(by 1 person)
The Rockies and Sagebrush Country
When I wasn't paddling the rivers of eastern Canada, I was usually on the back of a horse out west. The big skies, looming mountains, dark forests and lonely plains of the American West were dramatic indeed for someone raised at the edge of Amish country, where hedgerows, fields, farmhouses and country lanes were small and neat as Tolkien's Shire, and distances were measured in minutes not miles.
Patches utterly fail to represent the majesty of the West, and I begin to understand why local natives went for rock art, the visual equivalent of punctuation: let nature say the rest.
Thunderstorms fight pitched battles for a hundred miles across the sky, mounting whole armies of thunderheads. I treasure memories of the high Rockies, 13,000 feet up where the air is clear and brilliant flowers uncovered by snowmelt are clear up to horses' bellies. I remember parts of Wyoming where the land is as wide as the sea. Mile after mile of desert or empty hills or scrub spread out with few cities or roads to disturb the view. The west is above all landscape, not simply countryside, that word that suggests something you could tuck away in a kitchen cupboard.
Of course, there's California and the busy settled cities of the west coast, and that's where I am now. But I still make treks out to the nearest desert to sip the haiku simplicity of almost every boulder, every prickly shrub standing apart from the rest, like a rock in a Zen sand garden. I still marvel at the golden hills that are green for only a short season. I still come to my parents' home in Utah and stand with snow crunching underfoot and gaze in wonder at the mountain fences with their heads in the clouds.
This lens is part of my Travel Threads collection, using the patches I collected as a child to tell stories about the places I've visited.
Colorado Memories
My memories are chiefly of the high alpine beauty of Colorado, especially the San Juan Mountains, Weminuche Wilderness and Maroon Bells, where we took several horse trips each lasting over a week, riding from campsite to campsite over the high passes. That landscape is dear to me: glacial cirques and snowbanks on the upper slopes, giant avalanche trails and rocky moraines, little blue mountain lakes, wildflower-studded grassy meadows, clumps of fir trees and juniper stunted by the wind, cold mountain streams chattering around the horses, legs, and sparkling aspen and birch groves farther down.The state is named for its natural tapestries. There are the lush wildflowers of fleeting summer, growing in snowmelt. There are the blazing colors of fall, when aspens and hardwoods light up the lower slopes. And there are the mountains themselves in subdued -- and sometimes not so subdued -- shades of red, green, yellow, and gray stone, with tailings from old mines leaving strangely-colored streaks of rubble.
I can't begin to describe the clarity of the air and light up there.
My favorite memory is one sunrise high in the San Juans, when we were camped above a dark pine forest because the usual campsite was snowed in, although it was late July. The outfitter had supplied us with old army pup tents, clinging at an angle to a rocky bare slope covered in wind-bitten alpine flowers and tundra-like grasses. The sun was breaking over the saddle of the bare peaks above us. Suddenly there was a music of bells, bells, bells. The horses-- left to free-graze overnight, given cowbells to help the wranglers find the herd each morning -- came pouring down over the saddle like a living waterfall, their hooves thudding beneath the music, flowing among the tents and parting around me as they champed and steamed and collected in the open space at the edge of the campsite. We were well over 10,000 feet up, and there was little sign of the last 1000 years of civilization.I suppose nowadays people carry cellphones and Blackberries on those trips, but I hope there's still a few places like that in the U.S. where you really can get away from it all.
Map of Colorado
- Colorado Wilderness Areas Map
- Nearly all the places I mention on this lens are marked except the town of Ouray, which is in the Uncompahgre Wilderness east of the amusingly-named Mt. Sneffels.
Horseback Riding Video
Ouray, Colorado
Well over a mile high, the town of Ouray on the far side of Imogene Pass from Telluride is a wonderful place to strike out for jeep rides over the passes and day hikes to the mountains and ghost towns of old mining communities. Ouray has hot springs at the edge of town and a dizzying switchback highway coming down into it that makes San Franscico streets look flat and tame.Mountain jeep roads are like nothing you've ever seen: the surfaces are just the natural rocks or gravel coming off the slopes; the grade can be close to 45 degrees, even steeper for short distances; and there may be a mile drop-off. The road coming down to Telluride (you call that a road?) has such hairpin turns that it's actually easier to back down every other switchback rather than trying to make the turn teetering on none-too-steady-looking scree.
