced literary diet – as long as they’re worth it.

Columbus Day camping: Cedar Mesa

We spent the Columbus Day weekend camping on Cedar Mesa with some Durango friends, enjoying glorious weather. It was a perfect fall weekend in Utah with temps ranging from 35-70. Because our friends were pulling a 24+ foot trailer, camping was limited and had to be specific. We found a nice location about 6 miles back on the Cigarette Springs road. Within a mile of our campsite I found numerous BM III - PIII ruins, with the bulk being BM III - PII open air sites. Plain gray ware and some Bluff/Deadman's black on orange was abundant. Later PIII black on white and corrugated pottery was also found.

As with all Anasazi posts, locational information will be sparse.

This view came on the last day of our trip, but is my favorite. Those who know CM should know this site.

Coming from Durango, our first stop was at the Anasazi Heritage Center to Adaira could feed. I hiked the dogs to the Escalante outlier. Here's the classic view of the chacoan kiva, blocked in with 8 low pilasters. McPhee rez in the background.

Gyppie running through three T shaped doors. Put a roof on them, lose the "T" and extend to 6, and this would look like the classic Pueblo Bonito photo (http://rionewmexico.com/media/attractions/national-parks/chaco-culture/2006051617200848437_PuebloBonitoDoors.jpg).

Waiting for our friends to catch up, we stopped at Comb Wash. I hiked back to an outlier that has only been identified in the past 20 years. A favorite mound of rubble for me.

Thanks to chapter 4 of the Bluff Outlier book, I hiked around to find the towers. Most were rubble, but this surprised me to find 6' standing walls.

The east trending CM canyon where we did most of our hiking:

A small habitation site. I've seen Kelsey inaccurately label this site as a "kiva". I disagree. There are no kiva features except the roof and shape (round). It's not a kiva, but is a habitation site in the midst of several granaries.

A basketmaker or PI cist. I've came across < a dozen of these before; 4 on this weekend. Very cool.

A "famous" site in our canyon. I met a group walking downcanyon asking if I had been to "The Road House". I told them that there is a nearby site famous with photographers that goes by a different name (I call it the "Dragon Granary" for the white image in stone).

Since he brought up Road House, I'll call it the Double Deuce. RIP Swayze.

A new to me site in a side canyon, underneath a canyon confluence. Wonderfully preserved. A broken metate lay beneath one door.

Another site in our canyon that has gotten exponentially more popular in the last 15 years. It is still striking. But, on a holiday monday, we passed 3 groups of a total of 10 people going here. Sometimes I curse Google Earth and David Roberts.

Reading: Tender is the Night; Fool

I read Tender is the Night in my early 20s and revisited lately. I'm sure that much of this book was lost upon me the first time; it's an excellent novel to revisit in your mid 30s. Fitzgerald's prose is legendary and I enjoyed this story more than Gatsby. A classic.

I also finished the Moore 'cannon' with Fool. Interesting story: The telling of King Lear through the eyes of Pocket, Lear's fool. Up there with The Stupidest Angel and Lamb, I enjoyed Fool and loved this impression of Moore after the disappointing "You Suck".

Couple pics from the morning hike on Raider Ridge from the main Horse Gulch trail head.

Fall Colors: Owl Creek Pass

I love road trips and thought I'd try to get Adaira hooked early. In retrospect, a 9 hour roadie was probably a bad idea. We had a great time, saw amazing scenery and, well, Adaira made it.

We took 550 north to Ridgeway, stopping at Little Molas Lake and the Christ of the Mines Shrine in Silverton, two places local places I've never visited. From Ridgeway we took good gravel roads over Owl Creek Pass into the Cinamarron River valley, downstream to US 50, West to Montrose. Finally turning South on 550 back to Durango.

Little Molas Pass

Engineer Mountain above Little Molas Lake

From Silverton, looking down the Animas River canyon

Silverton from the shrine

The shrine overlooking Silverton

Ouray

Top of Owl Creek Pass. First time on this road

Looking up just north of Chimney Rock, towards Wetterhorn Mtn

Cinamarron River

Cliffs to the East of the Cinamarron

Best of the fall colors at about 10,000. We were about 1 week too late for peak colors

One day after peak Oak colors...

A few pics from Animas Mtn about 8am today October 1. Just a day late for peak colors with the oaks. Aspen and town trees will turn soon.