Upcoming trips
Spring 2010
Heading south to pick up our Casita in Rice, Texas. The 'delivery' date is in May so we'll miss Julie's parents who will be back in Wisconsin for the summer.
Recent trips
Fall 2009
New Mexico via Texas
Spent Christmas in Las Cruces, NM, with Mom Sue and the pups. Took a detour through Texas on the way down and discovered NW Texas is pretty flat and primarily agricultural (cows, corn, cotton) until you get to Fort Worth where there's a whole lot of suburban sprawl. Now we know why we see so many Texas license plates in Colorado....
Stopped by Rice to visit the Casita factory only to find it was closed for the holidays. Ah well, at least we got to see part of Texas. Decided to explore new territory so headed west on backroads to Hobbs, NM. Many dying towns and abandoned homes along the way. Amazing how the oil and gas industry has literally dug into western TX and eastern NM. Kept thinking how wind turbines or solar panels would make so much more sense.
Left Hobbs and stopped outside Cloudcroft to let the dogs play in the snow. Wanted to stop by White Sands but the wind was really blowing so just headed over the pass to Cruces.
Just couldn't get away from snow this trip. First time we've been in Cruces to wake to snow. Unlike Leadville though, the snow showed up in the morning and melted off by afternoon. Had a nice quiet Christmas Eve with Mom Sue, and Uncle Hank. Then spent Christmas Day with Mom Sue's friends and their family. Visited Jim's cousin Brian who lives just down the road from Mom Sue. Know anyone who wants a really nice home that borders BLM land?
MidWest Road Tripping
We hadn't taken two weeks off since moving to Leadville and Jim hadn't been back to Wisconsin for years. So we skipped our annual fall Utah trip and packed up our camping gear, the dogs, and headed East.
Idaho
Flew to Coeur d'Alene for Brad and Kari Ann's wedding in September. Had a great time hanging out with them and Karl Ivar. Beautiful place to live!
Summer 2009
Julie flew home for Father's Day and a week in Wisconsin to visit family and friends. Made a last trip up to White Sand Lake to help sort through Gma and Gpa D's slides and do some yard work before the house was sold. Sad to see property go that has been in the Schok family for close to 100 years.
Spring 2009
Great time trekking around Hite and near the Grand Gulch in UT. Found some really nice artifacts including a digging tool and a nice point. Check them out!
Past trips
Arizona & New Mexico Fall 2008
Gas prices fell so we got out of Leadville before winter set in. Our first road trip in a few years; did a lot of driving (and eating) instead of hiking this trip. We haven't been to Arizona for many years and wanted to see if we still liked the area as much as we did when we toured it having come from Washington State. Read on!
Lake Ann Summer 2008
We took a staycation this summer and hiked and biked around Leadville for a week. We did a short backpack trip to the beautiful emerald green Lake Ann. It was overcast for most of the hike and windy but we spent about 45 minutes enjoying the views and the lake. The choices for (unexposed) camping near the lake are limited as it's above treeline. So we hiked up to the few spots and every single one had used toilet paper in it. Gross. People need to bury or pack out their tp. So we ended up back home—disgusted. If you're going to hike/backpack, get educated!
Gila Wilderness Spring 2008
Skipped Utah this spring in favor of somewhere different. Did a short backpack in New Mexico's Gila Wilderness.
Utah Fall 2007
Spent a relaxing week in Grand Staircase–Escalante Nat'l Monument mid-October. Found a nice, private camp site off of Hole-In-the-Rock road. Did more running than hiking and enjoyed just hanging out. Found pottery shards and what looked like chert chips just up the road from camp. Explored a bit up Smoky Mountain road to check out the Kaiparowits Plateau. Found a small canyon with enough water to make the dogs happy just off the road to hike. Celebrated Jim's 40th in style at Cafe Diablo.
Silverton Summer 2007
Celebrated our anniversary car camping and hiking just outside of Silverton. The hikes up to nearby lakes are short but pretty steep. Those old miners must have had calves of steel!
Wind River Range Backpack-Wyoming, Summer 2007
Had a wonderful week in the Southern Winds. Here's the full trip report!.
Utah Spring 2007
Went back to the same camp we stayed at in 2006 near Hite. Hiked above White Canyon--amazing--petrified wood everywhere--and hiked the canyon bottom of Long Canyon--again petrified wood everywhere. So many places to explore near Hite. Our trip was cut short by a gear failure--our bombproof Eureka tent blew a pullout due to insane winds and started collapsing. At 6am, we had to grab and go; we were getting sand blasted. Back to snow country!
Utah Fall 2006
(Hmm..notice a theme?) A week camped south west of Hike. Hiked a bit of Dark Canyon: On the way in found the biggest corrugated pottery shard we've seen yet. Hiked above Long Canyon where there's petrified wood everywhere. Headed down into Moki Canyon but our hike got rained out. Not fun running up a steep sand slope being pelted by very cold rain. We now carry lightweight umbrellas (Chrome Dome rocks!) when we hike.
Costa Rica, Winter 2006
We're just back from nine days in Costa Rica. A beautiful country where the locals (Ticos) are friendly, the wildlife and plant life amazing, and the food, especially, the coffee is incredible. It was a trip of a lifetime and will be a hard trip to to top. See more, read more.
Valley of the Gods and Grand Gulch, Fall 2005
We escaped to the Utah desert for a week of camping with the dogs in October. First stop: Valley of the Gods. Second stop: Grand Gulch. See what we discovered near Coyote Canyon while looking for a spot to catch the sunset.
Lake Michigan, Summer 2005
A trip across Lake Michigan with Julie's family. First time we've all been together in a few years. Only the second time we've seen our niece Taylor; what a cutie! See what we did.
Trips & Trails |