Imogene Pass above Telluride is well over 13,000 feet high. Near the top is the ghost mining town of Tomboy, It's bleak, high above the timberline, with snowbanks lingering all summer long, bitterly cold at night. There's a fascinating memoir, Tomboy Bride, about life there at the turn of the 20th century by one of its residents, Harriet Backus.
Books on the Colorado Rockies
Photos of Ouray and Environs
Here's some of the places I've visited around Ouray (no, I haven't climbed the falls, but they're in a lovely little box canyon at one end of town). Black Bear Pass is a mere 12,840 feet. Don't try running at the top!
Wolf Creek Pass
Between Ouray and Silverton
Ouray Colorado
Ouray Colorado USA
Box Canyon at edge of Ouray
Nestling deep in the heart of the Rocky Mountains, and completely encircled by p...
Yankee Boy Basin
Black Bear Pass
Black Bear Jeep road
Tomboy Ruins
Ruins on Tomboy Road
Tomboy Road overlooking Telluride
Jeep Road over Imogene Pass
Wildflowers, Imogene Pass
Colorado Links
- A.J. Brinks Outfitters
- Adrian and Jim Brink, outfitters of horseback camping trips for many years. I've been on their Rawah Wilderness and Maroon Bells trips, and highly recommend their skilled professionalism.
Sadly, the other outfitter I've travelled with, Stanley "Dobbin" Shupe who ran Weminuche Wilderness Adventures, passed away in 2004. We rode with Dobbin into the Weminuche Wilderness in Colorado and Superstition Mountains of Arizona. He was a wonderful old cowboy storyteller, a real character.
- Ouray, Colorado: Jeeping
- Good website on jeep roads around Ouray and where to sign up for commercial day trips (even if you're experienced in off-roading, you'll still want a professional driver who knows the particular hazards of these roads).
- Colorado Wildlife and Wildflowers
- Simple but excellent beginner's photo guide to the flora and fauna of Colorado! (Small links appear at left after you select a category. Yep, I missed 'em too.)
- Photo Diary: Passes Around Ouray
- Great photo diary chronicling a trip from Silverton to Ouray, with spectacular photos of the jeep roads.
- Durango-Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad
- [Sound warning] I haven't been on this train since I was small, but it's a truly spectacular excursion through the high mountains on an old steam train.
- Tomboy Mine
- Great photos and overview of this lonely place.
- Telluride Film Festival
- Official website. I've never been, but it's the talk of the town year-round.
Mesa Verde, Colorado
Mesa Verde, with its magical towered dwellings nestled high up in cliffs, left a deep impression on me. The desert was barren and sparse to my east coast eyes, the plants strange, and everything from the mud brick to the rattling wooden ladders polished by use seemed to call more attention to each individual part of the landscape. I remember simple details like a few sticks delicately wedged high up in the cliff wall to let inhabitants know if the rock face had shifted; the cold kivas, ceremonial round chambers in the earth that served as chapels, with the small dark hole in the floor leading down to the last world; the toe-hole paths leading up the cliff-faces that had to be followed in a certain order, like a combination lock.Archaeologists wondered for decades what happened to these people, but as it turns out, they are almost certainly the ancestors of the modern Pueblo Indians, driven south by natural climate changes and (perhaps) warfare.
Mesa Verde Photos
Balcony House
Kiva Interior
Cliff Dwellings
? Butte
Wall Detail
Balcony House
Kiva Roof
Overview
Tower House
Mesa Verde
Tower Interior
Kiva Interior
Mesa Verde
Night View
Manos / Metates
Ground(?) Squirrel
Mesa Top Settlements
Good Stonework
Up!
In the Snow
Rock Art
Mesa Verde Books and DVDs
Mesa Verde Video
'Mesa Verde National Park
'Adventure-Crew presents Mesa Verde National Park. Get the tips for your trip to the four corners and other fun exciting places in the area.
Runtime: 7:19
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Wyoming Memories
Wyoming's Rockies are much like Colorado's, except that the eastern part of the state has more scrubland and open country, the western edge of the Great Plains. 
I've been to Jackson Hole, the Grand Tetons, and Yellowstone in the northwest corner of the state -- this was well before the great fires, which actually helped clear a lot of old growth.Yellowstone deserves its fame. Not only does it protect more species of wildlife than just about any place in the continental US -- from bison to deer to rare wildflowers -- it also is a giant, ancient volcanic region with bubbling lakes of sulfuric acid, geysers, and spectacularly weird landforms caused by all the geological activity in the area.
