Four Corners on a Sphere

Yep, I've been sloggin' (slacking on blogging).  No excuses.  I just returned from a wonderful trip, having circumnavigated most of the Four Corners region minus Utah.  I'm back in Tucson, mountain biking. climbing, and running as usual.  Straub (Old roomate aka David Straub) took buses all of the way from Guatemala through Mexico to meet up with me in Tucson a few weeks ago.  We hung out for a few days in Tucson while he watched Holly and I try to find a home in Tucson for next year.  Straub may have a lower opinion of us after that fiasco...  

Well, with the lease pretty much signed, Straub and I headed for New Mexico.  Our main goal for New Mexico was to explore the Gila National Forest.  My curiosity had been piqued a while back by its history.  It was created in 1905 and now encompasses 3.3 million acres (5150 sq mi.), and is the sixth largest National Forest in the continental US.  In 1924 the first Wilderness Area, the Gila Wilderness, was established inside the Gila by Aldo Leopold.  Many others followed, now 757 Wilderness Areas exist in the US encompassing over 109.5 million acres.  

Anyways, Straub and I had a good look around the Gila.  We just about bisected the place and explored a few trails, around 50 miles of very rough dirt roads in the truck, and found complete darkness in the lava tubes of the Malpais National Conservation area.  After some REALLY cold nights we headed for Durango.  

In Durango, I'm not really sure what happened.  Well, it started with me saying, "Straub, I think from now on I'm going to be a private vegetarian and a public omnivore."  Before I knew it, I had eaten chorizo, chicken, and a burger all in my first day. That's about 3x as much meat as I had eaten in the last 5 years.  Well, I never said I didn't like it, although I think I've had my fill for now.  The decision was more out of convenience for others.  

After a two day stint in Durango visiting Jace, Chloe, Tara and Greg, we nabbed Jace and b-lined for Fort Collins to rendezvous with Mickey and Marissa late in the post meridiem.  In Fort Collins we toured breweries, hiked, biked (bike gang unite!), cooked, and played some serious bocce ball.  I will let the plethora of pictures do the rest of the talking- 

Entering the Gila

Where's Waldo?

Abandoned farmstead- the house had burnt, all that was left were these old trucks, a barn, a well, and a pile of burnt farmhouse

Some not so good looking water at the bottom of this well.

Regal bastard.

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Collapsed lave tube

It's cold in there!

From above these were pretty unassuming

Mesa Verde- a quick drive from Durango

It's spring in the desert- more flowers to come...

The beautiful Plum.  Part dog, mostly wolf-beast.

The happy family in Fort Collins

Iris reunion!

Just about standing on the four corners here

New Belgium Brewery

Odell Brewing Company

Flopping around like a fish out of water- this one is up for you Daniel

Arrived in Tucson

Not Tucson...

The drive was beautiful over the 50 to the eastern side of the Sierras through El Dorado National Forest.  Scenic rivers followed by Luther Pass was a treat.  With this route I came out above Mono Lake.  You can't really see from the pictures, but Mono Lake is one of the few natural lakes with the bath tub ring surrounding it common to reservoirs.  This is thanks to the cancer also know as Los Angeles, they love their water...

Still learning to uses panoramic mode-  sorry if it looks a little psychedelic.

Bishop is a magical place.  I only wish that my skin could heal faster.  Unfortunately for y'all, it is way too much of a pain to carry two bouldering pads, shoes, chalk, layers, guidebook and camera.  So I left the camera in the truck for the climbing, so you'll have to go have a look for for yourself besides some scenic shots here...  I spent the first day climbing in the volcanic tablelands of Bishop.  These areas were exquisite, also known as the Happy and Sad bouldering areas, and were table like plateaus with gorges carved into them that were crammed, jammed, and slammed full of amazing boulders!  I spent the first two sessions there.  Just when I thought it couldn't get any better, the group of climbers I met were headed to "the Buttermilks."  Another fantastic bouldering area, and a little higher in elevation, the "Milks" feel and look like granite but are a rock type called monzonite, and even more scenic!  These egg-shaped granite boulders were perfect!  There were so many good problems I hardly knew where to start.  I realized quickly that I would need a lot more than three days to even begin to tap into the potential of the area.  Some of the the climbers I camped with up in the Buttermilks had been there since November, and they spend 5 months in the bishop area every year.  There are really that many boulders there, it is truly an incredible place.

The hill up to the right is the edge of the tablelands, due to a water-cut of the cliff at the right.  This area, know as the Owens Valley, is home to one the world greatest pyroclastic events.  Arond 740,000 years ago the Long Valley Caldera 30 miles north of Bishop erupted with a force 500 times that of Mt. St. Helens, leaving ash as far away as eastern Kansas!

After three days of bouldering in a row, my blood-filled bright red fingertips would crimp no longer.  I put in a morning session and headed for Tucson from where I type to you now.  It's pretty hot, as expected, and I will be around here having a look from the seat of my mt. bike for a while until I head up towards the four corners region and into Colorado in a few weeks.