Yellowstone Video by National Geographic
Utah Memories
My parents moved to Utah from Pennsylvania in 1995, after I'd left home. Ironically I haven't been skiing (apart from cross-country) since their move, but we did go skiing a few times before their move when my father was in Utah on business trips. No, we're not Mormon, and the funny thing is, you never get the Mormons on your doorstep in Utah, since the kids go out on mission away from home. It's a friendly state with a few odd quirks and a lot of gorgeous scenery. Unfortunately the mountains facing the Great Salt Lake are getting developed far too quickly.Visitors know about Utah ski resorts, but I think there's even more golf courses. People get condos in St. George ("Dixie") in the southern part of the state so they can golf year round.
My Olympics patch is actually for the Lake Placid Olympics in 1980. My parents fled to St. George during the Salt Lake City Olympics, since the bottom of their neighborhood was blocked off by a security checkpoint.
The Flickr gallery below is my own; until now I've been lazy and just pointing you towards other people's photos.
New Mexico Memories
White Sands, New Mexico on the opposite side of the Organ Mountains from Las Cruces is one of my favorite places. No, not the testing site, although I recall my aunt telling me about the time a thing like a batarang buzzed her in the early eighties (the Stealth Bomber, she realized, once it was declassified). She lived in Las Cruces for a while and took us to see White Sands, an eerie lunar landscape of crystalline white dunes that were even brighter than the snow falling on them.
Don't go to Las Cruces for the Fourth of July, though. As far as I could tell, since the fire hazard there is 100%, NO fireworks were illegal. Hopefully by now the laws have changed. It looked like the Blitz on LSD. We camped in the mountains above the town and prayed the house would be there when we got back.
One time we took a day trip to Carlsbad Caverns. I've been to many caves (mostly guided), and Carlsbad truly lives up to its name as a spectacular and special place. Cavern after cavern of huge spires, curtains, columns and pools leave one feeling small, but unlike some big caves, Carlsbad has stunningly delicate formations of great beauty (don't touch -- your skin's oil will stop their growth). Explorers are still finding more and more passages.If you're there at sunset, don't forget to stop by the entrance and watch the bats come out. It's like a bat tornado, only slower. I love bats. They're graceful and they eat mosquitoes -- why are people afraid of them? They don't get tangled in people's hair; I've found out by standing in front of their exits that they'll do a Millenium Falcon 90 degree flip to dodge!
My Utah Photos
Random selection. I should dig out some of the Salt Lake area.
Arches National Park
Lanscape Arch
Mesa Arch
Navajo Arch
Juniper and Striped Sandstone
Sandstone Abstract
Delicate Arch Trail
Delicate Arch
Delicate Arch from Below
Fiery Furnace, Moab
Canyonlands
Merrimac and Monitor
Canyonlands
Snow Canyon, St. George
Where Would You Like to Go?
If you've got other favorite destinations in the American West, list 'em here!
Suggest Links to Good Websites about the American West
Wilderness, Rocky Mountains, and Deserts
Have you found a great website on the wilderness areas, parks, and other natural wonders of the American West? Suggest it here! Or vote for your favorites.
#1
Bryce Canyon National Park
Unofficial guide to Bryce Canyon with photos, history, geology, and tourist info.0 points
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Travel Threads: Space
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My father was an aerospace engineer and my grandmother a planetarium director. So I've always had a personal relationship with the space program -- never as my career, but as something I followed avidly, the way children of military families are more...
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Travel Threads: Canada
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Many summers, we'd camp for two weeks in the wilderness of Ontario north of New York State. I loved Canada. As a kid, I thought I needed a patch for each trip, and I agonzied over selecting the most interesting shape or most appropriate picture. Th...
Books About the American West
Trailhead Visitors' Center
Where are some of your favorite destinations out west? Have you some special memory to share in a few sentences? Where have you been?
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Mickeylayne wrote...
Thanks so much for this great lens about Colorado. I plan to share it with my husband, as we leave for a 2 week journey to Colorado the last week of June. I will lensroll you!
Posted April 02, 2008
CrypticFragments wrote...
thanks for lensrolling me, I shall return the favor!
you have some good stuff here...great flickr modules
Posted March 24, 2008
